Modu

As a Korean food lover and with the amount of hype going around for the opening of Modu in Singapore, it is inevitable for Modu to be part of my go-to list. With walk-ins only, it was hard to find time to queue at Modu for a meal

Located within Mandarin Gallery, Modu stands out with a modern Korean Hanok design by incorporating the traditional wooden beams into modern white clay walls. The whole restaurant was split into a few sections: private room, counter seats and the general dining area

When we arrived at the restaurant, we were first greeted by the long queue of people outside and also a group of people surrounding the QR code to join the queue system. We were lucky to get ours registered before the system closed for the day, a couple of minutes later. We were handed menus to browse as well as water and some snacks as we waited for our table, and we waited close to 2 hours for our table

We were lucky to get a seat by the counter and were able to watch the busy kitchen work and cook up the different dishes. The table setting is traditionally Korean with the golden metal spoon and chopsticks

We first ordered the Hwang Tae Chae, which is a savoury and crispy snack made from dried pollack fish strips. The fish strips were shredded to the perfect size and baked or fried to perfect crispiness to be eaten with the mayonnaise dip served on the side. Savoury, chewy and full of umami flavours, this snack was perfect with drinks

There were 6 flavours of soup: Hanbang, which has additional ingredients like leek and pine nuts, Hangover, which is spicy, Beauty Collagen, which includes beauty herbs, black chicken, black sesame and perilla chicken. I love perilla, so I went for the perilla chicken. The moment my soup was served, you could smell the fragrance of the perilla powder, which is incorporated into the soup, which balances so well with the ginseng flavours. The soup was thick, silky and creamy with the heavenly taste of perilla giving that nutty and earthy flavour profile. The chicken was tender and soft to eat, and the entire soup was hearty and highly satisfactory

We also ordered a few of their shareable dishes, like the tofu samhup, which is deep-fried tofu served with fish roe, braised cabbage and gamtae seaweed. The dish was very pretty when served, but slightly underwhelming since the cost is SGD 18. With only 4 pieces of fried tofu, this dish is on the pricey side and was just nice for 2 of us, getting 2 pieces each. We tried the tofu with the fish roe, which provided the salty umami flavours for the otherwise bland tofu and the spicy soy dip with chives, which I quite liked as it gave the tofu a nice spicy kick and enough salty elements to pair with the seaweed well

The next item we ordered was the potato pancake since the minari pancake we wanted was sold out. The potato one was served with Parmesan cheese and truffle mayonnaise. This was the last dish to be served, and it was also highly popular since we saw each table having 1 serving each. The pancakes were extremely hot, and unlike most Korean pancakes, they had a minimal flour base and were made mostly of potatoes, which were fried till extremely crispy. The cheese flavours permeated the potatoes well, and each bite had that salty, cheesy flavour, while the dip was packed with truffle flavours. I liked the pancake on its own without the dip, as I felt the truffle kind of overpowered the pancake flavours

Last but not least, we were served a small dessert, which was part of the set for 2, which we ordered. Called gotgam mari, it is small slices of sweet persimmon stuffed with creamy cheese and walnuts. I had a very tiny bite of it since I was not a fan of persimmon, and it was a nice mix of sweet and savoury, but my nephew found it quite palatable and traditional tasting

Overall, I enjoyed my meal at Modu despite the long wait, and the set meal at SGD 98 for 2 pax allowed us to taste 2 different soups, an appetiser, a side dish and a dessert. As a fan of the Tosokchon in Seoul, I am inclined to compare the both but they are quite different as the flavours set them apart. Tosokchon serves more home-made, no frills soup, which warms your heart like a homely meal, while Modu serves up something more polished and modern with different new flavours complementing the original clean taste of the ginseng chicken soup. I would not say Modu replaces Tosokchon, but I can safely say that if I crave ginseng soup in Singapore, I am happy there is Modu

Address: 333A Orchard Rd, #02-37 Mandarin Gallery, Singapore 238897

Opening hours: 11 am to 10 pm