I was craving for Korean cuisine while watching my Korean drama. I’m watching ‘Let’s Eat’, by the way! And so, I did a quick search on Google for Korean restaurants in the North (of Singapore) and got to know about Nanta BBQ. And that got me pretty excited because it meant we no longer need to travel (all the way) to Tanjong Pagar for Korean. Especially on a lazy Sunday when my family and I did not feel like traveling too far out from home. Keke.

Maybe it’s because it was a slow Sunday evening or my family was lucky, because we managed to park at one of the limited parking lots in front of Goldhill Plaza (before making our way to Goldhill Shopping Plaza). If one is familiar with Novena, Nanta BBQ has taken over the space previously occupied by Burger King.

The restaurant was fairly busy when we reached. And I was amazed at the many categories offered on the menu. Besides the commonly offered BBQ items and a-la carte dishes like noodles and pancakes, Nanta BBQ had (what seemed to be their house special) cheese BBQ, fried chicken, chicken galbi, budae jjigae and tok-bokki. Wow!

My eyes lit up when I sawjeuk-seuk tok-bokki (spicy rice cake that’s cooked on the spot) on the menu. Remember I mentioned I’m watching ‘Let’s Eat’? One episode introduced this dish and I have been craving for it! So naturally, I was excited I could try this since I don’t remember seeing this dish being offered in other Korean restaurants. Or maybe I haven’t been paying much attention since I am newly introduced to this dish. Ha!

And from the menu (pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5), we ordered:-

1) Japchae, $18 (above) – Glass noodles with sauted vegetables. My Mom & brother felt this was sweeter than how / what it should be.

2) Haemul-pajeon, $25 (above) – Seafood & green onion pancake.

3) Jja-jang-myeon, $15 (above) – Noodle with black bean sauce & pork. Having eaten better jjajangmyeon in Singapore, this was average. But I did not like the addition of corns. I prefer food to be as authentic as possible. So no, I did not like the corn. And yes, they should have included pickled radish to go with the noodles.

4) Cheese soonsal chicken, $46 (above) – We were debating between cheese chicken or cheese pork ribs, and we decided to go with the former as I wanted to try the kimchi fried rice (which was an add-on option) too. And the staff presented us with a big plate of cheese-covered chicken where the staff used handheld torch to melt the cheese in front of us. And with ingredients of melted cheese, chicken and vegetables, this tasted very much like pizza. But without the crust. As for the spiciness level, we went with mild which we regretted. It was only while we were having the dish that we realised that the cheese would tune down the spiciness. So I recommend going with spicy at the very least.

5) Kimchi fried rice with fish roe, $15 (Add on) (above) – This was an optional add-on option to our cheese soonsal chicken. And for this, we were told we to inform the staff when we were at least half way though our cheese chicken dish for the staff to bring our plate of half-eaten cheese chicken and our fried rice ingredients to the kitchen to be cooked together. Note, the fried rice is not to be cooked by oneself at the table since the hot plate containing the cheese chicken isn’t hot. A neighbouring table misunderstood and put their fried rice ingredients onto the plate.

6) Jeuk-seuk tok-bokki (cooked on the table), $29.90 (above) – While placing my order, I checked with the staff as to what’s provided so that I can decide if we should order any additional toppings. Unfortunately for us, the staff advised us while not knowing what’s exactly served. And the picture provided on the menu was misleading too. Had I knew only 1 portion of ramyeon was served, I would have ordered additional topping jjolmyeon together with our first order. I wouldn’t recommend this as its serving was disappointing. There was very few rice cakes when the main ingredient of this dish was the spicy rice cakes. There were far too many vegetables.

  

7) Jjolmyeon, $5 (Add on) (above, left) – We ordered additional topping. However, it took the kitchen a long while to prepare this.

8) Rice cake, $7 (Add on) – Similarly, we ordered additional topping as the original portion of rice cakes given was too small to be enjoyed properly.

9) Soup, Complimentary (above, right) – While waiting for our additional toppings, the broth / soup was reduced to a low level from the ongoing boiling. We were surprised to be given a bowl of soup (with hot pepper paste) and more vegetables when we requested for the broth to be topped up. It was a nice gesture, although it introduced far too many vegetables to our dish.

And an interesting observation. Restaurants normally put lemon slices in the bottles of water, but mineral rocks were used at Nanta BBQ! Said to purify the water.

Will I recommend Nanta BBQ? Well, I am on the fence for this. I liked that they had a wide range of items. I mean, just taking galbi as an example. We have Korean restaurant in Singapore that specialise in galbi. But Nanta BBQ is one of the fewer restaurants which have everything. But of course, if Nanta BBQ wishes to diversify, the very basic is to ensure all the dishes are well executed. The jeuk-seuk tok-bokki left me feeling bitter.

However, if one is craving for cheese, Nanta BBQ will be the place. I haven’t seen another Korean restaurant which serve pork spare ribs in (almost) cheese fondue style. Oh yes, one gets to twirl hot melted mozzarella cheese around the pork rib before consuming. And I liked that disposable plaster gloves are provided too. Food just taste better when we use our hands instead of cutlery. No? Keke. I may just be back if I have a crazy craving for this particular dish of cheese deng galbi (cheese pork spare rib).

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