Wednesday 15 February 2017

SBCD Korean Tofu House – Healthy Delicious Soontofu & Galbi [MEDIA INVITE]

SBCD Korean Tofu House

SBCD Korean Tofu House ('SBCD') is the latest healthy and hearty Korean restaurant that enter the Singapore dining scene. It specialises in a variety of Korean soontofu soup, where the word “soon” in soontofu mean soft.

The Menu

In the 1970s, Korean soft tofu soup has been regarded as daily comfort staple in Korea. The letter BCD is the abbreviation of Bukchang Dong, a city in Korea where this dish gains its popularity. With migration, the dish even became very popular in K-Town Los Angeles.

Part of the Dining Area

Every soontofu at SBCD is handmade fresh daily in the restaurant, using the soy beans imported from Korean. It has a texture close to Japanese silken tofu, but it retains the custard feel to it. This freshly made tofu will be the base for most dishes in SBCD.

Hot Stone Rice

The Soontofus Cooking

The soup base soontofu soup uses Pork and Vegetables soup base except for Sesame Soontofu. There are 4 level of spiciness you can choose from: Mild, Medium (recommended), Spicy and Crazy Hot. You can then choose the main protein that you want such as Seafood, Oyster, Ham & Cheese, Intestines, and a lot more (refer to the menu). You will also find that in each Soontofu dish there will be an egg added as well.

The Soontofus - Sundubu Jjigae

Based on SBCD kitchen philosophy of Uplifting and Complete Meal, each soontofu will be served with Hot Stone Rice and Side Dishes (which include Corvina fish, kimchi and other banchan). A very good example of a hearty home-cooked meal in a Korean family, the homely and comfort food concept that SBCD trying to achieve.

Side Dishes (Banchan)

We tried three different type of soontofu: Abalone ($29.90) - Spicy, Ham & Cheese ($19.90) - Mild; and Intestines ($19.90) - Medium.

Abalone Soontofu

In each of the bowl, you can feel robust flavourful broth with a touch sweetness from the pork and vegetables. The soontofu provided a soft pillowy base that absorbs the robust broth. The velvety texture gave it a comforting feel as it navigates through your mouth. The Abalone soup base is too spicy for me (LD gives the thumbs up for the spiciness), but mini abalones give this soup an up-class feel to it. The abalone is small in size, look like those that you normally see in Korean cooking show. On top of that, there is clam, shrimp, squid and mussel in this soup.

Check out the Soontofu

The Ham & Cheese is indeed unique. It will remind you of the army stew version except without the instant noodle. The soup tasted more creamy due to the cheese.

Ham & Cheese Soontofu

The intestines are closer to the actual soup base flavour. The small intestines in springy and crunchy, and it is nicely clean. The soup base and the red pepper powder in the soup helps to remove the unclean taste in the intestines.

Intestines Soontofu

From the three choices of the soontofu above, the Abalone Soontofu got our pick. The Hotstone rice is very unique. As some of the rice sticks to the earthen pot during cooking, they poured the hot barley tea to dislodge the rice from the pot and slurp it. I feel the taste is bland, but according to our host, this is how they do it in Korea, to naturalise the spiciness and richness of the Soontofu, and LD agrees with them based on her extensive watching of Korean food shows on TV.

The Hot Stone Rice

For Main dishes, we tried LA Galbi ($35.90), Tteok Galbi ($29.90). LA Galbi is the BBQ short ribs. The ribs are perfectly grilled, tender, juicy and succulent. There was a touch of sweetness from the marinate, enough to entice your taste buds. There was no charred texture on the meat, and it just comes off the bone effortlessly. Definitely, a must order here.

LA Galbi

Check out LA Galbi portion

Tteok Galbi is a Grilled Short Ribs Patties, famously known as Hamburg Steak. Very popular in Japan and Korea. Although it is basically the patties for hamburger, the version here does not come with any buns to put the meat in between. Well seasoned, nicely charred on the external part, while moist and juicy internally.

Tteok Galbi

If you don't fancy red meat, Prawn Tofu Pancake ($19.90) will be the recommended choice. Made using the soontofu, shaped like the Hamburg steak. It has a delicate texture and smooth velvety flavour from the soontofu. The prawns are finely chopped, it is very difficult to spot. However, I think this is a good dish to accompany your soontofu.

Prawn Tofu Pancake

The décor of this place is simple, bright and open. Almost like a food court or fast food chain instead of a restaurant. Like most modern restaurant, the dining table also double up as a storage place for your cutleries. Just check on one of the side of the tables.

The Private Dining Area

Overall, it was definitely an interesting dining experience. Korean cuisine fanatic LD gives her double thumbs, especially the soup and beef ribs.

Thank you J3Cube and SBCD Korean Tofu House Team for the tasting invitation.

Food & Drink: 7.5/10
Value: 6.5/10
Service: N/A (Tasting Invitation)
Ambiance: 7.75/10
Budget per Person: $26 - $50

Sbcd Korean Tofu House
7 Wallich Street
#B1-01 & 02. Tanjong Pagar Centre.
Singapore 078884

T: +65 6386 6441
IG: @SBCDsingapore
OH: Daily 11.30 – 22.00


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