Another day, another KBBQ restaurant. Just down the road from ANJU is Mul Gogi Korean BBQ, a new charcoal KBBQ restaurant in Tanjong Pagar serving water-aged meats, Korean stews, and sides. While Mul Gogi generally means fish in Korean, the restaurant uses it as a wordplay as they age their meats in water.
What is Water Aging?
We’re all familiar with the concept of dry aging. Well, here at Mul Gogi Korean BBQ, you can spot vacuum-packed bags of meat in tanks of water. This water aging process allows the breakdown of collagen between the muscle fibers which helps to increase tenderness.
Water Aged Korean BBQ in Singapore
The Korean BBQ restaurant isn’t huge, with a 30-seat capacity, and 2 private rooms that can hold up to 4 pax each. Each table has an exhaust pipe that helps to remove excess smoke, and there’s Febreeze available if you need to spray yourself down before leaving the restaurant.
Mulgogi Korean BBQ uses a pretty interesting grill that resembles Hong Kong egglets. The grill is placed on top of a charcoal fire for a better KBBQ experience.
The banchan here is quite limited, with side dishes such as brinjal, cucumber, beansprouts, fish cake, and kimchi. We would have preferred if they use soybean sprouts instead of the ones you find in your local beehoon/laksa. However, the cucumber side dish was really refreshing, and we found ourselves refilling this quite often.
BBQ Set (Pork Belly, Collar, Jowl, Steamed Egg and Bean Paste Soup)
Like most Korean BBQ restaurants in Singapore, Mul Gogi Korean BBQ offers set meals and we opted for BBQ Set 1 ($81) which came with Pork Belly (Samgyeopsal), Pork Collar (Moksal), and Pork Jowl (Hangjeongsal). The set also came with a steamed egg, choice of Makguksu or Stew. We opted for the Bean Paste Stew (Doenjang Jjigae).
One thing we noticed about the meat here is how thick they were. The pork belly and pork collar were thicker than most KBBQ restaurants.
You can cook the meats by yourself or request help from any of the staff. The latter option is highly recommended.
The pork cuts were all of good quality, with the pork collar being our favourite among the three. It was tender and juicy, with the fat melting in your mouth.
Beef-wise, we opted for a serving of Galbisal ($41 for 150g), and were thoroughly surprised by the juiciness of the cut.
The bean paste soup came with seafood and tofu and was nicely balanced with the right amount of spiciness and saltiness. Their steamed egg did not disappoint as well with its silky textures.
Kimchi Pancake
One of our favourite items for the night was the Kimchi Pancake ($22). Done differently from most Korean restaurants, Mul Gogi Korean BBQ seemed to have added a layer of breadcrumbs to give the pancake an additional crunch.
The result is a texture that’s similar to tonkatsu cutlets, that’s in contrast to the soft center. You can also taste the sourness of the kimchi, which made the dish even more palatable.
Charcoal Korean BBQ in Tanjong Pagar
While Korean BBQ restaurants are aplenty in Tanjong Pagar, Mul Gogi Korean BBQ offers quality water-aged meats that are slightly different from the other restaurants in the area. Along with the quality service, Mul Gogi makes a nice place for Korean-themed dinner nights.
Mul Gogi Korean BBQ
48 Tras Street Singapore 078987
Mon-Sat, 12pm-2pm, 5:30pm-10:30pm. Closed on Sundays.
*This is an independent review by MiddleClass.sg.
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