The Place Kimchi Korean Restaurant is fairly new establishment in the revamped wing of Suntec City Mall. Opened about six months ago, it is a modern Korean restaurant which serves Korean barbeque as well as authentic Korean dishes. I was quite surprised and impressed by the modern interior design and layout of the restaurant, given that my impression of most good Korean restaurants in Singapore are smoky, cramped and often less glam, if you know what I mean.

It is rare to feel spacious dining in a Korean restaurant in Singapore, so I really appreciate the space here at Kimchi Korean Restaurant. For a more cosy dining experience, try reserving the few private rooms in advance.The Food Expect some differences in the serving style here at Kimchi Korean Restaurant as compared most others in Singapore. The dishes are generally served in a tapas style size which is good news for me, or bad, as it allowed me to try more variety of dishes. The other good news is that the average price of each dish is much lower due to the size, which makes the overall dining experience more affordable. And what was noticeably missing was the Banchan (traditional side dishes) which we were so used to having in every Korean meal. The owner of the restaurant Haden’s rationale for keeping the Banchan off is to allow diners to have more capacity to try the real food on the menu, as well as to keep the prices of other dishes competitive. We kinda agree with that, as we often find most banchan wasted once the main dishes are served.

Another testament of the authenticity of Kimchi Korean Restaurant is that almost all the chefs are Koreans, helmed by the head chef who used to work in Ritz Carlton in the US as well as Marina Bay Sands Singapore.

We started off with the Haemul Pajeon ($8.90) served in a tapas fashion. Light, crispy and tasty, it was served with a modern touch and good for sharing with a group of people.
We gotta love the Jap Chae ($6.90) as well, which was stir fried with a good mix of vegetables. The Beef Bulgogi ($13.50) was very yummy as well, especially with the thinly sliced beef in the delicious Korean sweet soy sauce. Perfect to go with white rice. Another recommended side dish is the Dduk bok gi ($7.90), which is almost a must have in every Korean meal. We find the sauce too spicy though. We love having soup in our meals and tried the Korean Seafood Soup ($10.80) and Kimchi Soup ($9.80). For the price, the ingredients was generous and fresh. Ask for less spicy for the Kimchi soup if your threshold is not that high.
Kimchi Soup 
The highlight of our meal was definitely the barbequed meat. We started with the Wagyu Beef Short Rib ($29) which was imported from Australia. The beef was quite marbled and came in a decent portion.  Kudos to the restaurant manager as well, who was so attentive to every table. The service was excellent as well as he offered to help with the barbeque of the meat with some friendly tips as well. I was also impressed by the high tech barbeque equipment here at Kimchi Korean Restaurant as well, which uses electricity rather than traditional charcoal and fire. No more worries on smelling like barbequed meat after your meal as there was barely smoke or smell in the whole restaurant. The wagyu beef was tender and it was almost a melt in the mouth experience eating it. For the good quality, it is very reasonably priced as compared to other Korean restaurants.

The other recommended barbeque meat is the Pork Cheek Fillet ($18.50) which we rarely spot in other Korean restaurants. The texture of the pork cheek was chewy and it tasted quite different from the usual pork meat I am used to eating. Definitely worth trying for the unique taste. After so much food, we were craving for desserts and were recommended the home made ice-cream. We had the Black Sesame ($4.80) and Yuzu ($4.80) flavours, which did not disappoint. The ice-cream was made from fresh ingredients, and I especially love the Yuzu flavour which was quite sour, and I love it. It was indeed a very refreshing end to our palate after a hearty meal.

Rants We failed to live up to our name as we could not find anything to rant about the restaurant.

Will I return again? The Marina Bay area do have lots of options when it comes to food. That said, if you are craving for quality authentic Korean food and best when you are walk of the your barbeque not smelling like one, Kimchi Korean Restaurant should be on at the top of your list then!

Special thanks to Haden and Kimchi Korean Restaurant for the kind invitation.

TheRantingPanda says:
Taste bud: 4/5
Hole in the pocket: 3.5/5
Ambience: 4/5
Overall Experience: 4/5

Kimchi Korean Restaurant
3 Temasek Boulavard, Suntec City Convention Tower #02-387
Singapore 038983
Tel: +65 6337 7811

Opening Hours
Daily: 10am-10pm