Ju Shin Jung @ West Coast Highway

This was a lunch outing with colleagues at Ju Shin Jung along West Coast Highway. Someone in our lunch group wanted to have Korean. That someone was actually thinking of Banchans rather than having the main meals.

We somehow thought of Ju Shin Jung that we all have not gone together as a group for some time. We all hop into a colleague's MPV and off we went for lunch.



The moment all the banchans came out, all of us, (especially the guy who was thinking of banchans) was so happy!



We were also served some pumpkin paste/mousse that was quite sweet tasting.



All of us settled for our own portions of the set lunch that's quite affordable.

Everyone thought we wanted some extra meat, so we ordered a spicy chicken on hot plate. It's spicy but very shiok to eat! What was interesting is that they had raisins on the chicken.



A few of us had the Saba Fish set.
Crispy fish on a bed of shredded cabbage. I could eat up everything because it was nice and crispy.



If you have been colleague for so long, you can actually guess what others will be eating. We all guess the Short Rib Beef Soup for 'old cat'. We were right. He ordered this and he says it used to be better but it's still good.



A few colleagues also had the dolsot bibimbap.
Prepare to sweat it out, because as you eat, you feel the heat from the stone. Our colleague eating this was sweating!



Don't put all the chilli paste in if you don't want to suffer the consequences of spiciness. It would be double heat. From the chilli paste and the hot stone.



The soup for those who did not order soup dishes. We did not like it. We prefer the beef rib soup that we 'helped ourselves' from 'old cat'. LOL



When we are with colleagues, we always behave like kids. We love to play with this.
The expandable hand tower. Add some water and it expands. The middle one had a few drops of water and it expanded.

Yup, parents with kids will save theirs to bring back and amuse their kids. I am sure we all have loving parents as colleagues who have to think of ways to entertain their kids 24x7!



Our meal ended with heart-shape watermelons.
It was a nice re-visit to Ju Shin Jung during lunch time.

The food's still good, service during lunch time was good too, still adequately staffed so you don't need to wait long for someone to get to you. Most of all, the lunch pricing of set meals less than $15 is still making us happy.


Ju Shin Jung Korean Charcoal BBQ
27 West Coast Highway
#01-18
Singapore 117867

Tel: 6464 0872
Web: www.jushinjung.com

BORNGA, Authentic Korean @ Star Vista

BORNGA probably the biggest chain of Korean BBQ restaurants globally has opened in Singapore. Located at Star Vista, it is joins the 33 outlets in Korea and 12 others in China, US and Indonesia.



This was an invitation to try out their cuisine and we were hosted by their PR folks and a Korean lady in charge of BORNGA. If you have not heard, they have patented recipes here that has been created by Korean celebrity chef Jong Won Paik.


What a big long plate of veggies. You think it's a lot? You will finish it with all the delicious meat that you eat here! Read on to see how to wrap the meats and you know these veggies won't be enough!


One of the interesting banchan that you will try is this 'Water Kimchi'. It's very light kimchi and it's a little cold and quite appetising!


Both my parents and parents-in-law have been to South Korea and they were always talking about all kinds of kimchi. I can't remember if they told me they have tried this before, but this was my first time having cold kimchi soup. It's usually hot and spicy kimchi soups that I had.


Quite a selection of banchans and these were quite good too!
Some of these goes well with other dishes too. It's always good to have Koreans eating with us to tell us exactly how to eat things. We have a habit of finishing everything up don't we?


Jap Chae ($23)
For those who have a liking for chewy korean glass noodles, this has been stir fried with beef and vegetables. Nicely flavoured and fragrant. I thought of my cousin who loves korean jap chae!


It was a lunch for 5 of us that day and this was our tables and mess. The grill that you see in the middle of the table had been designed that uses gas to heat up a layer of stones inside. Interesting eh?

The heated stone radiates an even layer of heat. Wonder is it why the grilled stuff here taste so much better?


Ggot Sal (prime cut and very tender unmarinated beef, $38)

There are those who likes marinated meats and those that prefer unmarinated ones. Which do you prefer? Dining at another place and was hosted once by Koreans too, it seems that many Koreans prefer unmarinated ones.



You just need to cook it just nice and not too long. Look at the marbling. It will all melt away when you grill it. All is left will be the tender pieces of beef.


The meats are unmarinated, so if you prefer, you can dip a little of the 3 types of oils and sauces that you will get depending on your orders. The dark one is the patented signature Woo Samgyup sauce that's imported from Korea to maintain consistency.


Turn it over in a while and it's almost ready!


Just the perfect doneness. It's still a little pink inside. Taste it and you will grow to love Korean food even more.  Don't over cook it or you will regret.


Woo Samgyup (thinly sliced beef with BORNGA's special sauce; $22) 

Their signature dish, with their patented recipe! Everyone that goes to BORNGA around the world will order this. Prepared from nicely marbled beef 'short plate' that has been very thinly sliced, it's only seasoned slightly with BORNGA's secret marinade and ready for us to cook. You don't get dark bulgogi meats, but natural colours of the meat.

The Korean lady showed us how she cooks it. Everyone does it differently, but her family does it this way. Put the nicely stacked meats as you see above. Just let it cook for a while, when it gets a bit cooked, it's really easy to take them apart.


Since it's now easy to take them apart, just move it to the sides and grill it till is sizzles. What a brilliant idea. No need to struggle at the beginning. Just a simpler way of cooking!


How do you eat it? Remember the banchans that has leeks? Roll some leaks in between the sliced beef and dip it in the Woo Samgyup sauce. I tell you, it's so delicious! Does that tempt you?


I love the taste of leeks so this was my kind of food. I know some of you hate it, so just skip it!
Just remember to save some of this from your banchans and eat it with your meats.


Another way to make it taste better and healthier is to grab some lettuce and the other darker leave that I forgot what it was (think it was baby bock choy),  some leeks, some radish kimchi and the warm grilled meat.


To eat it, grab it into a 'ball' and then stuff it in your mouth! Our petite korean lady could actually put it into her mouth! Wow! She said please no photo of her stuffing it in. LOL

It's a wonderful way of having the meats. The veggies were so fresh and crunchy. It really makes you eat your veggies! There's no hard and fast rules, just eat it the way you like it and add your banchans in.


BORNGA Naeng Myun (buckwheat noodles with cold broth, $15)

If you like cold noodles,  try the ones here. The cold broth had slurpee like texture. It's so cold, it's so so refreshing.


Moving the top away to let you see the cold buckwheat noodles.


Served with cold refreshing ingredients, if you are those who enjoy cold noodles, you will like it. I can't imagine my mum liking this though. She's the hot food kind of people.

I like it. I love Cold Vietnamese Noodles, Cold Japanese Noodles, so I have found another new love. Cold Korean Noodles! This is different from my usual Vietnamese and Japanese version. This has ice in it!



Something similar to the previous cold noodles, this is the Bibim Naeng Myun (buckwheat noodles in a spicy chilli sauce, $15)

This version is less wet and has very very spicy chilli sauce. Prepare to cry! It's spicy and delicious. Something about cold and spicy noodles just makes you want to try more of it. This is very subjective. Some of you might just not like it. 



Chadol Duenjang Jjigae (a traditional Korean soybean paste stew with beef, $16)

Another of their signature dishes, this is the Chadol Duenjang Jjigae. When you order this, they will cook it at a stove beside your table. It takes time to cook it. A pot with very watery soybean paste mixture and ingredients will be brought to you. It will be boiled until it becomes around half the liquid is left. A stew that's cooked in front of you.


The stew is then poured over a big bowl of rice. Yes the picture above is quite a big bowl!Another use of the banchans, the kimchi radish strips added into it makes it taste better.


The finger at the side will let you gauge how big the bowl is. ;-)
Give it a super good mix, just like how they do it in Korean dramas!

Can you already imagine the taste as you look at the photo above?
Carbo lovers will love it.


Tteokgalbi (ground rib meat patties mixed with a soy sauce seasoning and then grilled, $20)

Meat eaters, this might be something you might want to order!
I was told this is just ground beef with seasoning. No other fillers.


This thin layer of beef is so tasty! I can easily finish the whole lot!
It's soft and yet firm and have a little crisp layer because of the cooking style.

 

At the end of your meal, this unique tasting drink will be served. Complimentary, this is Omija. It's a 5 flavoured tea, so some might not like it at all. It's combination of taste. I thought it was weird on the first mouth, but I boldly took the 2nd and it became better. I did drink a few more mouths but did not finish it.  ;-)

Note: Like all Korean BBQ places, expect to smell (good) with all the food being grilled. So do not plan to have meetings after this meal. 


BORNGA
1 Vista Exchange Green
#02-24, The Star Vista
Singapore 138617

Tel: 6694 4696
Hours: 11:30am to 10pm daily

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