What birthday girl wants, birthday girl gets. Um Yong Baek seemed to be the trendy place to dine at, somewhat. Rumors of long queues seemed true from the recent experience. The two outlets; Telok Ayer and Boon Tat Street are pretty close to each other.
Telok Ayer outlet
before the shop opens
One should go online on the day of visit, and get a queue number. Thanks to Tiara, we were lucky to be placed in the first batch of diners to go in once the shop opens at 11am. Perhaps that was because we visited on a weekday.
At approximately, 10:45am, Tiara received an email notification that our table at Boon Tat Street outlet is ready. We headed over on foot as we were around the Telok Ayer area. Reached by 10:55am but the shop didn't open its door till about 11.10am.
queue at Boon Tat Street outlet
queuing instruction and opening times
The staff will ask the patron to display the email notification of the table number and will check that all parties in the group are present before being let into the restaurant.
tables nearer to the entrance
We were led to the inner section of the restaurant where there were more tables available. The traditional types at the outer section near the entrance gives the cosy aesthetics but it does take up more space in the shop.
As all tables seemed to be meant for 4 pax, so we shared it with another patron whom is dining solo.
open kitchen view
The tables have been setup with the side dishes, flask of water prior to the guests arrival.
pickled green chilies and vege stem
onions/chives kimchi
kimchi
bean paste, sliced green chilies and sliced garlic
water, self-service
salted shrimps
salt
Um Yong Baek offers dwaeji gukbap 돼지국밥 (Pork & Rice Soup) for lunch and there's two types; Busan style Daejigukbap and the Milyang style Daejigukbap. For dinner, its menu offers BBQ aged pork and makguksu (buckwheat noodle).
Ok, so we ordered the pork and rice soup, one each. Best of both worlds!
(top) Busan style Daejigukbap and (bottom) Milyang style Daejigukbap
Was happy with the generous amount of meat in the standard bowl and the meat is of quality. Tried the soup for both and the Busan style broth has a more pronounced porky flavour while the Milyang style broth is richer but less pronounced porky taste.
Busan style Daejigukbap @$21
large piece of pork slice
Usual practice is, one can add the salted shrimp, or salt, or the bean paste to enhance the flavour of the broth. Recommend not to add all at once but one and a little bit at a time, to see which one you like more. My favourite was the bean paste as it changes the profile of the soup quite a bit.
Milyang style Daejigukbap @$21
beautiful layers
Perfect for cold weather, and it was quite filling at the end of the meal. It was enjoyable to match the spoonful of rice, some soup and a piece of kimchi. One could inform the staff to refill any of the side dish. We had another round of kimchi because we enjoyed the crunchy texture, and the juicy-ness of the kimchi here.
To my lunch companion Tiara, thank you for your company and Happy Birthday!
There is a new Korean BBQ restaurant at 82 Amoy Street and we were excited to try! The restaurant is easy to spot and if you are lucky, you may get a parking spot close to the restaurant. PUJIM is owned by Busan native, Mr D.O Kim and this spacious new place serves Busan cuisine and good meats for its BBQ.
When you walk into the restaurant, you will definitely notice the purple neon signs scattered throughout the dark interior of the restaurant. Of course, the other noticeable item would be the smoke extractor above all tables. The neon signs gave the place a rather happening vibe and the tables are adequately spaced out.
PUJIM's interior
PUJIM is fairly new and there is an opening promotion at the moment. The menu will indicate accordingly, or you could also enquire from the friendly staff.
menu
artwork
We noted that free wifi is available in the restaurant. For drinks, the range of alcoholic drinks included local beer or Korean beer (Hite/Cass), soju (plain or flavoured), makgeolli, baekseju, bokbunja, and non-alcoholic drinks of canned drinks and bottled water. You can also BYOB and the corkage fee is $50 for wine and $70 for others.
drinks
This BBQ place offers 6 types of banchans and for BBQ, there is a minimum order of 300gms for the first order and subsequent order is in minimum of 100gms thereafter.
banchan for two tables
For the banchans, the kimchi was pretty good and the apple salad was rather refreshing. The surprise item was the pickled celery. It was a surprise as the taste is of a familiar and unexpectedly homely. Try it and you'll understand what I mean.
lovely kimchi
pickled celery
are we having bread later?
The utensils are placed in the drawer located at the ends of the table.
retrieve the utensils and we are ready to eat
The staff will do the cooking and diners only need to enjoy the food. There are plenty of dishes that one could order while waiting for the BBQ. We started with Busan Amok Tang (부산어묵탕) and Seafood Soup (해물탕). Two medium sized bronze pots were brought to the table and placed ontop of the gas stoves.
Seafood Soup 해물탕 @$35 (UP $40)
Busan Amok Tang 부산어묵탕 @$35 (UP $38)
The haemultang (seafood soup) was loaded with seafood such as flower crabs, large scallops, prawns, mussels, clams, octopus and squid. The soup was slightly spicy with a lovely umami flavour. Shiok!
The Busan Amok Tang (Fishcake Soup) is suitable for the kids, and came with many variants of fried fishcake (long, short, round, squarish), lots of onions and spring onions and some ricecake (tteokbokki). The soup was sweet and tasty. Our table liked both of these soups. I personally preferred the seafood soup.
There is also the seafood pancake 해물파전 which looked slightly different from what I had tried before in other Korean restaurants. The flour was really to a minimum and the base was mainly green spring onions.
Haemul Pajeon 해물파전 @$35
Plenty of crunchy shiny prawns ontop of the pancake and some squid too. The pancake was nice, not overly seasoned, and lovely prawns but I kind of missed the flour. Dipping sauce is provided but it was not necessary. This dish was also noticeably oily towards the base.
prawns
Next up, meats! We were so ready for these. Started with Premium Beef Ribeye Cap, which is said to be the tastiest cut of a steak. It is shaped like a prawn and is located under the front section of the backbone.
Premium Beef - Ribeye Cap @$38 per 100gm (UP $43 per 100gm)
sizzling in progress
The smell from the grill was amazing. The prawn-shaped meat cooked well and we got to enjoy this delicious and rare cut within minutes. The cooked meat would be laid ontop of the white bread for guests to partake.
The meat had lovely grill marks and the thin layer of meat was easy to breakdown. As this was not marinated, one could enjoy the natural taste of the meat. The meat was easily chewed and it wasn't too oily.
Ribeye Cap
Next, was the ultimate Premium Beef of dreams. The striploin A4 wagyu. Look at those marblings and imagine its melty taste..mMmmm.
Premium Beef - Striploin @$35 per 100gm (UP $40 per 100 gm)
listen to its sizzles~
fire dance
I actually preferred the striploin over the ribeye cap. Loved the oily mouthfeel of the striploin and it just melted in my mouth. Minimal chewing was needed. Enjoyed this premium beef very much!
striploin - chunky cut (by female staff)
striploin second piece - strip cut (by male staff)
What goes well with the grilled meats? A little bit of alcohol. Beer or soju, your choice. Wah, did not realise that the flavoured soju was actually pretty good.
flavoured soju (grape) and Korean beer
For non-beef eaters, one could do BBQ pork as well. The version here uses Iberico pork and diners would have a happy-belly good time with quality meats. The pork collar was a formidable looking chunk. Enough meat to feed all the meatatarians in the group!
Iberico Pork Neck @$54 for 300gm (+30gm free) (UP $20 per 100gm)
Not too sure how this large chunk of meat was supposed to be cooked but luckily, the staff was on-hand to do the cooking.
look at those fats!
Watch the meat cooks and hear it sizzles (please don't mind the noise behind):
The pork neck needs to be cooked much longer as it was of a thick cut and with plenty of fats. Till the meat turned a delicious brown and that's when it is ready to be eaten. The pork neck has stronger flavours and it paired well with icy cold beer.
Iberico pork neck
For pork, of course one must not leave out the pork belly cut. Samgyeopsal is the classic cut for Korean BBQ. The plate of pork belly in PUJIM looked really beautiful and the layers of fat and meat were so evenly spread!
Pork Belly 삼겹살 @$11 for 100gm (UP $13 per 100gm)
grilled samgyeopsal
chunky meat lettuce wrap with a dab of gochujang
After all the unmarinated meats had been consumed, it was time to move on to the marinated beef brisket.
beef brisket $16 per 100 gm (UP $18 per 100 gm)
The thinly sliced briskets cooks quickly, and once again, we enjoyed the tasty flavours of this cut. Tender, slightly leaning on the sweet side and highly enjoyable. Recommended.
grilling the briskets
beef brisket wrap
It has been a while since I've enjoyed good quality meats at a Korean BBQ place. It brings back lovely memories of Busan's trip.
All in all, PUJIM is a Korean BBQ restaurant that offers its diners not only good quality meat but also Busan's flavours and hospitality.
Special thanks to Alvin for extending the invitation and PUJIM for hosting us. Had enjoyed the food and the hospitality. Will be back, see you soon.
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