It's only the 2nd weekend of 2016 and the new year resolutions to eat clean were broken. All thanks to Kim. Located at the School of The Arts (SOTA), this place is popular with a young crowd for its pocket-friendly BBQ buffet priced at $29 after gst and service charge.

Arriving at I'm Kim without prior reservations meant a waiting time. Just by standing outside, I already smell like a piece of barbeque meat on the grill. A bottle of Febreeze Fabric Refresher was placed at the cashier counter but no amounts can alleviate the lingering scent.

The place is a huge dining hall with separate tables. The atmosphere is rowdy and sizzling to the point that I thought the owners could just switch off the Korean pop MTVs showing on the TV screens since we can't hear them anyway. It's airconditioned but there are also ceiling fans to blow the choking smoke from the grills to your face. One can only seek respite by heading to the buffet counters more often. The buffet is self-help style which means it is more advantegeous to be seated closer to the buffet counters. 

The variety is reasonable and there are beef, chicken, pork, seasoned or non-seasoned. After the first round of sample tasting of various meats, my target for the night was narrowed down to the garlic/spicy marinated chicken. The meat was tender and flavourful even if the cook was mediocre (aka me), unlike the pork collars which were tough and not so tasty. A range of cooked food such as Korean ginseng soups, rice cakes, complement the meats and act as appetizers while we were cooking the meat. We loved the sweet crunchy garlic-glazed "irresistible Korean chicken wings" which required some stalking of the kitchen staff in order to acquire as they always run out within seconds after each refill.

Enjoying a Korean BBQ requires mastering the art of cooking food before it's burnt. It's a great way for big groups to socialize. Bigbang was showing their dance moves in an MV. In an interesting comparison, a group of four middle-aged uncles, sitting next to the TV, were waiting for one of their "bros" to arrive before they start the BBQ. The bro code is abided even if the clock is ticking (the buffet has a time limit of 1.5 hours). This place has no age limit. The only limit is one's stomach's ability to eat all you can within 1.5 hours.

Address: 1 Zubir Said Drive Singapore 227968

Happy CNY!

It's been a while.. Have been really busy at work and there was no time to blog. I would have thrown in some vulgarities here but since it's CNY, let's keep things harmonious and pleasant. 

Anyway I am so glad to get some time off during this CNY.. Despite life being kind of tied up, I unwound it by going down to Chinatown for Korean BBQ dinner a few Fridays ago! 

Seriously, good food makes me happy. Even though I had to return to office after the dinner to continue working.

What's so special about Manbok is that it has both steamboat and BBQ buffet. Best of both worlds. The other one I can think of is Seoul Garden. But after Manbok, I won't be going Seoul Garden anymore. 

They have this suction thing that helps to suck away the smoke and oil. Though we still smell like our food, the smell is not that strong. But not a good idea to bring a hot date because your view will be obstructed.

And while you are waiting for your meats to cook, chomp on some cooked food. Esp these crispy Korean chicken wings that are coated with soy and garlic. OMG they are like the best. Ever. Needless to say, I had a few rounds of these. And they are always available in hot and piping mode. Well done Manbok!

Before cooking:

After cooking:

Here's my guide on which Manbok meats to piah!

My most favourite would be the marinated pork collar, followed by the spicy pork belly that has the perfect ratio of translucent fat layer and lean meat layer. The chicken leg was awesome too - tender and juicy. My fellow diner loves the non-marinated pork belly which you could really taste the sweetness of the pork. Manbok's meats are really high quality and substantial. They have a lot of beef too but I'm not a beef fan. 

For the record, vegetables were consumed too:

As for the steamboat, you determine the soup - clear soup which is actually a clam soup, or spice it up by adding some Korean spice sauce.

The buffet comes with free flow of drinks. The mango juice was not bad but the lemon juice cannot make it. And of course, there is free vanilla and chocolate ice-cream!

And yes, free beer for more than 4 pax. Blink blink blink..

They have a lunch buffet at a charity price of $15 nett on weekdays and $18 on weekends! I haven't personally tried the lunch buffet. But if the spread is similar to dinner, then I must say it's really very worth it. Are we like in 1995? 

The dinner buffet was $29+ (no GST but 10% service charge), which is also not bad given that the quality is really good and you get steamboat + BBQ + cooked food + unlimited Korean fried chicken+ fruits + drinks + ice-cream. And free beer for groups with 4 pax or more.

For the gambling kings and queens who have huat from CNY illegal gambling already, consider some unstoppable feasting at Manbok.

Address: 277 New Bridge Road s (088752) - Located in a shophouse.

Tel: 6557 0939

Fried chicken is my favourite food. In fact, anything unhealthy is my favourite. I can imagine 10 15 years down the road, my highly IT-savvy kids reading this blog would scream unfair/double standards if I forcibly take away their fried chicken educate them on the harmful effects of fried food. I need to hide this blog from them.

Chicken Up is a place that I have been hearing about for the longest time. It probably has the best Korean fried chicken. Legend has it that it was picked by a Straits Times reporter in a blind test. I love the Korean style of double frying chickens which retains the chicken juices while keeping it crispy and crunchy. Thus, even though we found ourselves on a 1-hour waiting list, we didn't chicken out (pun intended). We were up for it and our hearts were unwavering, full of anticipation for our turn to devour this fried chicken. 

Chicken Up is housed among the shophouses along Tanjong Pagar Road. On a good day with no crowds, you can choose to sit either indoors or outdoors. The patrons were mainly teenagers and youngsters. I thought it was quite noisy and rowdy. We felt like the oldest people there. 

We have heard a lot about the Chicken Up's cheap and good Korean fried chicken buffet at $25. Ya a fried chicken buffet where we can eat all the fried chicken so that we all can die earlier.

Fried chicken (obviously) made up the menu and there were other sides which we can also choose. We saw this watermelon soju (literally a half sliced watermelon which soju was poured in)  on every table. Seems very popular. The waitress recommended the five main dishes for us to try. Sounds like a good way to start.

We waited for damn long, like 15 mins before the first chicken arrived on our table. I found out from other reviews that each order is freshly fried so it takes longer time. Grrrr but Bonchon doesn't need so long lor (read abt Bonchon's amazing 2 minute wait) 

Presenting the chicks:

Yangnyum (below) - I loved the crispy and crackly moist skin which was coated with a sweet and spicy sauce and also sesame for additional crunch. It was not as spicy as it looks. More towards tones of sweetness. However, I found the meat a little tough. 4/5

Soya chicken (below) - Marinated and coated with Korean soya sauce, the soya chicken wings were more tender than the yangnyum. Maybe it was because chicken wing parts are usually more tender and moist than other parts. These lovely wings were as crispy and flavourful as they look. A pity that they were not served piping hot. 3.75/5

Spicy Up (below) - Looks can be deceiving. This innocent-looking golden brown chicken was a bit too spicy for me but not for my friend who is a spice girl (not the girl group). Served piping hot, the chicken's juices were sealed beneath the crispy skins. So juicy that the juices squirted out when I bite into them.  4.25/5

We also got the Andong Chicken Stew (below) which is a soya sauce-based soup that comes with a chicken drumstick that has meat so tender that it fell of the bone easily, and other goodies such as potatoes, carrots, korean rice cakes. My friend enjoyed it a lot but I found the broth too salty for my palate. 3.5/5

The salt-sprinkled truffle fries (below) were surprisingly not overpowering with the typical strong pungent truffle aroma. Thus, both my friend and I who are not big fans of truffles liked this. 3.5/5

Service was really slow and we had to wait for a long time for them to give us the bill. 

After which we waited a long time for them to collect the bill. 

We eventually paid in exact cash instead of credit card because they were really wasting our time. 

Personally we find this slightly overrated. I think the pieces were too big so we were really full after a few pieces. It would be perfect if they come in wings or drumlets. But still I think not bad lah. A change from usual KFC and better than KFC.

Address: 48 Tanjong Pagar Rd, 088469
Tel: 6327 1203

My first thought of this place was the name was so difficult to pronounce. 

Well what's in a name? As long as the food is great! Anyway I think the name translates to Food God. 

It's a self-service korean BBQ, which means take-till-you-happy, eat-till-you-drop, stay-till-you-smell.

They have a wide range of different types of chicken, pork, beef and seafood.  After taking a small portion of each to try, we discovered our loves to be the prawns, pork belly, pork collar, pork and chicken marinated in special sauce, golden mushrooms. 

There were also cooked korean food such as rice cake, omelette, sweet potato. The cooked food was decent despite being left at room temperature. A few types of soups were available.. I had the seaweed soup which was filled with chunks of seaweed.

After cooking and finally ready to eat! The meat was tender and flavorful, slightly charred. 

Favorite pork belly - layers of fat and lean meat served a wonderful variation in texture.

My eyes lit up when I put the marinated pork and chicken (below) into my mouth. The sweet special savory sauce, charred BBQ smoky goodness, and melt-in-the-mouth tender meat was a heavenly combination. 

Desserts include corn soup or red bean soup. We had the red bean soup which was not overly sweet and great for cleansing the palate.

At $25++ per pax, this is a value-for-money buffet that we all ate till we drop. 

Address: 
They have a few branches but I went to the Tampines outlet.
Tampines 1, 10 Tampines Central 1 #04-22/23 s529536

Other outlets:
Oriental Plaza, 291 New Bridge Road #01-01 s088756 (Chinatown)
United Square Shopping Mall, 101 Thomson Road #B1-15 s307591 (Newton)
Junction 10, 1 Woodlands Road #01-21/22 s677899 (Teck Whye)