Located right beside Busan Korean Sashimi & Seafood Restaurant in Tanjong Pagar is Seoulizm, a new Korean BBQ restaurant decked in neon lights and a newtro vibe.
Taking over the space of La Cucina, the 44-seater KBBQ restaurant sports a white-tiled entrance with an eye-catching bright yellow fluorescent signage with a glass window that gives you a peek of the inside.
Inside, the space is lit up with neon lighting and posters that give the restaurant a hip vibe, much like a restaurant you would expect to find in Seoul. Each table is properly set up with an aesthetic portable gas burner, and equipped with cups, plates and tissue paper.
Seoulizm Menu
The menu at Seoulizm focuses on thinly sliced pork belly, which is one of the types of Korean BBQ available in Korea. Usually it can be served on its own, but a common way to serve it is with seasoned chives – also known as Buchu Samgyeopsal (부추 삼겹살).
Other than Sliced Iberico Pork Belly ($24), they also have Sliced Iberico Pork Collar ($27) as well as Iberico Pork Belly ($24), with limited quantity each day. The a la carte menu is also simple, with items like Seoulizm Soup ($19), Truffle Cheese Steamed Egg ($13), and Soupy Tteokbokki ($15).
We opted for the BBQ Couple Set ($68) which comes with two servings of sliced Iberico Pork Belly, a mentaiko cheese steamed egg and spicy cold noodles.
Seoulizm Review
Upon ordering, the restaurant serves up a platter of side dishes and sauces, with consists of items like a spicy leek salad, kimchi, chive kimchi, radish and beansprouts and egg roll. As for the sauces, there are five: wasabi mayo, sesame oil & salt, seoulizm bean paste sauce, a special seoulizm sauce as well as an egg soy sauce, which we weren’t served.
The staff will help to grill the meat for you, along with some of the side dishes.
The grill is slightly slanted to allow excess oil to flow down, but it passes through the side dishes which makes them so delicious after being on the grilling plate as compared to eating them cold.
As for the pork belly, because it’s been thinly sliced, the resulting meat has a slightly crisp exterior when grilled.
One of the ways to pair it with is together with a mouthful of the spicy cold noodles, which had a nice sesame oil and seaweed fragrance to it. It gave off old school Korean food vibes because it was simple, yet well executed. The noodles used are similar to the ones you find in guksu dishes, having less chew.
Out of the sauces that we tried, the one that left an impression was the Seoulizm Sauce, which was on the garlicky side, almost like a sauce you would find in Korean Fried Chicken. The wasabi mayo was slightly underwhelming, with practically no scent of wasabi at all.
We also chose to end the meal with a Cheese Fried Rice ($12) where the staff will help to stir fry the remaining side dishes together with some seaweed and rice, before it is finished off with a cute smiley face made by sunny side ups.
Seoulizm also had something called the Seoulizm Red Bottle ($19) which was essentially a bottle of lemon sparkling soju. We spotted bits of lemon pulp when drinking this, so it might be possible that they made this concoction themselves. It reminded us slightly of a beverage known as Solo from Australia, and the alcohol wasn’t that prominent.
They also have other alcohol available, such as the Tesla Set ($42) which comes with 2 bottles of Terra beer and 1 bottle of Chamisul soju, perfect for making somaek.
Korean BBQ Restaurant near Maxwell MRT
Overall, dining at Seoulizm really felt like an authentic Korean BBQ experience, especially when we were surrounded by tables of Koreans. For more Korean BBQ restaurants in Singapore, check out our article here.
Seoulizm
28 Tanjong Pagar Road, Singapore 088451
Mon-Sun, 5pm-11pm, Last Order 10:30pm
Nearest Station: Maxwell MRT
*This is an independent review by MiddleClass.sg
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