Wang Dae Bak Grill

I was having meat cravings one day after work and decided to go for Korean barbeque for dinner. One of the nearest Korean barbeque restaurants near my workplace is Wang Dae Bak Grill at Holland Village. Since I have eaten at the Wang Dae Bak outlet at Cross Street, I was sure the food would be good

Located on the 2nd floor of Holland Piazza which is right in the centre of Holland Village, Wang Dae Bak took over the space previously occupied by Saizeriya. Donning similar wooden doors look from their outlets, this outlet also looks like the typical Korean barbeque restaurants you see in Korean dramas

The interior of the restaurant is decorated in the same wooden and white colours but the interesting thing is there are no hanging exhaust pipes in the restaurant which is a must for all barbeque restaurants. The staff subsequently explained to me that their stove includes an internal exhaust which sucks away the smoke immediately so there is absolutely no greasy smell in the restaurant

Right after we ordered via the QR code, the staff served us the sides dishes which included blanched broccoli with sauce, stir fry fish cake, steamed tofu, seasoned yellow bean sprouts, cabbage kimchi and sliced pickled radish

I ordered a total of 3 kinds of meat, the pork belly flower was served in round shapes to look like flowers but as seen on the grill they were sliced paper thin so they cook pretty fast. As seen in the picture, the small holes surrounding the grill are the exhaust that sucks in all the smoke so we left the restaurant with not a single smoke smell on us. I also like the fact that the staff changes the grill after cooking each type of meat to make sure the char on the existing grill does not burn the next meat. The pork belly was nice but too thin in my opinion as you can hardly taste the pork if you use it in a lettuce wrap so this is more suitable for eating on its own. The price is also quite steep at SGD 22 for the very thinly slice meat. Those who prefer thicker pork belly can order the Duroc pork belly at SGD 27

I also ordered the pork collar and the tomahawk pork which both came with a serving of king oyster mushroom. The size of the collar was like a nice thick pork chop without bones while the tomahawk is like a more fatty cut of pork chop with bone. The servers helped cook the mushrooms to a nice golden charred colour before proceeding to cook the pork collar. The meat was all cooked perfectly and even when they accidentally burnt the tomahawk, they quickly changed the grill and replaced a new piece of tomahawk for me

In terms of taste, the collar was much chewy and had good meaty flavours but could be more tough to bite. The tomahawk on the other hand is extremely tender and the fats totally melt in your mouth providing the lean meat the oil and juice to make chewing more enjoyable and flavourful. Both these cuts of meats are higher priced at SGD 27 and SGD 39 respectively

With the recent craze for pork soup rice, Wang Dae Bak also started selling their version of this dish. I did not remember seeing this on their menu when I last visited them but I could be wrong. They only had 1 version which they just named Dwaeji Gukbap on the menu and when it arrived, it looked more like the milky version with toppings of spring onions. The soup was good for sharing for 2 people and the rice came separately in the metal container so you need to put in the rice yourself. The soup was milky but extremely light so it is necessary to put in the chilli shrimp sauce that was provided which added on some savoury flavour. There was a mix of pork meat and some pig stomach and they were quite tender to bite and it was overall a homely-tasting soup. However, if I was to make comparisons, the soup at Um Yong Baek is still the best and since Wang Dae Bak specialises in barbeque, my expectations of their soup were lower

Overall, the staff at Wang Dae Bak Grill is very good and attentive and better than the experience I had at the Cross Street branch. The space here is also more spacious and the seating is more comfortable. Most importantly, the quality of their more expensive meat is really good although the price is on the higher side but if you are looking for quality barbequed meat and not all-you-can-eat meat, this is a nice place to visit

Address: 3 Lor Liput, #02-01, Singapore 277725

Operating hours: 11.30 am to 2.30 pm and 5.30 pm to 10.30 pm