Tucked away at Level 3 of Odeon Towers at 331 North Bridge Road, there lies a cool rooftop bar called Loof. Suspected that it's called Loof 'cause pronounced the 'lao hong' (漏风) way so instead of Roof, it became Loof. No idea, but could possibly be true, right?
signage
menu, please
It's menu has fun things in it, tapas style. We ordered Bacon Lollipop, Twisties Charred Corn, Ichiban Fried Lice (yup, that's correct spelling alright) and Loof Original Ramly. Most extravagant single item in the food menu is the Original Ramly @$23++.
view from the top
Ah, and since it is a bar first and foremost, one would keep the tab open by supplying a card.
bar
Yes, not forgetting the drinks. Our teetotaller friends had mocktails while the drinkers had cocktails. Mine was Little Pink Dot, a pinkish concoction served in a lightbulb. It's made of marshmallow gin (first time seeing this!), mandarin rice wine, dark plum, orange, pink grapefruit, egg white and lavender bitters. Overall, it has a slight powdery texture and sweet. Alcohol content, probably on the lower side. It was a rather small bulb after all.
Little Pink Dot @$19++
Jackfruit Bubble Tea @$21++
There's also a MaMa shop once you exit from the lift. Nice retro things. A blast from the past, if you may.
old school biscuits and accessories
my toy when I was a kid
Service was efficient and our food arrived after a short wait. Liked that everything was served at one go. Nice.
[anti-clockwise] Ichiban Fried Lice, Twisties Charred Corn, Lollipop Bacon and Loof Original Ramly
The fried rice at one glance, did have a whole lot of ebiko loaded and that provided crunchy texture for each bite. Yums! There's sakura shrimp and edamame too. Enjoyable and hey, it's carbs!
Had high hopes for the Twisties Charred Corn as I do have a gold standard that all charred corn now had to match against. The version at Loof was not it, but still nice. Appreciate that the service crew indulged us in our request to have the corn removed from its cob so that the four of us could share it easily.
In terms of value, the fried rice provided a better value at $18++ per plate when compared against the corn.
Twisties Charred Corn @$13++
The Loof Original Ramly was a thick Australian beef patty, wrapped in egg dripping in secret sedap sauce and served with waffle cut truffle fries. But the sauce was rather mild though.
Loof Original Ramly with waffle fries @$23++
patty wrapped in omelette in sedap sauce
The winner in terms of taste with a decision by unanimous collective agreement, was the Bacon Lollipop. Four sticks of succulent juicy, shiny thick pancetta glazed with sweet maple syrup. Salty, so best paired with a drink.
Bacon Lollipop @$16++
Expect to spend about $40++ per pax minimum if you intend to have a cocktail and a bar bite.
Mention Long Ji and almost automatically, one would associate it with wok hei crab bee hoon (龙记螃蟹米粉). A group of us foodies decided to trudge to this place to try out this popular dish. Reservations is necessary. The restaurant seemed to be favoured by tourists and there were many tables of foreign friends enjoying their meal day on our day of visit. Why, we too brought our foreign friends to try the famed dishes together!
menu
For a table of 11 pax, we ordered two plates of Long Ji Bee Hoon Crab with estimated price for each plate of crab bee hoon to be $70++ per plate, with the crab weighing in at 1kg each. Other dishes include deep fried tofu with cereal and pumpkin sauce, salted egg yolk fried pumpkin strips, green dragon vegetables, prawn paste chicken and fermented pork belly.
cover charge
The noise level in this restaurant was so high till normal conversation with your table mates were almost impossible. We could either shout till our voice gone hoarse, or just eat our meal in silence. The restaurant staff seemed harried as well and at times, could be quite difficult to get their attention.
Plates after plates of bee hoon crab were seen at each of the tables. It's almost certain that everyone who's here at Long Ji would be ordering this. Similarly, our cameras started working once the star dish arrived.
Long Ji Bee Hoon Crab 龙记螃蟹米粉 @ $70++
The first time that I had dry version of crab bee hoon was at De Classic Golden Spoon at Seng Poh Lane. The sauce was of a darker colour and minimal excess as most would have been soaked up by the bee hoon and the wok hei was the best then. That was the epitome of dry bee hoon crab for me. With that gold standard, I was eager to try the Long Ji version. Not sure if the kitchen was in a hurry that day, but while the broth was sweet it just didn't packed that umami punch. The bee hoon could have been braised a tad longer too. Thought the chili sauce provided along with this dish was really good and did its job to elevate the taste of the bee hoon with its spicy-kick and tangy-ness.
Shrimp Paste Chicken 虾酱鸡 @$18++
Shrimp paste chicken was well-fried with juicy moist meat but the shrimp paste taste was a tad lacking. This would be rather suitable for friends who dislike the strong pungent smell of shrimp paste.
The Green Dragon Vegetables is from the chives family. Reminds me of char kway teow, ee-fu noodles, kuchai kueh and the likes. Fried with bean sprouts and offered a refreshing change from the meat-heavy dishes.
Green Dragon Vegetable 青龙菜@$18++
Fermented Pork Belly @$20++
The appetiser somehow managed to appear along with all the main courses. Nevertheless, the Salted Egg Pumpkin was rather enjoyable. Golden brown, thick cut slices of deep fried pumpkin, well coated with that grainy tasty salted egg yolk sauce. Another well loved dish was the deep fried tofu with cereal and pumpkin sauce. There's something about golden deep fried that they did very well here.
Salted Egg Pumpkin 咸蛋金瓜 @$18++
Deep Fried Tofu with Cereal and Pumpkin Sauce 麦香豆腐 @$16++
It has been so many years since I last dined at Shaw Centre. Sure, once in a while I'd go to the Isetan Supermarket nearby but that's about it. And, was surprised to find out that 8 Eight Korean BBQ had opened another outlet at Shaw Centre. You would've seen lots of reviews on its colourful 8 flavours Mangalitsa Pork BBQ amongst many of the blogs in Singapore.
Located at Level 4 of Shaw Centre, the place was easy to find. The place was fairly relaxed around 7pm but tends to get rather busy around 8+ in the evening. Hence, do make your reservations especially for larger groups to avoid disappointment. Click here to book.
menu
interior
For parents' who'd like to enjoy BBQ here and has a young child with them, no worries as 8 Korean BBQ seemed child friendly with baby chairs available. Plus, the staff will do the BBQ for you so you can tend to your baby.
selection of canned and bottled drinks
Thus far, 8 Korean BBQ is the only place that serves Mangalitsa Pork in Singapore. Mangalitsa or Mangalica? Literature has it that they are both the same. Yes, the modern lit. aka Google. Hmm, anyway...a brief on Mangalitsa. It is a rather hairy breed of pig originating from Hungary. Was breed way back in the 1830s by crossbreeding Hungarian breeds with an European wild boar and Serbian Sumadija breed. What's good with this Mangalitsa breed is that, it doesn't take much for it to survive out there in the harsh weather. And that's good, because not only it is a hardy breed, it also has a high lard producing capacity. Imagine succulent marbled meat...almost as though it was breed for...BBQ! Haha, joking.
Because we can only get Mangalitsa pork for BBQ at this place, it would be a crime not to order one set to try. Besides that, one could also order the mushrooms and squid for the BBQ and some seafood pancake, kimchi cheese fried rice to line the stomach while waiting for the grill action to start. For the stews, there's the usual Budae and Kimchi.
this is not an appetiser - radish to clean the grill
Free-flow side dishes or 반찬 is served for diners to munch on. There were four items; baby potato in sweet soy cane sugar glaze, parboiled spinach, preserved radish and leek.
banchan 반찬
Oh, if you have a bag or handbag and was thinking of whether it'll smell with all the BBQ and stuff, no worries. Simply store your bag into the seat. Lift up the round seat cover of the stool and place your items in there.
bag in
For drinks, I had the plum drink. Was rather diluted though so perhaps Yucha tea would be a better choice.
Korean Plum Juice @$4++
Quite liked the baby potatoes. I think I ate quite a few of those cuties!
baby potato in soy cane sugar glaze
Let's get the grill started and take a look at the foods that'll soon be in our bellies.
fire up!
8 Colours Set (8 맛 삼겹살) @$98++
Each set comes with kimchi, beansprouts (both placed on the grill), lettuce (for wrap) and seafood bean paste stew.
Wild Mushroom Set (야생 버섯) @$18++
So while those sizzles and cook on the grill, we had our fill of cooked food such as the delicious seafood pancake and the kimcheese fried rice.
Seafood Pancake 해물파전 @$20++
Kimcheese Fried Rice 김치 치즈 볶음밥 @$20 ++
Liked the seafood pancake as the pancake dough had been nicely cooked with just the right thickness. Mix the kimcheese (kimchi and cheese) fried rice with the egg yolk and one gets a nice, moist bowl of tasty carbs.
ready to eat, say kimcheese~
Getting a bit thirsty? Try 8 Korean BBQ's own brew of makgeolli. There's organic brew (Joo brew) and a few slushed with yucha, organic honey or passionfruit.
Passionfruit Makgeolli 열정 과일 막걸리 @$35++
cheers 건배
A jug of the deliciously creamy homebrewed passionfruit makgeolli can be shared amongst 4 pax.
Grilled Squid 구이 오징어 @18++
waiting for the prized pork
As for the pork, here's a playlist of the recordings done. From the 8 Colours Set where one gets 8 flavours of mangalitsa pork, we'll be chomping our way through lighter flavours of original, wine, curry, garlic, miso, herb, kalbi and red pepper paste.
let's eat 먹자!
grilled wild mushrooms
Having had our fill of the meats and the fragrant mushrooms simply grilled with garlic butter, it was then time to cool down with Korean desserts. What comes to mind? Bingsu, of course!
Loved the chocolatey Choco Loco Bingsu. Dig deep and be rewarded with nutella-hazelnut fudgy find. So good! The Bibimbap Bingsu was very pretty and this was one 'yolk' that will not ooze. Haha!
Choco Loco @$18++
dig in!
Bibimbap Bingsu @$28++
Enjoyable evening spent with good company. Special thanks to 8 Korean BBQ, Joanne, Shaun and their crew for having us and for their hospitality and HGW folks for the invite.
For those celebrating birthdays, perhaps you might want to get onto the Seoul Train?
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