Sarang - Modern Korean Dining @ Orchard Central (Part II)

Located at Level 7 of Orchard Central. Second visit and this time round for dinner. Chose indoor seats and thankfully, the music wasn't that loud. At one glance, its patrons were made up of mainly young adults. We were the oldies there.

drinks menu

indoor seats

For drinks, we tried the Makgeolli Mojito, Makgeolli Orange and Maesil Cha (plum tea). The makgeolli drinks were $10++ each, while maesil cha was $4++. The makgeolli drinks were very very mild. One would be inclined to think these were mocktails instead of it being a cocktail!

Makgeolli Mojito

Makgeolli Orange

Its food menu had undergone some changes. For example, chicken bong bong and ginseng porridge are no longer available. Anyway, we ordered the Sarang Japchae (@$9.80++), Modeum Pajeon (pancake with seafood and bacon @ $13.80++), Dak Gangjeong (tangy fried chicken @$12.80++) and a Kimchi Jjim (braised kimchi and pork @$15.80++). And two bowls of rice to share amongst the three of us.

This place doesn't serve complimentary banchans. Nope. But if you order a bowl of rice (@$1.80++), then that does come with three types of banchan (two types of kimchi and one peanuts). Unfortunately, this was the first time that I didn't like any of the banchans. There was one hard and crunchy strips that tasted like chye poh, the cabbage kimchi was nicely soft but it was shredded and overly salty. The peanuts were the crunchy type.

chye poh radish? No idea, but it was hard and crunchy

kimchi and peanuts (crunchy)

Sarang Japchae

The Japchae was very tasty and oily but nevertheless, we slurped it all.

yums chewy strands

Kimchi Jjim, or kimchi boiled marinated pork belly in sauce. There was only little bit of sauce but enough to slather some over the rice. Nice.

Kimchi Jjim

layered with shredded eggs, tofu, pork and kimchi

braised pork belly on rice

tap water

Watch out for the super salty kimchi at the bottom of the bowl. The meat wasn't cooked till tender soft. In fact, it was rather chewy.

Supreme pancake or modeum pajeon, was served in an elongated plate. The seafood ingredients seemed to be just squid. Liked the vege in the pancake!

Modeum Pajeon (Supreme Pancake)

closer view

The Dak Gangjeong was five pieces of deep fried drumlets in tangy sauce. Crunchy batter and well-seasoned.

Dak Gangjeong

Service was friendly and the meal costs about $32 per pax.

Harry's @ Rail Mall, Bukit Timah

Was there on a weekday night. Outdoor seats were pretty limited and close proximity between tables.

Ordered a pint of Erdinger and some bar snacks; mini fish & chips and prawn wantons.

Erdinger draught @$16++ per pint

food's arriving

mini fish & chips @$13++

There were two fish & chips listed. One in the regular menu while the other from the bar snacks menu. Price difference of $3, so asked the waitress what's the difference between the two. The regular menu Fish & Chips would be two larger pieces of fish while the mini version would have smaller chunks of about four to five pieces. I remembered that I had half portion of the regular fish and chips at Harry's @ Boat Quay and remembered liking it. Not sure why but the ones here at Harry's Rail Mall were much greasier.

prawn wantons @ $12++

small prawn

There's a 15% discount if paying via StanChart credit card.

Bornga 본가/本家 @ Star Vista, Buona Vista

Located at Level 2 of Star Vista, Bornga was one of the few restaurants that piqued my interest, especially if its "WooSamGyup" 우삼겹 (new style Korean beef BBQ) recipe by Chef Paik Jong Won, is a patented one.

Was there around 7pm on a weekend and the waiting time was about 20-30 minutes.

BBQ meat prices ranges from $18++ till $45++. The intention was to try their trademarked dish "WooSamGyup" ($22++), but the minimum order is 2 portions so we ordered the Samgyupsal 삼겹살 ($18++) as well.

table setting

Complimentary drinks came in the form of a plastic jug of tea (room temperature), which is left on the table for the diners to help themselves with.

complimentary tea

help yourself

For those having BBQ, there would be a flurry of activities as the service staff will bring sauces, vegetables platter and side dishes to your table.

special sauce for the WooSamGyup

tasted like sesame oil

garlic slices

The special sauce tasted salty, tangy and sweet. The assorted vegetable was kind of impressive due to its length. Covered the entire width of the table. WOoo!

Ssamcheban (assorted vegetables platter)

The Ssamcheban has lettuces, cabbages (boiled), spinach (raw), carrot sticks and large green chilies and some unknown vege.

There were four types of side dishes; lettuce salad, shredded spring onion kimchi/salad, kimchi (non-spicy) and radish kimchi served in medium bowls.

lettuce salad

shredded spring onions

radish kimchi

watery kimchi (didn't fancy this)

The radish kimchi was the nicest of all side dishes. Juicy and tangy! The shredded onions was nice too, if you like onions but I choked on it the first time because of its 'spiciness' (similar to wasabi but not as powerful).

Samgyupsal (pork belly, lightly seasoned with pepper)

WooSamGyup (marinated thinly sliced beef brisket)

Once the meat arrived, and the grill has heated up, it was time for BBQ!

slow and easy

looking good

Grilling the meats were easy-peasy. The thinly sliced beef sizzled right away, and it'll taste good no matter how you cooked it (unless it's burnt to a crisp..)

beautiful looking ready-to-eat WooSamGyup

Then, enjoy the meat by wrapping it in wonderfully fresh lettuce.

lettuce wrapped WooSamGyup

For pork belly, the grilling time was definitely much longer and it always made the grilling plate dirty pretty fast. Service staff who happened to walk by would then offer to change the grilling plate to a clean one.

grilled pork belly

almost finishing the bean paste sauce

Chomped down lettuces upon lettuces and pretty soon, the platter looked like this:

where has all the greens gone to?

Ate the green chili and found that, actually there wasn't any heat in it at all. Just seeds. Lots of seeds.

hot stuffs

All the side dishes are refillable, but the two of us barely managed to finish them. But we did request for one more small plate of lettuce. If you're really not into grilling, then perhaps can ask for assistance as I saw the floor manager (presumably) going round and helping diners with the meat grilling. But he didn't help us. But that's because I think we were grilling too slowly (like two to four few pieces at any time) to require any assistance!

At the end of the meal, the staff will serve diners with a complimentary drink: omija (오미자). Also known as 五味茶 or five flavour tea. Its berry is called the five flavour berry. According to wikipedia, this berry has medicinal values but should not be used by pregnant women.

omija drink

Omija was served in a small bowl, with crushed ice. Tasted salty, sweet and tangy (sour). Didn't taste any bitter nor spicy taste though. If you like sour plum drink, then you'll probably like this drink too. 

orangey coloured

Service staff were friendly, and they were pretty alert on dirty grill plates. After the BBQ meal, we smelled like BBQ ourselves.

This meal costs $49.45 for two pax and it fed us well.

KPO Cafe Bar @ Killiney Road

Located at Killiney Road Post Office, this building is near Orchard Central.

as seen from across the road

dinner & drinks

drinks menu (just kidding, they do have laminated menu for the table)

Happy hour till 8pm, so quickly ordered our beers. Had Kronenbourg (HH: $13, non HH: $18).

Kronenbourg Blanc & Lager

choice beer for the night

There was a bowl of tapioca sticks on our table after I got back from the washroom. First bowl of tapioca sticks was complimentary. Subsequently, it's priced at $4 per refill.

tapioca stick

salty and hard crispy

Piping hot, juicy deep fried chicken wings made a nice meaty appetiser. It was devoured to the bones in no time.

simple deep fried wings (5 pieces)

skinny wings

juicy drumlet

Was a little surprised when we were automatically presented with the bill when food was served. Eh? Maybe this is the default practice? Not sure.

Anyways, subsequently we asked for them to keep an open tab since we were still waiting for another friend to arrive and will surely be ordering more food and beers. For this, they'll take away your credit card and gives you a metal tag (like a wrist dog-tag) to keep in-lieu. Everytime the table orders something, the service person will look at that number from the tag and jot it in the order chit, and lets you sign on it.

order chit

Ordered more food: KPO Hokkien Mee ($14), Kronenbourg Fish & Chips ($23) and Pizza Bruschetta ($22).

KPO Hokkien Mee

thick bee hoon and yellow noodles

sambal yums

The hokkien mee was like comfort food. Familiar taste, hawker style in bar ambiance. Add a bit of sambal for that extra oomph.

Our table was definitely too small for all the plates, bowls and glasses! Overflowed.

fish and chips

The Kronenbourg Fish & Chips, has with tartar sauce onplate and if you wish for additional sauces, they also have mustard, chili, ketchup and mayo too. Not sure what type of fish it was, but the meat was kind of soft. The beer batter was crispy, but the flesh of the fish disintegrated too easily. The fries had hints of truffle fragrance. Fun food to be eaten with fingers, and washed down with beer. *burp*

Pizza Bruschetta

a slice is not enough

The pizza was thin crusted, and tasted exactly like how a bruschetta would taste except there's no bready dough. Only crispy cracker-like crust. Krak krak, nyam nyam. Liked the rocket leaves too for a hint of bitterness, though it looked quite limp in the picture...

All the above fed four females, and most of us had beer while one had Earl Grey Tea. Total cost was about $38 per pax.

Service that night was generally good. The guy who took our order, came back with a tiny plastic chair for us to put our bags since it was cumbersome to carry it on our laps. And, they'll come back often to clear plates, bowls and bones (if any). Iced water is available upon request.