With all the Korean fever nowadays, it's weird tt I haven't gone into a real Korean restaurant to savour all the yummies. My Korean food intake has largely been limited to food court Bibimbaps (mixed rice in stone pot) and a really delicious meal in Vancouver BC (Canada) in an authentic Korean restaurant. I still dream of the yummilicious Korean seafood steamboat complete with the most gigantic crab I’ve ever eaten.
Look at all the fresh seafood! And yah, we were super hungry and tired so were just waiting for the food to be cooked before we could tuck in.
Back to the main topic. Decided to go try this restaurant since I am a big fan of soups and have always wanted to try Korean Ginseng Chicken soup. It’s in Takashimaya level 4, near the arts supply store, in the location of the previous CJ la mian xiao long bao. When we were there 2 separate ppl were asking where the xiao long bao shop is.
We decided to get the Set B for 2 ppl, $59.90++. It consists of 6 side dishes ($8), seasonal sautéed vegetables ($12), Korean Ginseng Chicken soup ($25), Beef Bibimbap ($16), Grilled Mackerel Fish ($16) plus complimentary fruits. Quite good value we thought, but it was way too much food. Will let the photos tell you why.
The side dishes were not too bad, from left to right: caixin, soya bean sprouts, French beans, ikan bilis, kimchi and potato salad. All of them were served cold. Of these I liked the ikan bilis, soya bean sprouts and kimchi. I just love kimchi cos its both spicy, sour and kick starts your appetite. The rest were ok, but not exceedingly value for money ($1.50 per dish if you order it ala carte).
The vegetables were well executed, simply fried with some oil and garlic, it tasted nice, fresh and uncomplicated (no thick oyster sauce to smother away the veggie taste).
Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup. My fave of the lot, well flavoured, but not greasy, you can also taste the faint hint of ginseng, not too much tt it overwhelms you and puts you off. There was a whole chicken in the soup! It was super tender. And it was stuffed with glutinous rice, chestnuts, red dates and lotus seed, which absorbed all the flavours of the soup. Even though I was stuffed, I kept going at the glutinous rice. Yummy!
Beef Bibimbap. Nicely done and executed. It’s served with lots of veggies, beef, one raw egg yolk in a stone bowl (which has been heated on a stove). You mix everything together with Korean soya bean paste, and the heat from the stone bowl keeps everything nice and warm plus makes some of the rice crispy. TJ loves bibimbap, he ate this super authentic one in Canada and he tells me tt this is comparable. Go try!
Grilled Mackerel Fish. I love nicely grilled fish, and this is one of those. Drizzle abit of lemon juice on it and it becomes heaven. Mackerel is an oily fish which makes it suitable for grilling. The flesh is nice and juicy. But be careful cos it has lots of tiny bones.
The price was a tad steep, but in my opinion it’s well-justified. Korean food is full of veggies so it’s nice and healthy, soya bean is supposed to be good for you, and the chicken soup wasn’t oily (which I absolutely love). One thing I didn’t like was how the food came all at one shot, which overwhelmed the both of us and food tends to go cold. And it was way too much food for two ppl, we were majorly stuffed and even had to take away half a chicken and one grilled fish. So if you go there and order this set, make sure u have at least 3 ppl with you.
All in all, a satisfying meal. I haven’t eaten enough Korean food to comment on its authenticity, but it’s delicious and I’m not complaining.
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Hey so qiao i also went to korean bbq on sat.. but apart fr the rice and the soup (which i wholeheartedly agree is damn good), i also had the bbq pork neck. super juicy, yummy esp when its hot off the grill, it kinda melts in ur mouth even tho its abit chewy.. *drool* try it! its quite fun to bbq, but if u're lazy like me, jus ask them to bbq for u. somehow the portions are bigger when they bbq for u also. dunno why.. and try the prawn in egg batter also not too bad. anyway, if u wanna order extra soup (jus soup) also can, but gotta top up 8 bucks. but worth it la i love the soup! next time we all go la, then can order more! heheh
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