[Tasting] BULGOGI SYO @ Bugis Junction

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

Website: https://www.bulgogisyo.com/

Contact: 9880 9719

Business Hours: 

Daily: 11:30 am–10 pm

Kelim Dakdoritang (계림닭도리탕) @ Kensington Park (Serangoon Gardens)

Hence asked if I would like to join him and Tracy for lunch at Kelim Dakdoritang. I said "Ok" as I was curious on this dish loaded with mountain of minced garlic that I saw in instagram recently. Haven't tried any and didn't see much of it during previous travels to Seoul. Searched it up a bit and dakdoritang (닭도리탕) is essentially a spicy chicken stew. 

shop front

menu

We did not make any reservations (and from what I read online, seems like walk-ins are encouraged). Reached the place at about 12.45pm and there was a queue. Put up your name so that you are in queue. Staff will periodically scan this list (usually after the earlier table had left) and call out to the party or phone them. From what we saw, the staff will usually call more than once.

We waited for more than half hour and then it was finally our turn. It might be a longer wait if the person in front of our queue had turned up.

Orders were quickly placed as we were hungry. Opted for the Dakdoritang (small) as there were only 3 of us, and added the Jumeokbap (DIY Flying Fish Roe Seaweed Roll) and the Grilled Semi Dried Squid.

Jumeokbap 주먹밥 @$9.90

mix it yourself (cr: Tracy's hand)

Jumeokbap is literally translated as 'fist-rice', so am guessing you need to make one as big as a fist? Hmmm, kid's size fist will do for me!

tasty rice ball

Next up, I was curious about semi-dried squid. It looked like a regular dried squid and thankfully, not tough. It was still chewy and the squid was flavourful.

Grilled Semi Dried Squid @$20.90

rice ball with grilled squid toppings

And then, our stew arrived. Small is a good size for 3-pax. And indeed, there was a mountain of minced garlic in the stew. We added the King Oyster mushroom with a top-up of $5.

Dakdoritang @$36.90

The stew itself came with potato chunks, chicken (fresh chicken is used) and rice cake (ttokpokki). The MVP were the chicken and the potato!

let it boil up

enjoy!

We requested for one level up of spice for our stew when we ordered and the spiciness was not too strong. It was just a hint only.

The broth tasted good and appetising, chicken parts tender (even for the breast meat) and potatoes were so good! The chicken itself was flavourful and overall, this dish was somewhat comforting.

yummy

And then when you're done with the meat, just indicate to the staff that you'd like to have the handmade noodles. The stew comes with complimentary noodles but if you would like more, then it is also $5 per topping.

kalguksu added

The noodles takes a while to cook so just let it boil and you'll notice when the texture becomes softer.

not yet

noodles is ready

Unlike ramen when we could undercook it a little, the handmade noodles tasted doughy if you eat it before it is fully cooked. Unless, you like this texture... hahaa!

And we are not done yet, there's one more portion of rice after you're done with the noodles. Staff will scoop up the excess stew and place them in a separate bowl and leave just enough liquid to do the fried rice in the same pot.

fried rice in-progress

mix it around

flatten it

done

let's eat!

Depending on the staff that did the table-side fried rice,  the end outcome might be slightly different. For ours that day, the rice didn't achieve the desired slight crisp at its bottom but that's ok too. I enjoyed the meal, though the place tend to be crowded during weekends.

The meal fed all 3 of us sufficiently, and more. It was rather filling with the potatoes, noodles and rice and we also had jumeokbap, so double double of that rice. Expect to spend about $35 per pax without alcohol for a hearty meal.

Kelim Dakdoritang (계림닭도리탕)

Address: 14B Kensington Park Road Singapore 557265

Website: https://www.kelimdakdoritang.com.sg/

Contact: 6241 4241

Business Hours:

Daily:

11:30 am - 2:30 pm (last order)

5:30pm - 10:00pm (last order)

Breakfast @ Ginger (PARKROYAL on Beach Road)

Was doing a staycay at Parkroyal on Beach Road and was looking for breakfast the next morning. Hotel breakfast is served at Ginger and not at the Club Lounge. Had mistakenly went to Level 6 and there was no breakfast service. So went back down to lobby to enquire on where is the breakfast location and was directed to Ginger.

The place was bustling at 830am. The restaurant is of a good size and should be able to accommodate plenty. Its interior seemed to be Peranakan themed gives a light and spacious feels.

Guests are free to sit anywhere and hence, if you're a solo guest like me, sometimes the table would have been taken by another as staff would try to clean up the table once the guest vacate the seat. 

prata corner

essentials for breakfast; baked beans, scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausages

I like eggs for breakfast, so off I went to the live station where the nice staff would be busy preparing egg omelettes upon order. I'd usually go for 'all-in' as it is easier to order. Just nod when asked, haha!

omelette station

If you do not want to wait for the omelette, actually there's a counter that guests can just freely take the pre-fried scrambled eggs or sunny side eggs. Psst, some of the sunny side up have yolk that's slightly runny if you prefer those.

table for one

Let's eat breakfast! Oh, the drinks section has jugs of juices such as orange, cranberry as well as milk and water. Every now and then, staff would come by to refill the emptied ones.

not so big breakfast

Can you guess the next items that I took? Noodles? Yes you are right!

specialty corner

mee siam

I was a tad amused when the guest ahead of me, took her bowl of mee siam without adding any condiments to it. 

The mee siam sauce (or more like broth) was leaning towards the sweeter side, slightly tangy and not at all oily. Added the hard boiled egg, chili, spring onions and shallots.

I like the congee a tad more than the mee siam. So comforting but the cut chilies that day, was spicy! 

congee

Lastly, time for dessert. There's an automated mini pancakes machine, and it seemed like a curious toy that attracts children. A father was telling his son about the workings of the machine, while I was quietly listening behind and wondering when they'd press the button to start making them pancakes. Hahaa!

make your own mini-pancakes

A single press makes 2 pieces of those mini-pancakes. There are various sauces available on the table, so you could have strawberry jam, kaya, chocolate sauce, peanut butter, or honey for the pancakes.

mini pancakes with chocolate sauce (back) and peanut butter (front)

Overall, expect busy ambiance at Ginger but it was rather easy and fast to obtain the food. Fun thing about buffet styled breakfast is, once you see a line at a certain counter, just move on and eat something else first.