K.Cook Korean BBQ Buffet 고뷔페 (Orchard Central)

K.Cook Korean BBQ Buffet 고기 뷔페 is a Korean BBQ buffet restaurant in Orchard Central (Somerset MRT station) which started operation in August 2014.

I visited on a weekday for lunch. Being Kiasu (as usual), I made called the restaurant beforehand and was told that they no longer accept reservations. Hence, we went 10 minutes early, at 11.20 am before the restaurant opened. Everyone seemed to have thought like-wise. There was a queue of more than 10 persons when we arrived.

When the restaurant opened, the queue stretched to more than 20 persons long. I was wondering how come everyone was not working and if they were like me (who applied for leave). 

K.Cook Korean BBQ Buffet offers both air conditioned and alfresco (outdoor) areas. The seating capacity at the air condition area was way smaller compared to the alfresco area. We chose to sit outdoors as there was a Big Ass Fan (High volume slow speed fan) which made the area so well ventilated. Even though it was noon, it did not felt hot. In addition, you get a clear view of the city.

Prices

The prices for the buffet are show above. The price for weekday (Mon to Fri) lunch at $14.90++ was so value for money!

Corn

Korean rice cake with fish cake

The buffet consist of a wide variety of cooked and raw food. In the cooked food section, there was Corn, Korean rice cake with fish cake, japchae (glass noodles), Korean pancake, fried chicken wings and spicy tofu stew.

We went for more than 1 servings of Korean rice cake with fish cake and japchae (glass noodles) as these were delicious. We did not manage to try the fried chicken wings, as these were taken as soon as they were replenished.

At the raw food section there were Marinated Beef Short Rib, Beef Bulgogi, Pork Belly, Pork Collar, Marinated Pork Collar, Chicken, Spicy Chicken, Chicken Sausages, squids and prawns.

As with all korean buffet, there was a section with vegetables (lettuce), mushrooms, onions, radish and kimchi.

Besides these, there was also fruits and salad section and a counter for drinks.

Chicken, Pork Collar, Prawns, Squids

Look at how thickly sliced the Pork Collars are. This is by far the thickest sliced Pork Collar I had for a buffet. Most other buffets would slice their meat thinly.

Beef  Bulgogi and Pork Belly

The Pork Belly was also of decent thickness which the Beef Bulgogi was well marianted.

With the large pan, it was easy cooking the food. We started off with the Pork Belly so that fats would grease the pan.

Food wise, it was impressive. The Pork Collar and Pork Belly of good thickness allowed the juices and flavours to be retained in the meat. Basically for the raw food, we spammed the Pork Belly, Pork Collar, Beef Bulgogi and mushrooms.

For a Korean buffet, the cooked food and the raw food were quite good. One of the better Korean buffet I have tried. Worth going back for more considering the price and quality. 

K.Cook Korean BBQ Buffet 고기 뷔페 (Orchard Central)

 #07-01 Orchard Central

181 Orchard Central Road 

Singapore 238896 

Tel: 6884 7282

Opening Hours: Daily 1130am to 10pm

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3T Quan Nuong Vietnamese Barbecue (Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh)

Tôm nướng muối ớt (Roasted Prawn with Salt and Chilli) (100g) 58,000 VND (S$3.50)

3T Quan Nuong (3T Quán Nướng) is a roof top Vietnamese Barbecue (BBQ) / Grilled restaurant. 

3T Quan Nuong is located along Ton That Thiep Street, a 5 minutes walk away from Saigon Centre. It is located just next to Fanny Ice Cream. It was not easy getting to 3T Quan Nuong. When we saw Fanny Ice Cream, we were knew that 3T Quan Nuong was next door. But yet we could not find it, we had to ask the locals. We were directed to the right side of Fanny Ice Cream.

3T Quan Nuong was located above Temple Club (an upscale fine dining Vietnamese restaurant where Brad Pitt and Angelina JolieBrad Pitt and Angelina Jolie once dine at). Hence, if you are going to 3T Quan Nuong, look out for the Temple Club Signage instead.

Once you located the building, you would need to walk pass a long narrow corridor which is dimly lighted to the stair case and proceed to the roof top. If we had not done any research before hand, we would not have walked through this corridor. It seemed sleazy and doggy! 

Tada, the reward! Open air roof top BBQ! About one third of the dining area was sheltered while the rest was not. I wonder what happens when it is the monsoon season (rainy season). When we reached at around 630pm on a weekday, the restaurant was not even half full. But by the time we left at around 8pm, the place was nearly full! We noticed that most of the customers were locals except for two other tables.

Menu

Menu

Menu

3T Quan Nuong had both Vietnamese and English menu available. I do wonder if there are any differences in price between both menus. Do note, not all the serving staff understand English. Whenever we had questions or wanted to order an item, they would always send a particular waiter who could speak and understand basic English.The staff were friendly and when they noticed we were foreigners, they would assist us and show us how to cook the food items.

Ceramic tiles table with a grilling stove in the middle.

Noticed the small container with a stick? It contain oil and the stick was actually the brush. You would need to oil the grill so that your food would not stick to it.

Cơm Trắng (Steamed Rice) 50,000 VND (S$3.00)

We ordered a Cơm Trắng (Steamed Rice). It was served in a cute little ceramic 'pot'.

Tôm nướng muối ớt (Roasted Prawn with Salt and Chilli) (100g) 58,000 VND (S$3.50)

As we did our research before hand, we knew what to order. The Tôm nướng muối ớt (Roasted Prawn with Salt and Chilli) was one of the highly raved about dish! As there was only the two of us, we decided to order 100g (4 prawns) which cost 58,000 VND (S$3.50).

The prawns were still alive when they were served on wooden skewers. Salt and chilli were sprinkled over it. These prawns were still alive as they were taken from the tanks full of prawns at the kitchen. To ensure the freshness, these prawns were taken out from the tanks only upon order.

Grilling the live prawns

Brush some oil over the grill and you are ready to grill the live prawns. I know this is cruel.. as the prawns were put over the grill, they were still moving.

Left to right: Grilling the live prawns, Lime with salt and chilli dip

Needless to say, the prawns were fresh. The shells came over so easily. In addition, the meat was firm and sweet.

To further enhance the taste, squeeze the lime over the salt and chilli powder. Then dip the prawn into it. The different dimension in taste of the prawn, lime, salt and chilli was just out of the world! Top notch! This is a must try! Wish that we had ordered more!

Bò nướng mật ong (Roasted Beef with Honey) 85,000 VND (S$5.10)

The next item we ordered was the Bò nướng mật ong (Roasted Beef with Honey) 85,000 VND (S$5.10). It was served together with a plate of vegetables (kang kong, lady finger, etc.)

Grilling the beef with vegetables

When the Roasted Beef with Honey was served, the waiter helped us to oil the metal grill again before helping us to put some of the beef meat onto the hot sizzling grill. The beef meat was delicious, but I can't detect any hint of honey if any.

Heo nướng sả ớt (Roasted Wildboar with Lemongrass and Chilli) with salad 110,000 VND (S$6.60) 

The Heo nướng sả ớt (Roasted Wildboar with Lemongrass and Chilli) which cost 110,000 VND (S$6.60) was served with a plate of salad.

When this was served, the staff replaced our metal grill with a new one without us requesting for this to be done. =D

Heo nướng sả ớt (Roasted Wildboar with Lemongrass and Chilli) 110,000 VND (S$6.60)

The Roasted Wild Boar with Lemongrass and Chilli was a little too tough. I wonder if its because of our 'cooking skill'. In short, this dish did not wow me.

Rau muống xào tỏi (Deep Fried Kangkong with Garlic) 100,000 VDN (S$6.00)

As we required some greens, we ordered a plate of Rau muống xào tỏi (Deep Fried Kangkong with Garlic) 100,000 VDN (S$6.00). It was well fried! The kang kong was crunchy and tasty. Do note that it was not deep fried as indicated in the menu. I was impressed that I could get such a decent dish in a Vietnamese restaurant.

As we were enjoying our meal, a big group of around 15 locals arrived and ordered a whole lot of prawns! They requested for the staff to grill it for them. And the staff had to heat up two metal grills and spent a good 20 minutes grilling all the prawns! What great service!

After the meal, the restaurant served us complimentary fruits (watermelon and pineapple) and tea. The highlight of the meal was definitely the Tôm nướng muối ớt (Roasted Prawn with Salt and Chilli)! The staff here were warm, friendly and attentive. They seemed to pay extra attention to tourist, coming over to assist and demonstrate how the cooking should be done, adjusting the temperature of the grill when it was too hot, helping to brush oil on the metal grill, changing of metal grills, etc. All the little things that matter!

Do note, you would smell of BBQ food despite it being very windy at the roof top. Nevertheless, this was worth it!

Ending off with a Instagram video (aka Instavideo) which I took. 

3T Quán Nướng Vietnamese Barbecue (Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh)

29-31 Tôn Thất Thiệp

Quận 1, Hồ Chí Minh
Tel: +84 (08) 3821 1631
Opening Hours: Daily 5pm to 11pm

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Bornga Korean BBQ Restaurant 본가 (Malaysia, Johor Bahru)

Bornga is a leading Korean Barbecue (BBQ) restaurant chain with outlets in Korea, USA, Malaysia and Singapore. The restaurant chain is started by Korean Celebrity Chef Jong Won Paik.

We visited this restaurant on a weekday. I have not tried Bornga in Singapore. But since we were in City Square (Johor Bahru), we decided to give this a try!

The interior of the restaurant. Above each table, there was an extendable exhaust pipe mounted on the ceiling that could be pulled down to the table if BBQ meat was ordered. 

The dining table, before it was cluttered with a whole lot of Ban Chan .

A few minutes after ordering, one of the staff placed hot charcoal into the BBQ stove and pulled the exhaust pipe down. As as you may have guessed, we ordered BBQ meat! We could feel the intense heat from the hot charcoal. 

Ban Chan / Side Dish (반찬)

A selection of the Ban Chan / Side Dish (반찬). More were added subsequently! And they were refillable too! There was also a tray full of fresh and crunchy assorted raw vegetables which will be used for wrapping the BBQ meat.

Woo Samgyup RM38

The first dish was Bornga's signature Woo Samgyup RM38 which consisted of beautifully marbled thinly sliced beef brisket in Bornga's special sauce and golden pumpkin.

Woo Samgyup RM38

At Bornga, you do not need to do the cooking. The staff would do all the cooking for you. All you have to do is to eat! The staff first pulled the exhaust pipe down and cook the meat in front of us. He first spread the Woo Samgyup on the stove and let it cook. As it was thinly sliced, the meat was cooked very quickly. We were glad that the staff cooked the meat for us as we did not want to overcook the meat.

Woo Samgyup RM38

Once the Woo Samgyup are cooked. You can dip the beef into the special house sauce provided and roll up the meat with rice and various vegetables. The Woo Samgyup was delicious. The essence, flavour and juice of the meat was still retained, making it a rewarding gourmet experience whether you had it alone or wrapped in vegetables.

Mansinchang Samgyupsal RM28

The second dish was the Mansinchang Samgyupsal RM28; tenderised pork belly seasoned with parsley flakes, salt and pepper.

Mansinchang Samgyupsal RM28

Mansinchang Samgyupsal RM28

Again, the staff cooked the meat for us over the charcoal stove. All we had to do was to watch! =)

Mansinchang Samgyupsal RM28

Once the Mansinchang Samgyupsal was cooked, the staff would put them into a plate for us. The procedure is the same again. You can either eat the meat on its own or dip it in sauce and wrap it with vegetables. Personally, I thought that this was just an average dish.

Chadol Duenjang Jjigae RM24

We also ordered a Chadol Duenjang Jjigae RM24, a traditional Korean soybean paste stew with beef and vegetable. Personally, the picture of this on the menu did not entice me. But as the partner was quite keen to have this, we ordered it.

The soybean paste stew was cooked in front of us at our table and boiled till the it was reduced.

Chadol Duenjang Jjigae RM24 - vegetable bowl

One the meat was cooked, the Duenjang Jjigae was mixed into a vegetable bowl, and mixed with rice and vegetable (like how you would do it with bibimbap).

Chadol Duenjang Jjigae RM24

The end result! Tada! The Chadol Duenjang Jjigae was superb! Each grain of rice was well coated with the intense fragrant and flavour from the stewed soybean paste. Each mouthful was just so incredibly flavorful and brilliantly in terms of texture (soft or crunchy depending on what you ate). Fantastic! The more you dig into this bowl of rice, the more you will love it. This was our favourite dish in this meal! A Must Try!

Do note, there’s a minimum order of two meats for BBQ.

It was certainly a good decision to visit Bornga at City Square! The food and the service was good. And for such a price, it was certainly value for money! 

Bornga Korean BBQ Restaurant 본가 (Malaysia, Johor Bahru)

Unit MF-23, Level 3, Johor Bahru City Square Shopping Mall

106-108, Jalan Wong Ah Fook, 80000 Johor Bahru

Tel: 07 207 2334
Opening Hours: Daily 10am to 10pm

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