By Teo Pau Lin, 08 May 2005
Sunday Times

GRILL SEEKERS: Korean expats go to places like the family-owned Ju Shin Jung restaurnts, which specialises in Korean charcoal barbecue.

SINGAPOREANS might have fallen in love with Korean TV dramas, but they will be hard pressed to find an eatery that serves great Korean food.

If you're looking for authentic bulgogi, kimchi or seafood pancake, you're better off eating them in Kuala Lumpur or Jakarta, which Korean expatriates here say offer better fare.

'Even the best restaurants in Singapore, like Ju Shin Jung, Manna and Crystal Jade Ginseng Chicken and Barbecue, score only eight out of 10,' says Seoul-born fund manager Kim Jun Sung, 38, who grew up in Singapore.

Jang Jung, 41, the former football coach for Balestier Khalsa club, who is also from Seoul, says he hardly eats out - he prefers the food cooked at home by his wife.

The lacklustre standards and generally high prices could be because demand is small - there are only about 7,000 Koreans living here.

Still, the Korean food scene has come a long way.

Thirty-two years after Singaporean Lim Siang Hee set up Korean Restaurant, the city's first in Specialist Shopping Centre in 1973, there are now about 20 eateries in town.

Tanjong Pagar Road alone hosts five Korean restaurants and a few Korean supermarkets, making it a mini Korea town.

Other restaurants are found in hotels and within the Central Business District. Korean food stalls can also be spotted in most shopping mall foodcourts. But most Koreans wouldn't approve of their quality.

Mr Lim, 53, who still runs Korean Restaurant, says: 'When we first opened, nobody knew what Korean food was. We had to tell them it's not Japanese.'

He says that demand for Korean food rose after 1988, when the Seoul Olympics created curiosity among Singaporeans about the country's cuisine.

More Korean restaurants popped up in the 1990s, when Korean construction companies brought hundreds of Korean expatriates to the city.

In recent years, the wave of K-pop music and Korean TV shows and movies also made all things Korean - food included - popular.

Most Singaporeans are acquainted with the spicy, piquant tastes of kimchi (fermented cabbage) and the smoky bite of bulgogi (barbecue beef).

Korean cuisine is made of staples like grilled meat and fish, soups, stews, cold buckwheat noodles, and a variety of pickled and blanched vegetables.

Compared to Japanese food, it is spicier from the heavy use of chillies, and is mostly served with traditional silver bowls and chopsticks.

Korean expats say restaurants here have not done much to enhance the dining experience through ambience.

An expatriate in the electronics line, who declined to be named, says restaurants are no more than character-less 'rooms', 'not even to the standard of mid-range restaurants in Korea', he laments.

Still, there seems to be a slow but steady move towards better representation.

Ju Shin Jung, a one-year-old restaurant in West Coast Highway, specialises in Korean-style charcoal-grill barbecue.

Owner Yun Bo Yong, 32, who is from Seoul, says there are many specialist restaurants in Korea focusing solely on ginseng chicken soup or steamed pork with cabbage.

'We are the first in Singapore to specialise in any form of Korean food,' she says.

Hopefully, she won't be the last.

Where Expats Go To Eat

Out of the 20 or so Korean restaurants here, Korean expatriates recommend the following for their quality and authenticity.

Crystal Jade Ginseng Chicken and BBQ
#04-20 Ngee Ann City
Tel: 6733-3229

A joint venture between the Crystal Jade group and a Korean partner, this small eatery is helmed by a Hong Konger who has cooked in the territory's Korean restaurants for over 20 years. Korean expatriates like the boiled sliced pork with cabbage ($16) and ginseng chicken soup ($25).

Haebok
#02-02 Furama Riverfront Hotel
Tel: 6735-4440

Opened by Korean owner Hwang Sang Young's mother in 1993, it is trusted by Koreans for its reliable menu. Try the barbecue beef ($18), seafood pancake ($12) and Chun Cheon chicken barbecue ($16).

Ju Shin Jung
27 West Coast Highway (opposite Haw Par Villa)
#01-18/19 YESS Centre
Tel: 6464-0872

This spacious restaurant claims to be the first here to specialise in Korean charcoal barbecue, which comes with over 10 side dishes and free refills. Its three Korean chefs also offer cold noodles, pancakes and raw beef. Prices for the barbecue range from $20 (for pork belly and chicken) to $30 (for beef) per person.

Ryo Jeong
#02-59 International Plaza
Tel: 6324-3121

The food must be authentic when as much as 70 per cent of the restaurant is filled with Korean expatriates. Its two Korean chefs don't hold back on the chilli to suit Korean tastebuds. Try the fried octopus ($20) and beancurd fried with kimchi ($25).

Manna
101-109 Telok Ayer Street
Tel: 6227-7425

This 250-seater offers over 60 traditional dishes. Business has been so brisk that it also has two food stalls at the Takashimaya Shopping Centre and Millenia Walk foodcourts. Try the hotstone bibimbap ($16) and spicy octopus ($22).

Sa Rang Bang
76 Amoy Street
Tel: 6736-2003

Formerly located in Martin Road, this restaurant has shifted to Amoy Street and will only start business on Tuesday. Korean-owned, it is famous for its ginseng chicken soup ($25). Try also its pork belly barbecue ($20) and kimchi soup ($18).

Se Ra Bel
#04-01 Furama Hotel
Tel: 6535-0336

Opened for 16 years, this Korean-owned restaurant can sit 230 diners and has four private tatami rooms. It is famous for its spare-rib barbecue ($26), spicy soup steamboat ($30 for two people) and ginseng chicken soup ($20).

Common Korean dishes

BIBIMBAP: Steamed rice mixed with meat, vegetables and savoury paste

BO SAM: Boiled pork slices with blanched cabbage

BULGOGI: Marinated sliced beef cooked on grills

CHAP CHAE: Stir-fried vermicelli with meat and vegetables

DUBU KIMCHI: Fried kimchi with boiled beancurd

GINSENG CHICKEN SOUP: Nutritious broth made with chicken and Korean ginseng

KIMCHI JIGAE: Stew made with pork broth and kimchi

NAKJI BOKUM: Stir-fried octopus with spicy vegetables

PA JON: Korean pancake with eggs, vegetables or meat

SEANG KALBI: Unmarinated beef ribs cooked on grills