Wanting to stuff grilled pork belly wrapped in lettuce into our mouths, and determined not to head back to the usuals, I did a little search and decided to give Dae Bak a try. Getting here by car can be a little tricky cause the roads are mostly one-way. Thus, if you miss the turn, you will need to make a big circle. So for those who are street idiots like me, it’s recommended to use GPS. =)

I had called an hour earlier to make reservation, but the lady on the other end of the line, in her limited English, told me that reservation at 8.30pm will be unnecessary. Which was a relief on my end too cause I reduced “I will like to make a reservation at 830pm for 2” to “Reservation? 830pm?”, and had to repeat myself at least 4 times before we managed to understand each other.

The restaurant, located at the 1st storey of a shophouse, has a very long and narrow interior. We entered to see a long line of tables stretching to the back. The place was bustling with diners, noticeably (mainly) Koreans.

And from the dinner menu, we ordered:-

1) Pork belly, $18 – As with most Korean restaurants, we had to order a minimum of 2 sets. And for 2 sets, we were served with 4 thick slabs of pork belly.

2) Shellfish soup, $25 – It’s stated in the menu that it’s for 2, so we were not surprised to see a big, shallow pot brought to our table. The soup belongs more to the bland end instead of flavourful (like kimchi soup), and I actually like the soup this way. Generous amount of beansprouts put into the soup too. Nice!

3) Seafood pancake, $18 (above) – The pancake was served bursting with colours because they were very generous with the seafood. And of course, with more ingredients, the dough was a little on the thin side. When we tried to pick up a piece, the pancake will break into a few smaller pieces as though it’s unable to hold the weight of the many seafood. But we are not complaining! =)

An interesting fact is that the cushion of the stool is removable for us to place our belongings inside. I did not know that till I saw some Korean ladies taking their handbags out of the bin-like stools at the end of their dinner. Helps to prevent our precious handbags from smelling after a BBQ dinner! =)

Another interesting thing to note is that they will pour beaten egg around the BBQ grill plate. But don’t disturb the egg till they have fluffed up and is ready to be eaten. I disturbed a little stretch while the egg was still being fried and that particular stretch did not turn out nicely.

All in all, it was a good dinner. Metal bowls are used for everything which gave that authentic feel. One of the staffs forgot our request for more kimchi, but that was not a problem. Generally, the staffs were polite and approachable. Definitely one more place to go to when I am craving for my BBQ pork belly.

Related posts:

Dinner @ Dal-In 2 Korean Dinner @ MaciMani Korean // CLOSED Dinner @ E!ght Korean BBQ Dinner @ Kimchi Korean Dinner @ Doong Ji Korean