The Place Located at Mandarin Gallery along Orchard Road, I checked out a new Korean restaurant Drim Korean Steak House, a modern Hanok Style Korean steakhouse concept. The interior of Drim restaurant is contemporary with an open concept dining setting, as well as a more private dining section away from the sight of curious onlookers in the mall. 

Most tables also come with their own stove where the grilling action takes place. 

The Food Drim offers BBQ experience during both lunch and dinner, and the good thing is that their staff help with the grilling of meats right in front of you. The ventilation system is quite good so you will not leave with a smoky smell after your meal. 

I had the Drim Korean Barbecue – Beef Set Menu (S$125 per person) which comes with three cuts of beef – Sirloin, Marinated Short Ribs and Rib Finger. Some sides are served in this set such as vegetables to go with the meats, soybean tofu stew and kimchi. Condiments such as wasabi, sea salt, Himalayan salt and smoky salt are also served to pair with the meat. 

The Marinated Short Rib is my favourite cut as it has the most flavourful profile amongst the three. This is followed by the Sirloin which has a moderate amount of marbling with a balance of tenderness and beefy taste. 

For non-beef eaters, there is the Drim Korean Barbecue – Pork Set Menu (S$90 per person) which features three cuts of pork – Kurobuta Pork Belly, Kurobuta Pork Collar and Iberico Pork Jowl. Honestly, the pork meats are quite good as I initially thought the beef would fare better. It turned out that each cut of pork is very flavourful and juicy and is great to go with the accompanying lettuce and chilli sauce. 

Other than the BBQ set menus, I also tried the Drim Signature Noodle (S$26) which is quite appetising and delicious. It uses 100% buckwheat noodles with perilla seed sauce along with ingredients like beef heel muscle, handmade soy sauce, perilla oil, garlic chives, spinach, sesame seeds, perilla leaves and perilla leaf sprouts. 

Another signature dish I had was the Jeju Yukgaejang (S$32) which is a thick and rich blend of beef and vegetable soup made with Jeju rock fern. The soup also has bits of beef brisket meat along with sesame seeds and red pepper powder, and it goes well with the accompanying white rice. 

Dessert of the day as part of the beef and pork set I had included a pumpkin rice soup as well as freshly baked bean powder madeleine. 

Rants Part of the restaurant feels too open such that there is not much dining privacy. In terms of the grilling of meats, one suggestion is for the grilled meats to be served to diners once the staff is done grilling. 

For my case, my sirloin was already grilled, but the staff waited for the short ribs to be grilled before serving both cuts together. This resulted in the sirloin meat being a tad cold when I had it. 

Will I Return Again? Drim is a pretty decent dining spot along Orchard Road if you are craving for Korean BBQ. The set up and concept is more polished than the typical casual Korean BBQ concepts, and it is a nice touch with the staff grilling the meats for each table. That said, I also noticed some teething issues on the service front, as well as my gripe that there is a lack of dining privacy if you are assigned the open concept counter seats. 

This was an invited tasting, though all opinions expressed are our own.

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

Drim Korean Steak House 
333A Orchard Road 
#02-14, Mandarin Gallery 
Singapore 238897 
Tel: +65 9660 9964 

Opening Hours 
Monday to Friday 
Lunch: 12pm to 3pm (2:45pm last order)
 
Dinner: 6pm to 10pm (9pm last order)

 
Saturday & Sunday: 11am to 10pm 
(9pm last order) 

Ranted by The Ranter