8th May 2010. Written By Mu Yao.
(damn I realise i don't have a photo of the place. shucks)
My friend J and I were contemplating on where to eat before our movie at Bugis - and our original plans to go to Nandos, this tex-mex place where she recommended came to nought when we found out that it was closed (awww.). But nevertheless, we settled on a pretty good alternative anyway, which was Chang's Korean Grill and Noodles at the Food Floor (level 4?) at Illuma. :) I came apologetically late anyway, so she decided to order first.
The "pan-chai" (伴菜)
Beef Bulgogi!
That was how big it was.
We got this lovely Beef Bulgogi (I hoped I spelt it correctly!) set ($16.50, min. 2 orders) which I didn't quite expect to be so filling. (see pictures!) I was also pleasantly surprised when the waiter came up with 6 side dishes, also known as "pan-chai" (伴菜), as a sort of accompaniment to our meal of mostly meat, which may after a while seem a bit sian.
To be honest, my previous perception of Bulgogi was that it was always on a hotplate/grill, where chunks of marinated beef would be sizzling and BBQed to oily but sinful greatness. Being cheerleading IC for my school's sports day in the morning had dried out my voice, so I was initially apprehensive about ordering Bulgogi, but I had to have my weekly fix of beef (I love beef!) so I went ahead anyway. But I was told that what I had in Korea was called "galbi", a BBQ-ed version, usually served by wrapping the BBQed strips of meat into chunks of leafy lettuce and minced garlic to counteract the "heatiness" of the dish. This was what I had in contrast to here - where it was served in more of a hotpot style, which had a lovely and rich broth boiling. On a rainy day. Nice. They also had tang hoon and straw mushrooms inside, which made it a nice touch.
The texture of the beef was actually very interesting, it didn't taste tough, neither did it taste raw. It was actually pretty sinewy (but it was cooked well okay!), almost... wet tissue paper-ish like. [ I really need to work on my descriptions, they don't sound appetising at all!! ] The bottomline was that it was both refreshing and nice to have this - it also didn't have that gamey flavour which may turn off some diners. It was also deeply flavourful, a complex amalgamation of tastes and accents that made the beef really wholesome and good in general! And making combining it with the tang hoon (which seemed thicker than the normal type that you buy at the market) and the "pan-chai" was a good idea as well - because it didn't make the process of eating this quite sian after a while, considering the big quantity of meat that was to be consumed by two people in the process. Overall, it was really quite a refreshing and wholesome meal that left both of us feeling happy, full and contented on a rainy Saturday evening. *happy*
Address: 201 Victoria St, Illuma @ Bugis. #04-04.
Contact No.: 6509 8900
Operating Hours: 11.30am – 10.30pm
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