Ever lamented the need to travel to a separate cafe for a decent Korean Patbingsoo (red bean shaved ice), because the Korean restaurant you’re at doesn’t serve desserts?
Now you can have the best of both worlds at Patbingsoo Korean Dining House, and at incredibly affordable prices!
Located at Basement 2 of Plaza Singapura, where the old aquarium shop used to be, Patbingsoo Korean Dining House features an impressive array of both the sweet and the savoury. Opened in December last year, the restaurant prides itself in flavours inspired by the food streets of Seoul, adapted to local tastes.
This restaurant knows exactly what its customers want, providing us 2 full pages of fold-out Bingsoo menu items, and unique, fusion dishes.
That means dishes like Tteok Carbonara, Patbingsoo Buritos, and Seafood Sundubu Pasta!
During our visit, we decided to stick with the more classic flavours in an attempt to transport ourselves to Seoul.
We started off with some alcoholic beverages: the Lychee Makkoli, Green Tea Soju, and the Grape Yoghurt Soju ($11.90).
If you prefer your alcohol sweet, these are perfect for you!
More importantly, they pair really well with the Spicy and Honey Garlic Chicken Wings, our first appetisers of the day.
The smell of the roasted garlic hits you first, before suffusing your taste buds with its sweet, garlicky flavours. As for the Spicy Chicken Wings, they’re great even if you’re not too good with spices. Strong aromas with none of the pain!
Next up was the Fried Samgyeopsal ($6.90), deep fried pork belly slices served with a vibrant honey mustard dipping sauce.
Crispy and peppered with a world of seasoning, this sinful pleasure was able to mask its unhealthiness by leaving out that overly greasy taste fried food tends to have.
Next up was the restaurant’s signature dish: The Rolling Cheese Pork Ribs ($38.90)!
One of the more expensive items on the menu, this dish can be shared by anywhere between 2 to 4 people, depending on how many ribs you’re willing to sacrifice.
That’s because once you’ve taken a bite of this tender, sweet and spicy marinated pork rib that’s been lovingly wrapped in a mix of melted cheddar and mozzarella, you’ll want them all to yourself!
Couple that with a whole array of sides such as cream corn, potato chips, pineapple slices and fries, plus a generous serving of the best garlic mayo I have ever tasted, and you’ve got yourself a meal fit for a king!
Next, we moved on to the House Special Ramyeon ($11.90). At this point, we were starting to get full, but the moment the piping hot, spicy ramyeon came to our table, our appetites were whet all over again.
With a creamy, eggy broth that wasn’t too spicy, this yummy ramyeon disappeared as quickly as it appeared. That’s another thing about Patbingsoo Korean Dining House: their service was extremely quick! We barely had to wait before each dish arrived, and their service was polite and incredibly helpful.
At last, our final savoury item made its appearance: the Dynamite Spam ($11.90).
Spam is a staple of many Korean dishes, such as the classic Army Stew. Brought into South Korea during World War II, it was often smuggled back home from army bases as a treat. One mishmash of Korean stews and spam later, it is now a nation-wide beloved food item.
Patbingsoo Korean Dining House serves their spam with several slivers of raw onion, a generous serving of gochujang mayo and several seaweed rice balls. This is then torched right at your table, leaving you with an intoxicating flavour that ruins regular mayo for you from here on.
At first bite, you’ll immediately notice the sharp tang of the raw onion, before it is blanketed by the tangy, torched gochujang mayo sauce. The seaweed is very fragrant as well, helping to tie everything together in an umami bomb of flavour.
After all these savoury, carb- and protein-heavy dishes, we were more than ready to cleanse our palates with some sweet treats.
We were graciously provided with 2: The Incheon Bingsoo ($11.90) and the Hoegi Patbingsoo ($10.90).
The Incheon Bingsoo is shaved ice with tiramisu coffee, rum and coffee ice cream. Definitely a must for tiramisu lovers, this Bingsoo was extremely light as well.
The mascarpone was light and fluffy with a hint of coffee, and the lady finger biscuits provided a nice crunch.
As for the Hoegi Patbingsoo, it came with fruits, jelly, red bean and red bean ice cream, all on top of shaved ice.
For those of you who typically eat fruits after a meal, you’ll be ecstatic with this Bingsoo as it comes with strawberries, mango, grapes and honeydew. It’s also a more classic version of Bingsoo, with a nice dollop of sweet red beans under a scoop of ice cream.
(P.S. That’s what the ‘Pat’ in Patbingsoo means: Red Beans!)
Overall, we had an amazing time trying out just a small selection of their huge menu. Insanely affordable with amazing quality food, this is one place I’m definitely going to make a regular dinner spot.
Patbingsoo Korean Dining House
Address: Plaza Singapura, #B2-47, 68 Orchard Road, Singapore 238839
Contact no.: 9181 3038
Operating hours: Sunday – Thursday: 11am – 10pm; Friday – Saturday: 11.30am – 10.30pm
Website
Also read 8 Best Places In Singapore With Pizzas That Look And Taste Like Heaven!
(Top Image Credit: Burpple)
