The famous Yoogane Dak Galbi (유가네 닭갈비) is in Singapore!
Address: 200 Victoria Street, Bugis Junction, #02-47/48
Opening hours: 11:00 am – 10:00 pm
Introduction
Yoogane, started in Busan in 1981, had since grown to one of the most popular galbi brands in South Korea. Galbi is a kind of grilled dish in Korean cuisine that are made with marinated meat in a ganjang-based sauce.
Yoogane is very popular and well-received in Seoul among the locals and tourists and they have currently expanded to over 100 branches in South Korea. I had Yoogane at Seoul in 2013 and you can read up the review here.
Yoogane Singapore menu. Click to enlarge. As of 2 May 2014.
On 1 May 2014, Yoogane opened it’s first franchise brand at our Bugis Junction. For those who are having first-time experience with Yoogane, the dining concept is mainly having their Galbi (pan-grilled marinated chicken) as the main dish, while the customer can add on toppings like teokbokki (plain, cheese, sweet potato), noodles, rice, cheese etc. into the pan to be pan-fried together with the Galbi.
Apron is distributed to diners to prevent splattering onto diner’s clothes. I didn’t see this when i visited the Seoul Myeongdong branch.
Yoogane’s Chicken Galbi
While in Seoul, the Chicken Galbi cost S$10.00 for one pax, their signature Yoogane Chicken Galbi cost S$16.90++ in Singapore and the increase in price is actually not surprising. I ordered one portion of Chicken Galbi to share and i thought the portion is actually sufficient to be shared by two people if you order their noodle and fried rice as well.
This is the portion for one pax of Dak Galbi with “Combination Fixings $10.90++” topping that consist of vegetables, mushrooms, noodles, 3 types of rice cake and potato slices.
I had a little chat with their operation manager Mark while he’s cooking my Galbi (Yes, their operation manager cooks for customer). He told me that the ingredients used and recipes are all imported from Seoul. He and his partners actually had training in Seoul for up to two months to learn the trick of preparing a good pan of Chicken Galbi. Yoogane has also sent four of their very experienced staff from South Korea to help out during the initial period. He assured me that the quality of their Chicken Galbi is comparable with South Korea’s.
It takes a little while for the meat to be cooked and for the vegetable to soften
I think i agree with him. The meat is as tender and as well-marinated. The level of spiciness is less than moderate, and it is more sweet than spicy actually. Such taste should be readily accepted by Singaporeans.
The chicken may be the main dish, i actually thought that the more exciting dishes are the fried noodle and rice.
Front: Jjol-myeon (Korean Sticky Noodle) Back: Ra-myeon (Instant Noodle)
Fried Ra-myeon and Rice in Mozzarella Cheese
The two types of noodles are already included in my Combination Plate which are the Ra-myeon (Instant Noodle) and the Jjol-myeon (Korean Sticky Noodle). I remembered back in Seoul, i don’t really like their noodle as it’s a little dry. However, i really love the noodle in Singapore. They added water into the noodle to ensure the noodle remains moist while it absorbs the sauce from the pan. I very much prefer the Ra-myeon than the Sticky Noodle. It absorbs the sauce more easily, much softer and has a better texture.
As for the fried rice, it cost S$3.90 for quite a big portion that goes very well with Mozzarella Cheese (S$3.90++). I had been a fan of Yoogane’s fried rice since i had it in Seoul.
Their staff firstly pan-fry the rice (with seaweed and sauce) till the desired color, ensuring that the rice has been well coated by their sauce. Then they spread out the rice evenly and scatter the shredded mozzarella cheese on the rice and cover the cheese with another layer of rice to simmer the cheese.
The fried rice is left on the pan for a while and when you noticed that the cheese has melted, it’s time to FEAST! The portion is rather big and two of us sharing one portion of fried rice.
I didn’t have the cheese version of fried rice in Yoogane Seoul so i consider this as a craving well-satisfied!
Did i mention about their free-flow Kimchi at the salad bar? Their Kimchi is actually quite good. In fact better than most of the Kimchi i’d eaten in Singapore.
Conclusion
I originally like Yoogane for it’s dining experience, food, and their reasonable price. It’s a pity that the Singpaore price is slightly higher than what i’d expected and the price is like 1.5 times of what it costs in Seoul. However, I’m still very glad that Yoogane had been brought in to Singapore and the standard is no less than Seoul, and in fact slightly better than the one i had in Seoul Myeongdong.
If you are considering making your way down to Yoogane, do consider that I took about an hour to complete my meal which means the turnover is rather slow. I am someone who love good food, but i hate long queuing time. For me, if the queue is so long as the photo below, i will head off to somewhere else for dinner and probably come back another day.
7.00pm – The queue curves to the right at the end, and extends forward for a short distance, then you will reach the reception table of Yoogane.
Chin Chai Jiak 