This is my first time posting about Korean food on this blog and the reason is simple: I do not like Korean food.
I am not a fan of Korean anything actually, not on purpose but somehow nothing appeals to me. Not the food, especially, because I don’t fancy the bland food and all. It just never appealed to me. In fact, I’m not a big fan of Asian food in general but Korean food just tops the list for being my least favourite. My favourite Asian cuisine is no doubt Japanese cuisine as you can tell by the numerous posts I have about it.
I had a bad experiences at 2D1N Korean BBQ buffets, which is mostly patronised by young students who has all the time in the world to line up. I ended up with bad diarrhea after the experience and I didn’t even find the food fantastic enough to justify the suffering. Since then I dropped the idea of Korean BBQ and only went for Japanese Yakiniku. (well, yakiniku originated by copying Korean BBQ, but they have their own modifications which suits me better.)
It’s been 2 years since and I think by now, the Korean BBQ scene should have improved in terms of quality to remain competitive. There are simply too many Korean restaurants around nowadays. I decided to give Korean BBQ another chance and the chance went to Super Star K at Tanjong Pagar.
It’s little Korea there, with Korean BBQ dominating the whole row of shops.
This time, I made it a point to avoid buffets. Buffets always have poor quality food simply because the meat will be all laid out in room temperature.
Also important is suction functions. The bad experience at 2D1N was made worse with poor visiblity due to poor ventilation of the grease. There was no suction features at all and it was worse than having haze. Needless to say everyone smelled like BBQ and even FeBreeze couldn’t help. Thankfully, most Korean BBQ places comes with proper suction hood at every grill, so it’s good here.
Superstar K also has charcoal which I appreciate (2D1N simply used a hot plate!), but it wasn’t really a charcoal grill because most of the heat was provided from gas. The charcoal was merely there to add some flavour I guess.
As with all Korean restaurants, side dishes are provided and are refillable. This place provides this egg casserole which is the best! I never liked Korean side dishes but this is an exception. It was squishy and soft.
For 4 people, we had Kimchi Pork Belly, Pork Neck, Chicken (I’m sorry I can’t remember what kind), smoked duck and sausages.
Accompanied with the side dishes, it was enough for everyone and in particular, the pork neck was the best. I don’t have a decent photo of it because it looks kind of gross when raw, but trust me it is very very tender.
The total cost was about $101 and I think it’s quite cheap! Much better than the buffet style Korean BBQ, and definitely one of the best Korean food I’ve had so far.
******
Ambiance: 6/10
Food: 8/10
Value: 8/10
Overall: one of the better Korean BBQ places I know of!
*****
75 Tanjong Pagar Road, Singapore, Singapore 088496
Tel: 6224 0504
*****
Daily: 17:30 – 02:00
Hungry Bird 