Kkongdon Korean BBQ @ Marina Square (Marina Link)

Kkongdon Korean BBQ is a new food and beverage establishment brought to you by JP Pepperdine Group. If you don't know JP Pepperdine Group, they are the one that brings you Jack's Place, Seafood Harvest, Eatzi Gourmet, Brewbaker's and Restaurant Hoshigaoka to the local food scene.

Kkhongdon in Korean literally means best price value. The history started back with the first Korean BBQ restaurant in Sinchon, Seoul in January 2005. To date there are 67 outlets in Korea providing high quality Korean BBQ at reasonable price.

The restaurant is nicely spaced with extendable air suction pipe. It also has an air purifier placed in corner to freshen the air in the restaurant so customers do not smell like BBQ after dining.

Free flow Kimchi and Korean side dishes are available at the buffet counter but rather limited selections.

Aaron the restaurant manager cooked us some kimchi and bean sprouts saying that it tasted better when it is warm. Indeed it did and I will do so when I next visit another Korean BBQ restaurant.

Raspberry Rice Wine 3/5

As I wanted to try something different on the beverage menu, Aaron recommended me the Raspberry Rice Wine 360ml ($19). Unfortunately I did not know how to appreciate it. I should have just stick to my beer.

Beef Skirt 4/5

Beef Fingers 4/5

On the beef menu, I tried both the Beef Skirt ($16) and Beef Fingers ($16). The beef was directly imported from JP Pepperdine's own Silver Fern Farms in New Zealand. These are the same beef used for Jack Place's steak. The beef was tender and succulent.

Pork Belly 4/5

Knowing my weakest for Pork Belly ($16), I would always prefer them over the beef. The beautiful layers of fat and meat when grilled were simply sizzling yummy.

Spicy Pork Belly 4/5

They have the spicy version too. The Spicy Pork Belly ($16) was just as good but it was a bit too mild in the spices. I did not get the hot rush I was expecting.

Bibimbap 3.5/5

Beside the Korean BBQ, the restaurant also offers authentic Korean dishes on the menu prepared by the lady Korean chef. Being a rice person, the Bibimbap was served at the right time to fill my stomach. We asked Aaron how come there was no egg and it was not served in hot stone? He told us this is from the lunch set menu. Without the hot stone cooking the rice, the crisp and burnt rice at the bottom was missing which was the delectable part of it.

Seafood Pancake 4.2/5

The Seafood Pancake ($12) had a nice thin crust on both the top and bottom while the inside was moist and fluffy. Topped with seafood it was quite a sumptuous pancake.

Kimchi Pancake 3.8/5

For kimchi lover, the Kimchi Pancake ($10.80) is definitely one pancake for you. With a generous amount of kimchi in between the flour batter, each bite of the crunchy kimchi inside was an enjoyment.

Ginseng Chicken 4/5

It was a cold night and the Ginseng Chicken ($18) was perfect for warming the body. A well executed dish that was hearty and comforting. If I want to be picky, the soup was lacking the ginseng flavour.

Kimchi and Pork Belly Stew Hotpot 4.5/5

The Kimchi and Pork Belly Stew Hotpot ($22) is the most popular Korean dish. The well fermented kimchi with tasty pork belly worked harmoniously in the bowl of spicy broth. Besides the soft and tender pork belly, the hotpot also comes with soft and silky tofu.

Steamed Egg 4/5

The Steamed Egg ($6) was quite flavourful with custard like texture topped with scallions and carrots. I couldn't tell what's the broth used to thin the egg mixture but it definitely lifted the taste and dimension of this humble dish.

Overall I think Kkongdon Korean BBQ is worth a visit with good quality meat. On top of that, there are a good selection of authentic Korean dishes. It would be nice if they can expand the selection of free flow kimchi and side dishes. I still left the restaurant smelling of BBQ so it probably need to install a few more air purifiers.


Kkhongdon Korean BBQ
Marina Square (Marina Link)
6 Raffles Boulevard
#B1-01/02
Singapore 039594
Te1: +65 63362580
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kkongdon.sg
Nearest MRT Station: Esplanade (CC Line)

Opening Hours:
Daily: 11am - 1030pm

Direction:
Alight at Esplanade MRT station. Take Exit B. Walk to Marina Square Link. The restaurant is at the end of the link near the escalator exiting to Marina Square. Journey time 3 minutes.

Behind the Planning of Makan Gathering @ High Society Mansion

Reflecting on the Makan Gathering on 03 November 2012, it was an event that was filled with lots of different emotions. Both Maureen and me were so stress leading up to the event that we have sleepless nights and kept asking each other whether we will ever do it again? I will leave the answer to the end of the post cause we ourselves said this to each other, "ask me again after the event".

Those that follow our blogs will know that we organised regular makan trails and the latest was a hawker trail to Tiong Bahru Market and Food Centre. Usually these makan gatherings were kept to a closely knitted group of friends and a manageable size of 20-30 pax. However, for this makan gathering, we made a brave decision to open it up to EVERYONE.

Through one of our tasting sessions, we get to know Kennie from High Society and we thought maybe we can do a sit down dinner instead of the usual hawker trails. Kennie was very receptive and supportive of our idea and a menu was soon drawn up for a fix price of $35 per pax.

The initial plan was to limit the makan gathering to 40 pax but as we sent out the invites on facebook, we realized we got to know so many wonderful friends along our blogging journey and we ended up with 70+ pax in our invitation. Very soon 50+ pax RSVP with us and we were given another challenge by Kennie. If we can reach 60 pax, she will add another 2 more tasting dishes to the menu.

THANK YOU to all the support from fellow bloggers, hotel marcom, PR and readers. We have 62 pax in total turning up for the makan gathering at High Society Mansion on 03 November 2012.

Worried that we may not be able to be a good host, we decided to bring in sponsors so everyone has something to bring back for coming to the Makan Gathering. We are very thankful to Huiji, Gold Kili, Frezfruita, Mouth Restaurant and PARKROYAL on Beach Road for the sponsorship. Thank you Faith, Daniel and Karen too.

As you can see from the photo above, these were the boxes of goodies we need to transport to the venue. The honey weights 1KG and there were 60 bottles = 60KG! These could not be possible without the help from Sherie, Yancai and Chuan Kai.



Both Maureen and me came out from out own pockets to get the paper bag for the goodies as we could not find sponsor for it. Each bag cost us $1 and we have to spend $60 getting them. The worst nightmare was the paper bag could not hold the weight of the goodies and we ended up have a few broken kaya bottles. Thank goodness no one was hurt and we apologize for the unfortunate incident. High Society was very kind to our rescue providing us with another 50 plastic bags. Thank you to the staff for cleaning up the mess too.

Even Maureen did not know about this as I composite this paragraph. Since I was the only one that arrived early to do the preparation work cause she was held up by traffic transporting the goodies, I had a meeting with the restaurant manager on the flow of the serve and how we can help the kitchen to get out the food at the same time to everyone.

I have to thank Rae, Celes and Jiayi who came early and helped out at the registration. They played a major role in taking each individual's main order, tallying them for each table for me to communicate to the restaurant manager and hence the kitchen.

I applauded the staffs at High Society for getting all 62 mains out to everyone. The whole operations flow was smooth and no one had to wait long for their food. Following the 62 individual mains, there were another 6 mains per table meaning another 60 dishes. That was a total of 124 dishes excluding the 62 soups! My sincere appreciation to the team at High Society for a job well done, I know it was not an easy task with a small kitchen. My personal thanks to Henry, Kennie, Shaharin, Zam and the rest of the team at High Society for making this event possible.

Unfortunately this was also a lesson learnt for both of us. In hoping to get the best return for the guests who had paid $35 each for the dinner, we have gone for quantity instead of quality. While we could not control the food quality, we hoped the ambience, company and laughters made up for it.

The highlight of the night was an instagram competition whereby contestants had to submit a photo using only their camera phone for the Pork Knuckle dish. Glad to see so many participation!

Jackson (alpha_nique) is our winner for the instagram competition. He won himself a buffet for 2 at PARKROYAL on Beach Road.

When the guests arrived for the makan gathering earlier, they were asked to write their name on the ice cream stick during registration and dropped them into the little bucket for lucky draw.

Thank you Mouth Restaurant for sponsoring the dining vouchers for the lucky draw.

We got Shaharin the restaurant manager to draw the 3 lucky winners. Actually I wanted Maureen to draw but she said cannot lah later people say we 'kelong'. Haha these were the little details we have to even considered. Anyway congratulations to the 3 lucky winners!

Looking back the photos taken, we were glad to see the smile in each and everyone's face. People bonding and getting to know one another. Just to put the record straight, both Maureen and me were not paid to organise this. We have to pay for our own meal like everyone. In actual fact, we have to cover the cost of the paper bags as well as a misplaced envelope of the dinner money.

Last but not least, a BIG THANK YOU to all the 60 friends who turned up for the event. Heng! you all never fly our kite, if not Maureen and me probably have to come out more money from our pockets.

 

I leave you with a photo of the 60 ice cream sticks that was bonded together with a single rubber band. On 03 November 2012, food has gathered and bonded us together at High Society Mansion. I am glad to know you and have you as part of my life.

So the final question, will we do it again? YES! we will but smaller group.

*Thank you Maureen and Charlene for the photos