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2013-09-02
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I'm a big fan of Korean food so when my friend recommended the Sarang Korean Bistro at Orchard Central, I decided to give it a go. The thing about Korean food is that it's better to eat in a big group so you can order many dishes to share. Do note that Sarang has a open air area and an indoor area. We got the indoor area and the ventilation wasn't too good so expect to come out smelling like food. We tried the Sticky Chewy Rice Cake ($7) which is basically Korean rice cake stewed in a special sw
We tried the Sticky Chewy Rice Cake ($7) which is basically Korean rice cake stewed in a special sweet and spicy sauce. Now I'm not a big fan of rice cake (too filling for me) but I do like the sauce of this dish. I ended up eating more of the veggies that were stewed together in the sauce with the rice cakes. The rice cake itself was quite dense and chewy, and soaks up the flavour of the sauce well. Still, go for all the yummy bits in the sauce.
This is the Wine Marinated Pork Belly ($22) which is quite pricy for a few slices of meat but the pork belly is one of the more 'premium' parts of the pig so that's okay. The pork belly has a nice subtle wine flavour infused into it. You can taste it but it's not overwhelming and quite unique. Plus because of the wine, I feel it isn't as cloying as it normally would've tasted with all the fats. The down point of this dish is that the pork is quite dry and even though they had strips of fat cooked with the lean meat, it was still quite tough to chew on. The kimchi and mash potato sides were very nice! Silky mash potato, paired with spicy bites of fermented cabbage is good enough to eat it as its own.
The Army Stew ($32) may look big but I would reckon it's enough for 2 hungry people. If you're ordering many other sides, I may suggest to skip this as it can be very filling. There are luncheon meat, sausages, mushrooms, and veggies all thrown inside and stewed in a slightly spicy broth. Very delicious! I would love to eat this with a group of friends on a cold rainy day. The broth is slightly sweet, slightly spicy and tastes quite wholesome. I prefer the luncheon meat to the sausages though. I think they have pepper sausage in there which I didn't like too much as it clashes with the flavours. Do note that if you want noodles in it, you have to top up another $2.
And how can I have a Korean dinner without Kimchi pancake ($8)! I must order this dish at every Korean restaurant as I use this as a benchmark on how good the restaurant is. I must say this pancake didn't disappoint (but not the best I've tried) as I can really taste the kimchi flavours in it (some pancakes taste more of the flour than the kimchi). I wish they were more generous with the seafood topping though. It would've helped bring out the sweetness of the kimchi and balance out the overall taste of the dish.
I do want to make a mention about the service. It could most definitely be improved. We had to keep reminding the waitress about our food as they kept forgetting about our orders. And we only got the side dishes at the end of the meal. The side dishes should be the FIRST items out as an appetizer so that was quite disappointing. Not to mention it was quite difficult to get their attention for things like refill of water or even to serve us our rice. Hence, although the food is not bad, I may think twice about returning here.
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