The Corner Place Korean BBQ @ Marina Square

This was an invited session organised by HungryGoWhere to test out the food at The Corner Place Korean BBQ located at the food court at Level 4 The Gallerie Food Court.

It's really located at the corner! It's part of the food court, but it's located at the sides with its own seating area. Turn right when you get up the escalator and you will see it.

They are having a promotion right.
From now until 15 May 2012, the daily Korean BBQ Buffet is only at $22+.
Lunch sets start from $6.95+ and it's inclusive of 6-8 side dishes and rice.

Here's my experience with some other food lovers and the HungryGoWhere folks:


When you sit down, you see an oversize grilling tray and it's slanted.
Don't try to fix it, it's meant to be like that, the oil will flow down while you BBQ.


We walked to the 'buffet' food collection area and there were a range of sauces. Guess what? I did not take any because I thought it was not needed! The BBQ food has been marinated and there were tasty enough.


The condiments here are for the salad.


If you are wondering what they the different sauces are, look at this piece of paper pasted on the wall.

KopiKosongGirl and I were chatting with Chris the 'boss'. We talked about different things including where to get the korean metal bowls in Korea! (Our parents were going for a Korean tour, and we were getting info of where to buy good ones in Korea)
 
They are still quite new and they are trying to see what customers want. If you find something you really like or something you don't like. Just tell them. They are trying to adapt the menu and still keep it Korean.

If you are a Sydneysider, they are the same people behind Seoul Ria at the corner of George and Goulburn Street. I heard the place is very popular in Sydney. This is their first venture in Singapore and they have set up shop in Marina Square.


This was the hot food station where you can grab some ready cooked food to eat while your food's being BBQ-ed.

I was attracted to the Keropok!! Koreans eat keropok too!?


On the bottom left corner is the porridge, which I thought was interesting. I never had korean porridge before and it's reminds me of baby food because of the veggie bits. It's light tasting. I found that putting kimchi inside makes it tastier!


You see the gooey black sauce on the top left corner of the 2 photos above? That's the Ja Jiang sauce.
We were taught to pour the sauce over the rice or the Korean Glass Noodles. Instead of plain noodles, it's Korean Glass Noodles with ingredients and Ja Jiang sauce over it!

Out of curiosity, we asked how is it cooked because usually Glass Noodles are very oily and yet their did not. They told us it's steamed! Ah.....


The Kimchi Fried Rice, I think I left it on the table for too long so it was not as tasty as I would have liked it. Keropok was still crispy though!

 
The salads area. I liked the Kimchi and had quite a bit of it!


Their Kimchi was not the super marinated kind which gives off a pungent marinated taste and smell. This one (or the batch we had that night) was 'medium' fermented, which is how I like it. I know some people really loves the super fermented taste.


The meat area. This area was very popular. You can guess why!


One of our dining companion we guessed must have OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder). She stacked everything so orderly and neatly. I like it! I do the same too! LOL

These marinated short ribs were really good. The spicy pork is good too.
(That's if you know how to grill it properly.)


We were told, if Koreans come here, they only go for the non marinated fatty layered meats. They will grill it and then dip it in the different sauces.

We saw 2 or 3 Korean families there that night. I did not walk over to see what they eat though or if they only took no marinated meats. I did not want to looked retarded walking around peeping.


This is how non-OCD people cook their meats. They put a bit of everything and in lumps.
(This is a joke only, sorry to my neighbour who was doing the above, just want to make fun of you)


This is how I cook my meats. I am not OCD, but I think I have tendency to be one!
Straight lines! You can easily see if the meat's cooked too this way. Cook till the meat changes colour and curl a bit. Don't overcook the meats, it won't be nice.


You cook in lumps, you end up having lumps. LOL


You cook in straight lines, you can cut it nicely into short pieces and stack it all in the plate nicely!
Nicely cooked, not over-cooked tender BBQ meats. Ahh....


I was rather impressed with their fridge that was stacked with these leaves.
They were in baskets standing up and all looking so fresh and crispy!


Remember I said I love their kimchi? I had it wrapped in greens too!
Rather tasty if I must say.


Most sane people eat it with the grilled meats and maybe a piece of raw garlic. I added sprouts because I like them!


If you are a fan of these Korean can drinks, they have quite a good range.
It's not included in the price of the buffet though. The buffet price is already cheap enough.

The buffet comes with drinks too, that night we had barley.


If you want Soju, they have it as well. ;-)

Quite a good price for a Korean BBQ place. For most Korean places, each dish is already around $14-$20. So KopiKosongGirl and I think it's quite a steal. 

The Corner Place Authentic Korean BBQ Buffet The Gallerie 6 Raffles Boulevard 04-102 Marina Square Singapore 039594 Tel: +65 6333 0997 Website: http://www.facebook.com/MyTheCornerPlaceKoreanBBQ

Din Tai Fung @ Baits, Resorts World Sentosa

KopiKosongGirl and I have many things in common and yet we have equally different way of doing things. She is a planner. Every activity for the week or maybe till next month has been planned. I am more of an impromptu person. Sometimes, I think I drive her nuts.

After so many months, I guess she might have gotten used to me and does things out of the ordinary. Just the other Saturday, we woke up and then decided to just go into Sentosa. We boarded the monorail in and decided to stop at Resorts World Sentosa.

Our annual pass for Universal Studio expired and we did not renew it, so this time we did not go in. We walked around and decided we would have breakfast to eat. We found Toastbox and had a set breakfast. Feeling satisfied, we walked around some more and at 11am, we happened to walked past Din Tai Fung.

Images of Xiao Long Bao floated and we saw it was empty. It's rare that Din Tai Fung has no queue so we went in! We noted, 5 minutes after 11am is a good time to have lunch here. No queue, no crowd, it's like having the whole place to ourselves! It's so peaceful!



Taiwan Shrimp and Pork Oriental Wantons with Spicy Sauce.

We saw that it was a new item and we thought we would order it. Shrimp and pork combi had a nice bite, slightly 'qq' and there were quite a few of it too. Probably 8-10 of it. The Spicy Sauce is more like the chilli oil but it was sweeter.



Crunchy Mini Cucumber in Spicy Sauce

You all must be thinking we are mad having all Spicy. Though both were spicy, this cucumber dish's spicy sauce has more vinegar in it. KopiKosongGirl prefers this version of spicy sauce. I prefer the other sweeter version of it.


Xiao Long Baos

The normal XiaoLongBaos. So many places are serving these and we still like them because their skin here is thin and very soupy.

We left before the crowds came. We took the monorail out and went home.

Din Tai Fung @ Baits Resorts World Sentosa 26 Sentosa Gateway #01-217/222 Singapore 098138 Tel: +65 6686 3565

HungryBBQ.com - one stop service website for all things BBQ in Singapore

The long weekend is coming and thought this post would be useful to those who plan to have a gathering of family and friends over some good BBQ.

This was a BBQ Party that I went quite some time ago! The folks from HungryBBQ (Zac and wife Carol) invited a few of us over to try out their kind of BBQ. I think it's how modern day BBQ should be, which was quite a memorable indeed!

Why? It was probably one of the tastiest BBQ I had in quite a while.

Most of us have been attending BBQ that are mediocre. That's because our friends or we ourselves are not doing it daily. So our meats are not properly marinated. Our marinate is either too sweet or too salty. Or the marinates makes the meat get charred too easily.

Some of you are very good in 'controlling the fire', but most of us just 'can't make it'. I only know of 1 friend who does it very well, if he's bbq-ing the food, most of us would turn up!

If you host a BBQ, it can be super tiring too. I remember helping mum prepare and we would be dead tired when everyone's gone home. There should be a simpler way right?


The HungryBBQ.com website has everything you need to plan a successful and delicious party. Pick the ingredients you want, everything you need to have a successful BBQ, you can order it on that website. You can even hire a BBQ Cook! Yes, someone who knows exactly how to BBQ food properly!


Of all the service, I think their BBQ Cook service ($90 for 3 hours, additional hours at $15/hour) is a most important service to engage!With them around, leave them to do the cooking and you entertain your guests and/or eat and drink with them.


If you live near Jalan Tua Kong, you can pick up your orders during their physical shop opening hours. If not, click on their website anytime of the day to order, and you orders will be delivered in these boxes.


The reason why the BBQ party was memorable because of the BBQ Cook service! That night we had Zac, the HungryBBQ guy himself cooking for us. (We were told the rest of the guys who BBQ the food are equally good!)

No need to labour over the hot fire for food. We just sat down on the table and slowly savour the BBQ food right off the barbie.

Guess what? Told you they provide anything BBQ right? You can even buy or rent the BBQ Grills from their website. You can buy disposable BBQ pits at $8 or buy something like the ones above for $650.  You can also rent BBQ grills from $60-$90. Check out their website for details.


These were the cheese portobellos. $12 / 5 pcs.
Are you a mushroom fan?


Look at these chicken wings. The wings were so nicely done, a slight char to give it a nice BBQ smell and the meat inside were tender and juicy.

When we asked about the marinate, they said it's a trade secret. One thing for sure, it tasted very good.
They are halal certified, so the marinates have no wine/alcohol in them.


These were the Herb Butter Baby Asparagus.
Probably the only veggies we had that night! We were carnivores that night.


BBQ Meats... This was I think the NZ Airflown Ribeye Steak.
Still tender and slightly pink inside, you would not do that if your meats are not fresh right?

The BBQ Cook will prepare it the way you want it.


The Southern BBQ Sirloin Steak.  Don't you feel like biting into it now?
It's been sometime and I can't recall the taste of their Southern BBQ Marinade. Maybe I should order some.

Let's talk a bit about Zac. Remember Curry Favor Japanese Kitchen @ Stamford House? Zac was the managing director/executive chef there for 7 years. It was one place that served very good Japanese curry until it was closed in 2010 because the landlord took back the building for redevelopment.

Maybe one of these days, Curry Favor might be back or maybe BBQ with Japanese Curry?


The market fresh large prawns they have. They also have small and medium prawns too.

They have a nice range of seafood too.


The sambal sotong in foil.
Looks good ya?


The Herb Pepper Salmon Steak was really really nice. It was just so soft and melt in your mouth inside. The seasoning was just nice for this slab of salmon. We remembered this dish because it was so delicious.


One of the things that you should order is their raw satay, ready to be BBQ-ed.
Take a look at their website to see the choices of meats and you can choose the cooked or raw ones.


Someone put his hand out just I was taking this photo. I think it was Leroy's hand! He wanted to show how big the satays were. Can you imagine how big it is? It's just so satisfying eating satay in a big stick and even better when it's right off the heat and the marinates for the meat was nice.

Depends on the quantity and types of meat, each satay is around 60-75 cents, they are kinda worth it right?


More meats! They were feeding us so many types of meat they sell on their website.
Here's the Herb Black Pepper Chicken Fillet.


One of the memorable meats were these. Kalbi, korean style beef short ribs.
Oh, these were so so delicious. I notice they are not on the website anymore. You could call or email them and see if they still have it. Maybe special orders from them. They are really flexible. Just give them enough time to prepare it.


I can't get enough of this! I like it because korean style short ribs are so tender and yet near the bones, they are a little chewy/tough. I love to clean up the meat near the bones and have a nice clean tera drop like clean bone on my plate.

Speaking of plates, if you order from them, they are able to supply bio-degradable cornware.
They also have cooked food too.



For desserts that night, we tasted a ice cream from a new ice cream place that has set up shop at Serangoon Ave 2. It's called Ice Scream Singapore!

Their ice cream is made from fresh ingredients. Their rules for making ice cream are No essence, No artificial flavouring and No preservatives.

HungryBBQ.com 57 Jalan Tua Kong Singapore 457253 Tel: 62432243 Website HungryBBQ.com hours: Opens 24/7 Outlet hours: 10am - 6pm daily

Ice Scream Singapore 301 Serangoon Ave 2 #01-328 Singapore 550310

Kaya Swissroll from Rich & Good Cake Shop @ Kandahar Street

This is one super old school kind of cake shop in Singapore.

A few friends and I were around the area one weekend for tea at Maison Ikkoku. Then suddenly at around 4:45pm, the wife and sis said, we need to go buy the cakes now! Oh, it seems the cake shop closes at 5 pm, and they wanted the cake to be kept cold and so waited until the last minute before the shop closes to buy it.


I was more attracted to the motifs on the door and windows!
I hate the colour of the building though.

Why aren't new buildings having this kind of designs on their doors and windows?
Don't they look so nice?

The design reminds me of my scouts badge. Yes, it's not really and there's a similarity. I can use that design for 'draw something' and fellow scouts might have guessed it! LOL



The disadvantage of waiting till nearly 5pm to keep you cake cold is that most flavours run out!

KopiKosongGirl and sis bought 2 rolls of it, both Kaya flavour swissrolls. One for our in-laws and one for our aunt, both that will fully appreciate this kind of old school swiss rolls.




The most unattractive box, but hey, it matches the colour of the wall of their shop!
A part of the box is perforated so that you can tear out and keep the address and contact details, now that's clever.



You can watch online how it's made, someone has put up a youtube about it and it's quite interesting to watch.



It's a long skinny swiss roll. About 30 cm in length and 5 cm in diameter.
This roll costs $7



Noticed that there's no wastage. They did not cut off the corners to make it look nicer.
Well, these parts can be eaten too. Old style thinking of don't waste food perhaps?
(I actually like ends of cakes hehe!)



We ate it the next day straight from the fridge after our dinner.

Cold cream with kaya between soft (but not too fluffy in my opinion, a bit dense, but its fine and soft though) cake layers makes it quite an enjoyable treat. It's small so 1 piece of it is definitely not enough. It's also not too sweet, which is what most locals prefer nowadays.

Fancy some old school cakes? Grab some only if you are in the area.
Only make your way here on purpose if you have some parents or relatives to impress and you know they will enjoy it better. ;-)

Rich & Good Cake Shop 24 Kandahar St Singapore 198887 Tel: +65 6294 3324 Hours:  Mon to Sat: 9am – 5pm, closed on Sun, PH