1st stop: Gangnaroo (the Korean restaurant) located @ Circular Road
It's a small restaurant tucked away in the shophouses along Circular Road. Haven been here since our Vday celebration (wow, more than 1/2 a yr has passed since our last visit ...)
The simple menu that consist of 4 pages. The waitress even took down our orders in korean! Sounds v sua-ku-ish, but I was pretty amazed.
Wa, tough angle to take this pic. I just realised that we were sitted at the same table during our Vday celebration too, haha, what a coincidence!
Traditional korean meals are usually accompanied by the side dishes, also known as banchan (반찬). They are usually placed in the middle of the table, to be shared by everyone. The banchan are served in small portions and usually replenished once it is finished. According to Leecher, you have to finish the banchan served so as to show your appreciation to the chef.Here's a look at the banchan (반찬) served :
김치 (Kimichi) - most common banchan, can be considered as a "staple" in the korean diet. In fact, a meal in Korean is not completed without kimchi. (wa, machiam like national treasure leh).Leecher's fave banchan, maybe the kimchi has a "salty" taste, which complements his tastebud ;)
See, his chopsticks already "attacking" the kimchi before I had to stop him to pose for this pic. Can't believe that kimchi got more charm that me *angry*
콩나물(Kongnamul) - made from soybean sprouts. The sprouts are boiled after the roots and bean skin are removed. Afterwhich, they are seasoned with sesame oil, soy sauce and some seasoning. Didn't really taste this dish (not a fan of greens) but this is one of Leecher's fave as well.
시금치나물 (Sigeumchi namul) - lightly boiled spinach seasoned with sesame oil, garlic and soy sauce. Light and refreshing taste
고사리나물 (Gosari namul) - fern shoots that have been stir-fried. You can still pretty much taste the juice oozing out when you bit into the "crispy" ferns.
Peanuts - can't find the korean term to it, but this is one of my fave banchan. They used to serve it as peanuts (coated with sugar) together with ikan bilis (another of my fave!)
파전 (Pajeon) - pan-fried pancakes with green onions. This is my fave of all! It's not oily at all and it tastes good when eaten on its own or together with kimchi :)
If you have watched Goong (Princess hours), the Princess and her buddies always went to eat spicy rice cakes together at this make-shift stall outside her school. I been wanting to try this dish in an authentic korean restaurant, so we ordered the dish... Woo, it's not in the least spicy leh (how come?) but the rice cakes taste very QQ, i like!
haha, a picture before i devour the whole plate of rice cakes ;)Having eaten so many side dishes, it's time for the main dish of the day
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전골 (Jeongol) - this dish was originally a dish for the upper-class koreans and members of the royal family (wa, so high class!) and contains a variety of main ingredients. We ordered the beef Jeongol, that comes with the standard packaging of beancurd, glass noodles, bean sprouts, white cabbage, carrot, spinach etc. The soup is very tasty and light, makes you wanting to scope bowl after bowl.Wa, koreans always eat vegetables and other high fiber food, so I suppose that they dont really suffer from constipation rite? LOL
Lastly, complimentary desserts are served at the end of the meal ;) highly satisfied ....PS: FMQ, next lunch outing @ this place k?
2nd stop: Hyang To Gol Korean Restaurant located @ Amara Hotel
Another lunch appt with fellow foodie, FMQ! We're the new partners-in-crime in looking for good food around the area ;)
Our LVs finally get to meet after so long, haha .... FMQ had to accommodate to my short built when we took this pic together, sorry :)Oh, not forgetting the appearance of Mr Mysterious (can't believe that he was game enough to put on the paper bag in the restaurant!)
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guess who? Answers will be revealed later .... stay tuned :POpps, realised that I OT for a while, ok - back to the restaurant proper... Quite a posh restaurant located inside Amara Hotel, but strangly full of pple during lunch hrs. Thanks to FMQ for making the reservation and being there to "chop" the table :)
This pic was taken before the lunch crowd. We even saw a tour of korean tourists dining in the restaurant. Strange huh, thought when you visit a foreign land, the least you would do is to dine in a place that serves your homeland food....well, perhaps they're homesick ;P
Wa, like a typical restaurant in SG, die-die also must put up the newspaper clippings to "showcast" their must-try dishes, hahaha.
Cool ~ they even know how to woo the crowd back with their daily promotions. Good marketing skills!
Their special lunch menu, which I dont think we ordered any. We went for the ala cart instead.
Standard table setting. The korean chopsticks are pretty heavy, still prefer the japanese ones.As usual, the banchan (반찬) served:
The normal kimichi and salad above (opps, nothing interesting to comment abt the 2 dishes).Couldn't find the korean name of the 3rd dish, but the mushrooms are delicious~ we had 3rd or 4th helping of this banchan.
감자 샐러드 (Korean style potato salad) - this is FMQ's fave banchan! I was nv a fan of potato (except french fries) but I find myself eating this over and over throughout the course of the meal. Oh, this potato salad has got carrots and apples mixed inside, which explains the crunchiness and not the nua-nua-ness like normal whipped potato (which I totally detest)
Left to right: The dish comes with 2 different types of Jeon (which actually means a variety of pan-fried dishes). If I recall correctly, it contains 파전 (Pajeon) & 감자전 (Gamjajeon) which is just potato pancakes. The spinach dish ( 시금치나물) tastes similar to the one which we tasted at the 1st restaurant.깍두기 (Ggakdugi) - white radish cut in small cubes. This dish is usually served cold and best consumed when the white radish is still crisp. Not a big fan of this banchan for the radish tasted weird, maybe not crunchy enough.
The last banchan is very interesting, nv seen before in my entire life (sounds very sua-ku-ish at this moment). It's actually crab meat! Not the crab meat that is normally used in yong-tau-foo, but real crab meat, even comes with the shell. However, they only give us one tiny leg, which we couldn't really taste it :(
Stupid Leecher put the pics of the mains and the banchan together (^%&%*^#%#@, can nv trust him to get work done properly, hahaha)Ok, the top right pic is just another kimchi dish while the last pic is actually 나박김치 (Nabak Kimchi) - watery kimchi, made from thinly sliced chinese cabbage, cucumber and white radish. This dish is usually consumed during spring & summer. Try not to finish the "soup" though, gives a yucky feeling when consumed in excess.
We ordered the 전골 (Jeongol) again (bottom left), this time in kimchi based soup as well as 만두 (dumplings). The spiciness of the kimchi really works wonder in increasing our appetite!
Lastly, another Jeon dish (top left) served in a pizza pan. Enlarged pic of the food below:
I think we ordered the seafood Jeon, but strangly, I couldn't taste any seafood at all... only remembered all the chilli and spring onions. This is quite oily but the crust is very crispy. Best eaten with the sauce below (though we had no idea what the sauce is, but heck, just eat, hahaa)
This restaurant serves different complimentary desserts from the ones that I have been to.
Ok, the usual fruit platter - which Leecher has 2 slices of watermelons as compared to the rest of us. *unfair*
They actually serve 생강차(Saenggang cha) - tea made from ginger root (that explains the ginger taste that I have in my mouth later on ... no wonder) The ginger root is washed and sliced without peeling. The sliced gigner root is stored with honey for a few weeks. To make tea the mixed honey and ginger root is added to hot water. This cha is usually used to prevent cold and to aid digestion. However, this tea should not be consumed by anyone who has gastic ulcer.Full to our brim with all the food consumed, it's time to open our "presents"!!
Mr TYW (aka Mr Mysterious above) with his box of present ...
Unwrapping it (faked shocked expression) to reveal 4 CDs which he tompang FMQ to buy ...
Me with my fairmont snowskin mooncakes; totally heart the sweet packaging ....
haha, had to fake a shocked expression @ Leecher's request ....PS: just realised that Leecher nv post his pics for the korean meal with TYW & FMQ, hahaa, stupid bum bum ... :P
** credits to Wikipedia for all the information found on this korean delight!
