Big Mama Korean @ Tiong Bahru

Second time back at Big Mama Korean place at Tiong Bahru. A cozy place to dine in where the service crews seems to be all korean. Simple English conversations completed the placing order process.  

First up on the table is definitely the banchan. I simply loved the lotus dish out of the many served.

Side Dishes (Banchan)

Next up is the seafood pancake. Normally, it got on the table as we loved korean pancakes. Fried thinly, this dish can't be missed if you love pancakes too.

Seafood Pancake

Main dish of the day goes to this - Dakgalbi. Tender (loving) chicken, cabbage, rice cake, sweet potato, and spicy sauce are all in and pan-fried on the spot. Goes well with a bowl of rice. 

Dakgalbi

Big Mama serves home-style Korean food and I shall be back if I'm not going to step into S. Korea soon.

Big Mama Korean Restaurant
2 Kim Tian Road, Singapore 169244 

8 E!IGHT korean bbq @ Clark Quay Central

Come, the 3rd time at this wonderful Korean BBQ place. Choose from the 8 flavours of Mangalitza Hog and wait to be served.

we only managed 4!

The service crew will help to bbq and cut the meat into bite size for us to indulge in. Kimchi and bean sprouts are served unlimited to go with the bbq meat. Well, they shared the same sizzling plate. Next to the bbq, we ordered a tofu stew. It was nice too.

sizzling pots of satisfactions 

Will I be back? Definitely.

6 Eu Tong Sen Street
#02-79//90
Singapore 059817

Korean Food @ Han Kook Gwan Korean Restaurant

Family time at Han Kook Gwan Korean Restaurant as sis wanted to try raw crab. We watched a variety show that featured that and off we went. 

The banchan (side dish) comes in five different variety and are refillable. My favourites will be the kimchi and the pancakes. 

banchans

Next up was the traditional Korean raw crab, also known as ‘gan jang gae jang’. Usually we had chilli or pepper crab but this raw crab meat is really a first time. We just need to suck and slurp on the legs and the meat will be right in your mouth. I totally did not enjoy this crab dish. Though it is fresh, but the rawness is not to my liking. Though I love sashimi. It is a little pricey at ~$53. Try it if you love raw food and if you dare!

Soy Crab 

Compared to raw crab, the Korean BBQ meat is the highlight of the meal. We ordered the BBQ set which includes pork belly, marinated pork and chicken bulgogi and a side dish - steamed egg. This is the first time I had steamed egg in Korean restaurant. 

The BBQ was great. We did not have to do it ourselves as the service staff did it for us though the bbq grill is right in the middle of the table. As usual, with the bbq meat, we will wrapped it with vegetable and added some garlic, onions to bring out the flavour and experience. Nice!

Korean BBQ pork

Be back for more!

Address:
26 Tanjong Pagar Road
Singapore 088449

Chicken Up @ Tanjong Pagar

I have to say first, my photos do not justify for the good food and presentation of the food! So here we go:

Chicken Up is a Korean restaurant in Tanjong Pagar, along the stretch where there are many Korean steamboat eateries. As for Chicken Up, they specialise in chicken dishes especially Fried Chicken and many different types of soju. 

So we ordered the famous watermelon soju. It is served in half a watermelon fruit. They only poured in the soju at the table. Well, for this soju, it is sweet and does not really taste like alcohol. The fresh watermelon juice really takes over the soju taste and well, if you are not careful, you will sure to get drunk!

Watermelon Soju

As for the food part, we do not really know what's good. All in the menu were 90% chicken dishes. In the end, we went with our gut feeling and ordered 4 types of chicken dishes, truffle fries and seafood pancake. But into the night, I forget to take photos of the food. I guess it is more important to eat! And well, as for you, it is best that you try out the food to see it for yourself! :)

First up the table was the Andong Chicken Stew (it comes in either Full or half chicken). Together with the chicken, the stew is cooked with glass noodle, rice cakes, potato, carrot, onions and chilies, in spicy soy-based sauce. For those who do not take spicy food, this dish might pose a threat to you. For me, I thought a bowl of rice to accompany the dish will indeed be heavenly!

We also tried the Soya chicken which was savory and nice! The crispy up chicken was really indeed KFC - Korean Fried Chicken. 

Variety of the chicken dishes

Okay, for the seafood pancake, it was unlike the crispy kind that I normally had. It was rather thick and it's spicy. They also served green and red chilies at the side to top up the flavour. An unique way to have the pancake. 

On each table is a small thrash can meant for the chicken bones. A good way not to dirty the table and easy for the customers to keep the place clean. The service crew also emptied the thrash when it was full! Thumbs up!

Did I mentioned, they have the All-You-Can-Eat Chicken Buffet costs $25 (before tax) per person. Top up and you could have free flow beer!

Will I be back? Maybe I have strong cravings for many variety of chicken!

Chicken Up
48 Tanjong Pagar Road #01-01,
Singapore 088469

BiBiGo @ Raffles City

Dinner at Bibigo for a Korean meal. It was a gathering to meet friends whom I have not really mingle with for the past year. 

As usual, korean pancake is something that will definitely be on the table if it is found in the menu. I can never resist not ordering one. But there aren't many restaurants in Singapore that really serve great pancakes. I think the best I had was at Big Mama. 

Alright, a seafood pancake to start off the dinner. It was not too bad. The base was thin and crispy. But into the night, it turned soggy. So eat it while it's hot. The sauce that went with the pancake was a little salty for me. So be mindful when you dip your pancake in. Otherwise, this dish is not that bad. 

Next up was my main course - Kimchi chicken fried rice served with an egg and of course, some banchan (side dish) which was not refillable.  The fried rice was quite good, not that spicy. I have to say, please be more generous with the chicken. I doubtfully thought that I ordered plain fried rice. 

I have not tried eating fried rice in korean style. So I simply 'mashed' up the egg and eat in 'bimbimbap' style. In my opinion, not too bad than to eat the egg as a whole. 

A simple meal - to start theeeeeeee weekend!

Left: Seafood Pancake
Right: Kimchi fried rice

Raffles City Shopping Centre,
252 North Bridge Road, #B1-74

Haramiya Central

Finally tried out Haramiya Central after talking about it since last December. Always contemplating to have lunch there but was afraid that we will smell like BBQ for the rest of the day.

I guessed this is a fusion restaurant, Japanese influnced by Korean and vice versa. A Japanese BBQ restaurant with Korean dishes as well. But well, Korean BBQ is famous though. So, I got a little confused. But you will get a feel of both culture in this place. 

Though this is a BBQ place, we did not try the BBQ this time round. I will be back to try that one fine day!. I ordered the Chicken Sundubu Jigae set. This set also includes the banchans which Koreans love but in the Japanese style. There is also kimchi which represents the Koreans and not forgetting the salad with the Japanese sesame sauce. I liked the stew - It was tasty. 

Overall, this is a nice to have dinner and spent the rest of the night chatting. They will roll down the straw blinds between the tables to make it an 'exclusive' space for us. Nice!

Chicken Sundubu Jigae set

Haramiya Japanese BBQ Restaurant
#03-87 (The Central), Clarke Quay

Kimchi Korean Restaurant - Suntec City

Annyeonghaseyo - oh well, I just returned from Seoul (do keep a lookout for my posts on Seoul) and today I went into a Korean Restaurant at Suntec City. Princess C recommended that and I guess since she is quite a Korean Fan, it cannot go much wrong.

This restaurant serves grill BBQ. Thus, be prepared to stink if the other patrons ate Grilled meat. There I ordered a can of Peach Juice and  a Seafood Doen Jang Soup with rice. Well, the soup was not as spicy as I thought that would be, given that this dish is given a '2 chilli' rating on the menu. It was just nice for me. I remembered being a seafood soup, I had a Mussel, a prawn, a half lobster (if you deem that to be), a clam and with tofus and mushrooms. I must say, the combination and the taste was good but could we have more seafood?

Oh by the way, I not sure if it is due to the weekend, the service crews were not very attentive and since we marked down our orders on the order chit, I would have expected the service crew to repeat our order to make sure we got them right. Instead, that lady just walked off with our ordering chit and we concluded that she had not paid attention to our remarks - my friend asked for less spicy for her Kimchi soup but it turned out to be super red for the broth. Another asked for less rice and all 4 bowls of rice appeared to be the same. So well, if you are not taking such remarks seriously, why bother have that column in the first place, agree?

Peach Juice, Seafood Doen Jang soup

Oh, unlike the other Korean restaurants, Kimchi Restaurant does not serve complimentary banchan (side dishes). You need to pay for it at quite an affordable price but I am not sure if they are refillable. Can't really comment on that since we did not order that but I guess it might be a good things since we are not 'forced' to have them on the table and thus, the price of the food are comparatively made cheaper? Well, that's for each individual to determine.

Kimchi Korean Restaurant
#02-387
Suntec City Mall Convention Tower