Many friends are posting photos of Wang Dae Bak on Facebook so I called the Amoy Street outlet to make reservation to find out what the fuss is about. And the server said I have to book a few days in advance for Fridays and weekends! So popular! He told me to try the China Square outlet.
On Friday, we searched for 20 minutes and couldn’t find the restaurant and eventually the restaurant sent someone to direct us. It seemed like the service wasn’t bad but the best server in the restaurant was the lady boss. If I ever open a restaurant, I want to make damn sure I am NOT the employee of the month every month.
The pancake was 4-5 times the size of my friend’s face.
We were sat in a room and when we pressed the bell for service TWICE, no one came. I walked out of the room to tell the server what we needed. We waited, nothing changed. Then my friend walked out, saw the lady boss, told her we needed to change the BBQ grill. She changed for us. Later, when we pressed the bell again, she was the first to respond. So yes, the lady boss was the best server. So the service can be friendly and swift if you can get the attention of the servers and do a dance and sing a jingle for them to remember what you require.
But ah! The moment I stepped into the restaurant, I was grinning from ear to ear because the ambience was fantastic, very convivial. And the patrons were hot Korean salarymen, rowdy with soju.
The food was spectacular. They serve free barley tea. The kimchi and assorted gratis dishes were so-so but you MUST ORDER the seafood pancake ($18), prime rib ($28) and spicy pork belly ($18). The gigantic pancake tasted like very good orh luk (oyster omelette), crispy and eggy. If it gets cold, just warm it on the grill.
For the charcoal grill, it comes with free, refillable grilled egg! It tasted similar to tamago, but was less sweet, less eggy and more smoky. The pork belly came in three thoroughly marinated thick slabs and the prime rib was beautifully marbled.
In general, the portions were generous and the quality good. Value for money. I was so happy, excited and completely satisfied with the meal that I kept exclaiming, “Shiok! Shiok! Shiok!” MUST EAT!! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. The food and ambience were worth the negligent but friendly service. Besides the above-mentioned food, we also had an average kim chi soup ($15), two bowls of rice ($2/bowl) and a coke and paid $100 for three persons.
How to Get to Wang Dae Bak
When you’re at China Square, walk along South Bridge Road. The restaurant is by the overhead bridge, opposite Hong Lim Complex.
Wang Dae Bak
22 Cross Street #01-59/60/61/62/64 China Square Singapore 048421
T: 6225 2646
Rating: 3.905/5 k-pop stars
Written by A. Nathanael Ho.
Categories: $20-$40, Chinatown, Korean, Large Group, Raffles Place, Tanjong Pagar
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