Hoodadak

This review is consolidated over 2 visits; one during lunch and another during dinner. Located within the Fusionopolis area, Hoodadak is very popular with the office lunch crowd

Hoodadak has been serving hungry office lunch crowds since 2016 and offers a variety of fusion and traditional Korean dishes

The restaurant has a triangular-shaped layout with the more oversized group tables on the left of the service counter and the generic tables on the right side. They were very crowded during both of my visits and during the lunch visit, I had to take the only table available right in front of the cashier amidst stacks of paper and documents as the restaurant uses this table for delivery pickup as well as for their own staff. There are some items on the menu which is available only during dinner time so we went for the set lunch

The first thing served to our table was the side dishes and this is the first time they were served in these cute sectioned plates instead of individual plates which is very smart as it reduces the number of plates used as well as keeping it easy for staff to handle and serve if their hands were busy. The side dishes change daily and when we were there for lunch, we were served cabbage kimchi, seasoned cucumber kimchi, pickled radish and spicy seasoned eggplant. The flavours of the side dishes were quite light but not bland and quite different from other side dishes

I ordered the Bossam set at SGD 18 which came with seaweed soup, lettuce, rice and steamed pork meat. The steamed pork also came served with Cheongyang chilli, raw garlic and seasoned spicy radish strands. For this price, there were about 12 pieces of meat cut in a generous size and thickness. The meat was tender and soft without tasting too greasy and was great with the condiments or wrapped with lettuce. The taste of the pork was quite strong so if you do not like pork enough, some people might not be able to accept it

The rest of my colleagues ordered the cheesy ramen with chicken which she mentioned was very mediocre as the cheese broth was very diluted and too milky that she did not finish her bowl of noodles. The chicken ramen on the other hand was basic and very similar to what we would have cooked at home so there was no surprise here except they added some sliced onions and carrots. The L.A galbi set ordered by my other colleague was decently seasoned and tender to bite but it was priced the most expensive at SGD 25 and only had less than 10 pieces of meat

We also ordered a side of seafood pancakes which came with a spicy chilli dip. The dip was great as there were balanced flavours of spice, savoury and nutty flavour from the sesame seeds. The pancakes were not impressive as they were not crispy and there was quite a fair bit of flour. I basically like my pancake with a nice crispy skin

I visited in the evening again when I chanced upon a review that Hoodadak serves pork soup rice as well. I am not sure why I totally missed it during lunch but I was in full swing to try many traditional Korean pork soup rice in order to compare them to the ones at Um Yong Baek so I visited during dinner time again. This round, the side dishes include braised eggs, cabbage kimchi, spicy seasoned cucumber and seasoned seaweed. For our orders, we went straight into the pork soup so 2 additional condiments; the salted shrimp and chilli paste were brought to our table

There was only Dwaeji Gukbap and Sundae Gukbap and they did not differentiate their version of pork soup but when it was served, it was the more milky version. Both soups were generously topped with chives and spring onions. The pork version had sliced pork collar and stomach in the soup while the sundae version has cut sundae pieces and stomach and some pork slices. Before adding any condiments, both soups were milky with a light savoury flavour but the sundae version was slightly saltier. It feels like a nice hot broth to be eaten on a rainy day. Personally, I like the soups better after adding the chilli paste and salty shrimp paste which added an additional layer of umami flavours which was otherwise not strong enough in the soup. It was a very hearty and comforting meal but it is still a win for Um Yong Baek

Overall, Hoodadak does serve pocket-friendly lunch sets with generous portions and the flavours were decent enough. While I will not consider them my favourite Korean restaurant, it is nice to have a decent Korean restaurant around the office when I am craving Korean food

Address: 1 Fusionopolis Pl, #01-10 Galaxis, Singapore 138522

Operating hours: 11.30 am to 2.30 pm and 5.30 pm to 10 pm