Quick answer: Dolpan Hwajoo (돌판화주) is a Korean restaurant at 99 Tanjong Pagar Road, Singapore 088520, and the overseas outpost of a Busan original with its main branch in Seomyeon. The name breaks down as 돌 (stone), 판 (pan), 화 (fire) and 주 (alcohol): large sharing dishes cooked on a hot stone plate, several finished with a tableside fire show, built to be eaten with drinks. Dinner mains run $38 to $52 and are sized for sharing; lunch sets are $17.50 to $28.50. The standout draw is the flavoured makgeolli — ube, strawberry, apple mango, and shine muscat at $22 to $23. Open 11.30am to 11pm daily.
Most Korean restaurants in Tanjong Pagar are KBBQ joints. Dolpan Hwajoo is not, and its name tells you exactly what it is. Break the four syllables apart: 돌 (dol, stone), 판 (pan, a large plate for sharing), 화 (hwa, fire) and 주 (ju, alcohol). That’s the concept: big communal stews served on a hot stone plate, some finished with a blowtorch in front of you, all designed to be eaten with a bottle on the table.
We were invited to a media tasting shortly after it opened. Here’s what we ate, the full menu, and how the Singapore prices stack up against the Busan original.
What Is Dolpan Hwajoo?
Dolpan Hwajoo serves the kind of Korean food that’s everywhere in Busan and rare here: Nakgopsae (낙곱새), a spicy stew of octopus, beef intestine and prawn that’s a genuine Busan speciality, plus dishes built on gopchang (곱창) and daechang (대창), small and large intestine, and dakbal (닭발), chicken feet.
If that reads as intimidating, it’s worth saying upfront: this is offal cooked for people who like offal and for people who never order it.
The format differs from the barbecue norm too. Instead of grilling your own meat, you order one large stone-pan dish for the table, add noodles, cheese, or fried rice, and let it cook down as you eat. It’s closer to how Koreans actually drink than to how Koreans actually barbecue.
Where Is Dolpan Hwajoo?
Dolpan Hwajoo is located at 99 Tanjong Pagar Road, Singapore 088520, taking over Seoul Noodle Shop.
The nearest MRT is Tanjong Pagar (EW15), about 2-3 minutes on foot, with Maxwell (TE18) on the Thomson-East Coast Line, a similar distance on the other side.
Opening hours: 11.30am to 11pm, Monday to Sunday.
What We Ate
We tried five dishes from the dinner menu, plus two makgeolli. Here’s what we thought:
Nakgopsae ($52) 돌판 낙곱새
The Busan signature: octopus, intestine and prawn in a spicy stew. There’s a proper kick to it, and the seafood-and-offal pairing works better than it reads on paper.
One thing we recommend: give it time. It arrives quite watery and is noticeably underwhelming in the first few minutes. Let it boil down properly in the stone pan, and the sauce concentrates into something much more flavourful.
Dolpan Rosé Daechang Dakbal ($46) 돌판 로제 대창 닭발
Chicken feet and large intestine in a rosé sauce, topped with whipping cream. This was the standout.
Very creamy with a gentle chilli heat behind it, and there was no gaminess at all. That’s the thing that usually puts people off both chicken feet and large intestine, and it simply isn’t present. The chicken feet are excellent, and the large intestine is fatty in the way it’s supposed to be. Visually, you probably can’t tell what you’re eating due to all that sauce, which might great for those who are a bit more sensitive to how their food looks.
If you’ve been curious about dakbal but never ordered it, start here. The cream and rosé sauce do the work of making it approachable.
Cheese Jjimdak ($44) 돌판 치즈 찜닭
Braised chicken with cheese, finished tableside with a large fire gun. The torching isn’t only theatre, it adds a real smokiness to the cheese that carries through the dish.
This is the safe order for a table with mixed appetites. The Busan menu describes its equivalent as Andong-style jjimdak — soy-based and on the sweet side, which is exactly how this tasted.
Yukhoe ($38) 육회
Korean beef tartare, served on a plate rather than the stone pan. The weakest of the five.
It leans peppery, comes with a lot of pear, and there just isn’t much marinade. If you’ve had a version with a properly sweet-savoury sesame-and-soy dressing elsewhere, this reads as underdressed. At $38, it’s also where you feel the price most, particularly since the Busan branch sells its yukhoe as hanwoo (premium Korean beef) for the equivalent of about $25.
Skip it and put the $38 toward a second stone pan.
Dolpan Jja.Gye.Chi ($17) 돌판 짜.계.치
This is basically Jjapagetti with cheese and egg. Classic instant noodles, enriched by the cheese and egg.
It isn’t sophisticated and isn’t trying to be. A very good thing to order at the end of the night that soaks up everything you’ve been drinking.
The Flavoured Makgeolli Is The Real Reason To Go
This is the part we’d make a trip for, and what separates Dolpan Hwajoo from every other Korean restaurant in the area.
Most places here stock one or two makgeolli, usually plain. Dolpan Hwajoo runs four flavoured makgeolli.
| Makgeolli | Korean | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Ube Makgeolli | 우베 옹기막걸리 | $22 |
| Strawberry Makgeolli | 딸기 옹기막걸리 | $22 |
| Apple Mango Makgeolli | 애플망고 옹기막걸리 | $23 |
| Shine Muscat Makgeolli | 샤인머스켓 막걸리 | $23 |
| Ji Pyeong Saeng Makgeolli (plain) | 지평생 막걸리 | $17 |
We tried the ube and the strawberry. Both are very nicely flavoured, not the syrupy, artificial thing “flavoured makgeolli”. The strawberry is the pick: it tastes genuinely fresh rather than sweetened, and it’s the better match for the chilli heat running through most of the mains.
Ube makgeolli is close to impossible to find in Singapore, so if that’s the novelty you want, this is the place. It’s a signature at the Busan branch too, where it’s described simply as sweet ube-scented makgeolli.
Beer is $17 (Terra, Cass) and Soju is $18 across Sunyang, Chamisul, Saero and Jinro. Non-drinkers get ade for $7 in Shine Muscat, yuzu and apple mango, plus soft drinks at $4.
The Full Dinner Menu
Dinner is built around one large sharing dish per table.
Dinner mains
| Dish | Korean | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Gopdoritang — spicy chicken & beef intestine stew | 돌판 곱도리탕 | $52 |
| Nakgopsae — spicy octopus, beef intestine & shrimp stew | 돌판 낙곱새 | $52 |
| Gopchang Jeongol — beef intestine stew | 돌판 곱창 전골 | $50 |
| Daechang Dakbal — spicy chicken feet & beef large intestine stew | 돌판 국물 대창 닭발 | $48 |
| Cheese Deunggalbi — spicy pork ribs with cheese | 돌판 치즈 등갈비 | $48 |
| Jjukkumi Samgyeop — spicy baby octopus & pork belly | 돌판 주꾸미 삼겹 | $45 |
| Dakdoritang — spicy chicken stew | 돌판 닭도리탕 | $44 |
| Cheese Jjimdak — braised chicken with cheese | 돌판 치즈 찜닭 | $44 |
| Yukhoe — Korean beef tartare (served on a plate) | 육회 | $38 |
Hot stone mains
| Dish | Korean | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Rosé Gopchang Tteokbokki | 돌판 로제 곱창 떡볶이 | $48 |
| Rosé Daechang Dakbal | 돌판 로제 대창 닭발 | $46 |
| Rosé Dakdoritang | 돌판 로제 닭도리탕 | $46 |
| Dolpan Mulgalbi — spicy beef rib stew | 돌판 물갈비 | $42 |
Add-ons for any main
Mozzarella cheese $8 · Fried rice $6 · Glass noodles $4 · Chewy noodles $3 · Ramen noodles $3
Add the fried rice at the end. Frying it in the residual sauce on the stone pan is the whole point of eating this way, and at $6 it’s the best-value item on the menu.
Dinner sides
| Dish | Korean | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Wagyu Sliced Beef Pancake | 와규 육전 | $28 |
| Galbitang — beef short rib soup | 갈비탕 | $20 |
| Perilla Oil Mak Guksu | 들기름막국수 | $18 |
| Mul Naengmyeon — cold buckwheat noodles | 물냉면 | $17.50 |
| Dolpan Jja.Gye.Chi — jjapagetti with cheese & egg | 돌판 짜.계.치 | $17 |
| Perilla Oil Fried Egg | 들기름 계란후라이 | $16 |
| Seafood Pancake | 해물파전 | $15.50 |
| Potato Cheese Pancake | 치즈감자전 | $14.50 |
| Kimchi Pancake | 김치전 | $14.50 |
| Dotorimuk — acorn jelly salad | 도토리묵 무침 | $14 |
Lunch Is Much Cheaper
If the dinner prices put you off: lunch runs $17.50 to $28.50, and every set comes with side dishes and rice (noodle dishes come without rice).
Signature lunch sets include Nakgopsae ($19.50, served fully cooked), Gopdoritang ($18.50), Cheese Deunggalbi ($19.50), Spicy Deunggalbi ($19.50), Gopchang Stew ($19.50), Cheese Jjimdak ($18.50), Jjukkumi Samgyeop ($18.50), Dakdoritang ($17.50), Jjimdak ($17.50), Galbitang ($22) and Dolpan Mulgabi ($28.50).
Note the nakgopsae price gap: $19.50 at lunch versus $52 at dinner. The lunch version is a single portion served fully cooked, so you lose the boil-it-down-at-the-table part. But to simply try the dish, lunch is well under half the price.
There are also noodle sets ($18.50–$19.50) covering dak kalguksu, yukgaejang kalguksu, bibim and mul naengmyeon and perilla oil mak guksu; sundubu sets ($17.50–$18.50) in kimchi pork, seafood, and ham & cheese; and bibimbap ($17.50–$18.50) in bulgogi, spicy pork and vegetable.
Who Is Dolpan Hwajoo For?
- It’s a drinking restaurant. The food is built to be eaten slowly over bottles. Not a quick dinner.
- Dinner mains are $38–$52 but feed a table. One main plus a side and add-ons across three or four people is reasonable; one each is not.
- Go for the makgeolli. Four flavoured varieties is genuinely rare here, and the strawberry is very good.
- It’s a soft landing for offal. The rosé daechang dakbal has no gaminess and is the most persuasive thing on the menu.
- Lunch is the cheap way in, at well under half the dinner price on some dishes.
- It opens at 11.30am daily, which makes it a viable CBD lunch.
- Let the stews cook down. The single most useful thing we learnt: the nakgopsae is watery on arrival and much better ten minutes later.
Dolpan Hwajoo: Key Information
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Name | Dolpan Hwajoo (돌판화주) |
| Address | 99 Tanjong Pagar Road, Singapore 088520 |
| Origin | Busan, South Korea — main branch in Seomyeon, Busanjin-gu |
| Cuisine | Korean — stone pan stews, offal, makgeolli |
| Dinner price | Mains $38–$52; sides $14–$28; add-ons $3–$8 |
| Lunch price | Sets $17.50–$28.50, with side dishes and rice |
| Drinks | Flavoured makgeolli $22–$23; plain makgeolli & beer $17; soju $18; ades $7 |
| Opening hours | 11.30am–11pm, Monday to Sunday |
| Nearest MRT | Tanjong Pagar (EW15) or Maxwell (TE18) |
| @dolpan_hwajoo_sg |
Frequently Asked Questions
What does “Dolpan Hwajoo” mean?
Dolpan Hwajoo (돌판화주) breaks into four Korean syllables: 돌 (dol) meaning stone, 판 (pan) meaning a large plate for sharing, 화 (hwa) meaning fire, and 주 (ju) meaning alcohol. Together, they describe the concept: large sharing dishes cooked on a hot stone plate, finished with fire at the table, meant to be eaten with drinks.
Where is Dolpan Hwajoo in Singapore?
Dolpan Hwajoo is at 99 Tanjong Pagar Road, Singapore 088520. The nearest MRT is Tanjong Pagar on the East West Line. An alternative is Maxwell MRT on the Thomson-East Coast Line.
Is Dolpan Hwajoo from Korea?
Yes. Dolpan Hwajoo originates in Busan, South Korea, where its main branch is located in Seomyeon, the city’s main nightlife district in Busan. The Singapore outlet at Tanjong Pagar is its overseas branch.
What are Dolpan Hwajoo’s opening hours?
Dolpan Hwajoo Singapore is open 11.30am to 11pm daily, Monday to Sunday, with no closed day.
How much does Dolpan Hwajoo cost?
Dinner mains are $38 to $52 and sized for sharing, with add-ons from $3 to $8 and sides from $14 to $28. Lunch sets are cheaper at $17.50 to $28.50, served with side dishes and rice. Flavoured makgeolli is $22 to $23 a bottle, beer is $17 and soju is $18.
What should you order at Dolpan Hwajoo?
The Dolpan Rosé Daechang Dakbal ($46) is the standout — chicken feet and beef large intestine in a creamy rosé sauce with no gaminess. The Cheese Jjimdak ($44) is torched tableside and is the safest order for a mixed group. Add fried rice ($6) at the end to fry in the leftover sauce. On drinks, the strawberry makgeolli ($22) is the pick.
Does Dolpan Hwajoo have vegetarian options?
Very few. The soft tofu (sundubu) stews are all marked as containing beef fat, so they are not vegetarian. The vegetable bibimbap at $17.50 on the lunch menu is realistically the only vegetarian main.
*This article is based on a media tasting, but all opinions expressed about the food are entirely our own.
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