Han Geun Doo Guen Korean BBQ

Been walking past this restaurant for the longest time and did not have a chance to go try it out. Han Geun Doo Geun which means (一斤两斤) in Chinese is located at level 2 of Chinatown point.

The banners outside which show the food available are super tempting but we cannot just stuff ourselves silly as and when we like it right? My chance came when it is time to celebrate Mr Love's birthday which was put on hold for the longest time due to the multiple celebrations at both side for Mother's day and Mummy's bday.

He actually wanted to forgo our own celebration which I was not in favour of since it's been a long time practice of us to have a private meal of our own birthdays no matter how belated it is. I had mine in Mid April.

Booked a dinner slot at 5.30pm and we were the 1st one there. Buffet here is ala carte and there are 35 kinds of food and 14 side dishes available to choose from.

Cooking station

BBQ here is done using charcoal but I spy a stove below the charcoals. The waiter will keep a lookout for your cooking plate turning black and keep replacing it from time to time. Love it.

Condiments for BBQ

There 2 self service stations at the end of the restaurant and here you help yourself to the side dishes available and also the condiments to go with BBQ meat.

Side dishes

Cooked selection

Seafood & side dishes selection

We took kimchi, fried egg, potato salad and anchovies for 1st round of side dishes. I especially love the anchovies and went for 2more serving after that.

Kimchi here are also well seasoned and cut to the right side for eating. Totally dislike those big chunky slices. I did top up another serving of kimchi in between.

Cutlery can be found at the drawer to the right of table. Ice water and hot wheat tea are served free flow here too.

BBQ meat selection

There was so much to choose from that we did not know where to start. Meat is a must order though and we would like to try the cooked selections. Luckily we went to Korea prior to this visit and Mr Love sort of love the Korean cuisine.

Here's what we are :

1). Dumpling soup (Mandu guk)

Served piping hot with 4 mandu(dumplings) in it. The broth is clear with seaweed on top of it. Mandu is filled up with generous serving of meat, spring onions and whats' not in it.

Mandu guk

2). Korean fish pancake (Saengseon Jeon)

This is essentially fried fish cake and was a bit cold when served. Didn't go well with us.

Saengseon Jeon

3). Boneless beef short rib (Galbisal) / Sliced pork belly (Samgyeopsal)

Here comes the meat.

I especially love BBQ beef and order a portion of the boneless rib. This did not disappoint me as the beef were soft tender and juicy even after cooking. Dipped in the chilli sauce and wrapped it up with the veggies make the beef less oily. Even Mr Love who was not a beef lover took some of these.

The pork belly was thinly sliced and was easily cooked but you will need to keep flipping them to prevent overcooked. We ordered 2 more serving of the pork belly since each serving came at 5 slices only and was easily finished at one shot.

Beef ribs & pork belly

3). Prawns and fried Korean dumplings (Gun Mandu)

Prawns are a must have since it's Mr Love favourite seafood. There was nothing to rave about since Korean BBQ don't really emphasis on their seafood. Still we attacked quite a bit of their prawns.

I realized their fried food was not that good. The gun mandu was served cold (again) and the skin lost the crispiness and the filling was not as good as the soup version.

Prawns & Gun Mandu

Veggies to go with the oily meat

4). Sundubu jigae (Spicy soft bean curd stew with beef,fish & clams in anchovy stock).

This is easily one of my favourite Korean stew and I ordered one despite knowing Mr Love would not take much of it.

Love Korean soft bean curb. It is so soft and smooth that it will just slide down your mouth when swallowing.

However I couldn't find any beef and fish inside. Only found 2 clams. But nevertheless I love this soup the same and finished it all myself.

Sundubu jjigae

5). Korean Ginseng chicken sou

Towards the end of the dinner, Mr Love decided we should order one of this. Reason being, we did not have much BBQ chicken and also he was thinking about the wonderful ginseng chicken we had in Korea.

The version here was equally good though you should not expect the same as the one served in Korean. Can still taste the ginseng taste in the soup and broth is clear and tasty. Chicken inside was tenderly cooked too.

Ginseng Chicken soup

6). Fried kimchi pancake (Kimchi Jeon)

As mentioned earlier their Fried food selection was not that fantastic and this was no exception. The flour taste was too thick and perhaps Mr Love was still thinking about the one we had in Korea and so he wasn't impressed with this.

Kimchi Jeon

7). Thinly sliced beef brisket (Chadolbagi) / Squid

The Chadolbagi was pretty small in size, once you start to BBQ it it shrinks like half. It was not as not as nice as the pork version but nevertheless good.

Squid was good and quite tasty even after BBQ.

Beef & Squid

Verdict:

The bill came to about SGD106 for both of us. Given the quality of food served, I must say the price is pretty worth it.

Not only you get to eat BBQ but also many of the cook selection. We didn't managed to order a lot of the cooked food since was quite full already but was pretty happy with what we ate. But maybe the fried version was not up to our expectations.

Since it was a BBQ restaurant, we went out smelling like a walking kitchen. Walked around the mall for quite a while before getting rid of the smell.

This should be a great place to visit if you are going with a big group of friends, then you will be able to try more variety of the food offered.