It has been a long long while since I last dined at Bugis Junction. And when Hence kindly extended an invite to try Bulgogi Syo, it was a chance to get reacquainted with the mall once more.
Bulgogi Syo is the brainchild of Chef Chul Park, the founder of SEORAE.
From the name of the restaurant, one could expect fire, meat and with these two combined, an interesting table-side dining experience as part of the show (syo). It boasts of an unprecedented 3-Step Hotstone grilling process; Sear, Torch and Flambé.
The restaurant is located at Level 2, along with a cluster of other restaurants. It is the first one you'll encounter after crossing the short bridge to the restaurants cluster.
Visited on a Saturday and the place was super busy from the weekend lunch crowd. We opted for a late lunch at 2pm.
glimpse of weekday lunch specials
Have observed that when there's a queue formed outside of the restaurant, the staff will be proactively interacting with diners, giving out the order chit in advance in order to shorten the process of ordering later on.
As I was waiting for my dining companions, spotted Gong Yoo's advertisement for Terra. Weather is perfect for a glass of cold beer. Drink responsibly as always.
Soon, we were all seated in the restaurant and is ready to order. Simply indicate your order in the order chit and pass it back to the staff.
order up!
We got ourselves these mains; Spicy Baby Octopus (@$25.90), Oyster Blade Bulgogi (@$27.90) and LA Galbi (@$39.90). For sides, we had the Cheesy Tteokbooki with Kimari (@$17.90) , Bacon Kongnamul Pancake (@$15.90), Cheesy Gyeran Jjim (@$10.90) and Seafood Sundubu Jjigae (@$18.90).
While waiting for the mains, diners could self-service at the Banchan Bar where on the day of visit, there were 4 options available; kimchi, tomatoes, macaroni and yellow pickled radish. The macaroni and pickled radish were evidently sweet, so suggest to go easy on those.
macaroni (front), pickled radish (back)
tomatoes (front), kimchi (back)
We could see some cooking action at the open kitchen where some of the dishes were cooked on the hot grill and torched prior to it being served at the table-side.
When the LA Galbi was served, we were warned to keep all the paper napkins, handphones away from the table before the 'show' begins.
The fire will surely elicit some 'oohs and aahs' from the table.
flambe action
Oh, when ordering rice, staff recommended the seaweed rice which I found to be flavourful and lovely to eat with the mains.
yummy seaweed rice
galbi on rice
The galbi was tender as expected. The food at Bulgogi Syo is generally strong flavoured with majority of the food leaning towards the sweeter side.
The other dish that was torched at the table-side was the Cheesy Tteokbooki with Kimari.
torching the cheese
The cut-up fried seaweed roll (kimari) that came with the tteokpokki made it an interesting texture and flavour with the familiar taste of the tteokpokki. The rice cake was not chewy and easy to eat. The sauce was not spicy.
kimari that looked like meatballs
Currently, there's a 1-for-1 Terra beer promo for its 330ml bottle. Cheers to that!
Terra 330ml @$6.90 (Usual Price)
The cheesy steamed egg made a good interlude amidst all the heavier tasting foods. Top layer was laden with cheese and one might even get to see a cheese pull out of it!
Cheesy Gyeran Jjim
One thing to note about the kimchi on the hotplate, was that it tasted more sour than the ones from the Banchan Bar. The bulgogi that we had that day, tasted too beefy/gamey to my liking.
Oyster Blade Bulgogi
I was amused by the smoking hot appearance of the nakji bokkeum (Spicy Baby Octopus). Smoke everywhere and fogging up our cameras and spectacles. Hahaa!
Spicy Baby Octopus
The onions and sauce from this hotplate made a nice gravy for the seaweed rice. Added oomph! The baby octopus was of a tender chewy kind, so I enjoyed it.
First time trying beansprouts pancake with bacon. The pancake here had a crisp exterior with soft doughy interior. Bacon provided the salty relish that most people liked hence, no sauce was really needed although it was provided. The amount of beansprouts in the pancake was minimal to just give it that slightly 'raw' sprouts taste profile. It kinda jolted me to remind again, that hey, I was eating beansprouts pancake and not just bacon pancake!
Bacon Kongnamul Pancake
Seafood Sundubu Jjigae
peeking at the seafood
One of the dishes that I enjoyed at Bulgogi Syo would be the seafood tofu stew (Seafood Sundubu Jigae). Don't be frightened by the redness of the stew as it turned out to be way less spicy than it looked. In comparison with the rest of the food that we ordered, the stew would be the most 'spicy'. In terms of a spicy scale of 10, I would say this was a level 1 for me.
All in all, the staff at Bugis Junction are kind and efficient. Thank you Hence for the invite and special thanks to Bulgogi Syo Bugis Junction's crew who attended to us that day.
BULGOGI SYO
Address: Bugis Junction: 200 Victoria Street, #02-49 Bugis Junction, 188021
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