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As Hallyu (South Korean popular culture) continues to stick around in Singapore, it is common to see more Korean eateries pop up.
Ju Shin Jung Korean Charcoal BBQ actually opened its first restaurant at West Coast before the onslaught of Korean restaurants that started in the late 2000s.
The owners founded the restaurant upon a vision of providing authentic Korean food to the locals and the Korean community in Singapore. When dining at the restaurant, customers may opt to dine in the traditional way where they get to sit on the floor with cushions instead of chairs.
Ju Shin Jung is most well-known for its free-flow traditional Korean barbecue. Depending on the day and time that you head down to Ju Shin Jung, the prices would vary. We were there on a weekday at dinnertime and the price was a reasonable S$38++ for adults and S$19++ for children. Do refer to the end of the article for the full price list.
Side Dishes
Ju Shin Jung spoils its customers with 10 different traditional sides that range from classic kimchi to dried seaweed. I particularly enjoyed the dried seaweed, which had a good crunch and balance of sweet and salty notes.
Each customer is also provided with a bowl of sour seaweed soup to stimulate the palate. There are two different sauces to pair with the barbecued meat—sweet sesame oil and house-made Ssamjang (thick spicy bean paste).
As a loyal fan of this restaurant, I had my all-time favourite side, which was the fresh cold tofu (bean curd). The tofu covered with a sweet and spicy dressing that includes spring onions.
Sadly, this particular side dish is not available during the dinner period and is replaced by fried tofu instead. I’d really recommend heading down during lunchtime just to try this side dish!
Barbecued Meat Selection
The unlimited barbecue includes seven items: W00-sam-gyub (beef belly), Bulgogi (seasoned slice beef), Samgyub (pork belly), Moksal (pork collar), Daeji (marinated pork), Dak (marinated chicken) and Saewoo (prawn). After trying them, here are my top three favourite meat cuts.
We started with Woo-sam-gyub (beef belly), the meat had been thinly sliced and barbecued to perfection. Each plate of meat is accompanied with mushrooms, and even though it is not the star of the barbecue, the mushrooms came out incredibly smoky and flavourful.
Beef belly is usually sliced really thinly and therefore the quick cooking time keeps the beef belly slices juicy.
The Samgyub (pork belly) was slightly tougher to chew on, which was probably the only downside of the meat choices provided. However, when paired with Ssamjang and rice, the pairing was super daebak!
Ju Shin Jung makes exceptional Dak (marinated chicken) with a secret in-house marinade and I’ve never tasted anything like it before. The chicken was succulent and you can expect juice to ooze out when you bite into it. This is probably my favourite out of all the barbecue cuts!
For the most traditional way of eating, you can choose from a wide selection of vegetables to wrap their meat slices in. Based on Korean tradition, the right way of eating barbecue meat is the ssam style.
Ssam means “wrap,” and it is when you wrap small amounts of ingredients like kimchi and meat in a larger ingredient such as cabbage leaves, to create a single delicious dish. These wraps are made one by one on the spot, to be eaten in one bite.
Personal Dishes
Customers are also entitled to one extra dish for each person and you can choose from eight traditional dishes such as Galbitang (clear beef rib soup), Soondubu (spicy soft tofu soup), Naengmyun (cold noodle) and many more.
We ordered the recommended Galbitang which contained tender beef ribs and egg strips. I could effortlessly pull apart the meat which had instantly reminded me of pulled-pork.
The other dish that we picked was the classic Kimchi Soup. There was a generous amount of kimchi added which made the soup perfectly tangy, making it a very appetising and comforting dish.
Ju Shin Jung is definitely my go-to place for the perfect traditional Korean barbecue experience. After reading this article, I hope you’ll know where to visit when you’re craving Korean barbecue!
Expected Damage: Lunch (Daily) – S$32++ (Adult), S$16++ (Child) | Dinner (Mon – Thu) – S$38++ (Adult), S$19++ (Child) | Dinner (Fri, Sat, Sun, PH & Eve of PH) – S$42++ (Adult)
