Tag Archives: kimchi chigae

Satisfying Dinner with Son @ Aburiya on 7Aug2015

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kimchi chigae 킴치찌개

kimchi chigae 킴치찌개

had a great family dinner with son (back for summer holidays) at aburiya on 7.8.2015. ^^ from my 3 previous posts, looks like i come here every 6 months, the last one in mar2015. could be more frequent than that & i did not post, but that’s the value of the posts for me, helping me to savour moments of joy. 🙂

yakiniku smokeless grill

yakiniku smokeless grill

aburiya has a good ventilation system & smokeless grill. i talked about this last time when c/w azmaya omakaseya which was poor in ventilation.

kurobuta

kurobuta S$16.90

we had the kurobuta.

kurobuta S$14.90

kurobuta S$14.90

this time we did not take the kurobuta belly. the meat looked marbled. texture was great but more like a loin than the flavourful fatty meat.

karubi S$10.90

karubi S$10.90

we take the cheaper beef, the karubi or short ribs.

karubi negi S$11.90

karubi negi S$11.90

& we orderd karubi negi which came with a seasoned/pickled negi or leek for S$1 more. love the leeks.

jo karubi S$16.90

jo karubi S$16.90

we also had jo karubi, the prime short ribs.

yakiniku grill

yakiniku grill

the meats were ok, not really special & my own homecooked steak dishes like tagliata di manzo are a lot better basically because i use very much better cuts like grain-fed black angus ribeye or striploin & sometimes aussie or even japanese wagyu. still it was very tasty & nice done this way even for cheap meats & we sometimes do teppanyaki ourselves at home, which is just as wonderful. ^^

kimchi chigae 킴치찌개

kimchi chigae 킴치찌개

& i just love the kimchi chigae 킴치찌개 here. not even the kimchi nabe hotpot at shirokiya can compare with this in terms of flavours. maybe i will think of some ways to do this at home.

bibimen

bibimen

and we also love the bibimen here.

bibimen

bibimen

really like the noodles & the pork & cucumber condiments mixed in the ubiquitous gochujang sauce고추장. such a wonderful comfort food. maybe can try this at home too, not sure. the dinner sans the sake was about S$30nett pax, pretty ok. 🙂

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Excellent Dinner (as always) @ Aburiya on 8Mar2015

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hokkaido wagyu jo karubi

hokkaido wagyu jo karubi

had an excellent dinner with wife on sunday 8.3.2015.

we went to our favourite yakiniku restaurant, aburiya.^^ last time we were here was  6.10.2014.

aburiya 烧屋

aburiya 烧屋

we called up last minute, & was able to still get a seat inside. the outside was quite full though.

hakkaisan

hakkaisan

wife ordered here usual sake, a hakkaisan.

smokeless yakiniku grill

smokeless yakiniku grill

the grill is recessed into the table & also has powerful suction on the side, so it is entirely smokeless. contrast this with axmaya omakaseya yakiniku, which has quite bad ventilation & leaves you smelling of bbq meat when you leave the restuarant.

jo karubi with negi (leeks)

jo karubi with negi (leeks)

the meats were excellent. the hokkaido jo karubi or special boneless beef rib (top photo) was good. so was the jo karubi negi (with leeks). we did not find the hokkaido beef so outstanding for the price actually. the cheaper beef did quite well.

kurobuta belly

kurobuta belly

the kurobuta pork belly was great too. i liked it.

kimchi chigae

kimchi chigae

& we just love the kimchi chigae here. somehow the broth was really very very tasty, even better than the hotpot kimchi nabe at shirokiya.

bibimen

bibimen

bibimen

bibimen

& the other dish we just love was bibimen. i was quite converted actually. i used to like bibimbab a lot more (still like bibimbab) but here we always ordered bibimen. my wife loved it & i liked it a lot now.^^

so tasty with the gojuchang sauce, and it came with a lot of beef. 🙂

the dinner came to S$120nett for 2pax. it was kind of expensive. less the sake it would be like S$90 for 2pax. c/w azmaya omakaseya.

azmaya has much better quality of beef & with the 50% discount the price would be about same or less c/w aburiya for much better beef. however aburiya was a more complete & enjoyable meal for us because we like the kimchi chigae very much and also the bibimen. another thing the ventilation at azmaya is really bad c/w aburiya’s smokeless grill.

for myself though i am quite happy to go back to azmaya if the 50% continues.

c.h.e.f andy

 

Excellent Yakiniku @ Omakaseya Azmaya on 15Jan2015

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wagyu karubi

wagyu karubi

See also update on 23.1.2015.

bought some S$10 for S$20 qoo10 coupons, so went with wife to omakaseya azmaya yakiniku for dinner on 15.1.2015. 🙂 restaurant is tucked away in one corner on level 2 of robertson walk, 11 unity street. restaurant was crowded. service was disorganised & totally ineffective (i basically had to walk in & out of the room to get our orders delivered after waiting for 30mins after ordering with nothing happening). the japanese guy did make some effort to deliver “jap-level” service though the gap was enormous.

omakaseya azmaya yakiniku

omakaseya azmaya yakiniku

yakiniku grill

yakiniku grill

they used a drip grill exactly same as what i had at home. i had not used that lately as we did more of teppanyaki with the hot plate. this was inferior to the recessed smokeless charcoal grill at aburiya. also w/o the powerful ventilation suction, we came out after dinner smelling of bbq all over.

wagyu sirloin

wagyu sirloin

wagyu sirloin

wagyu sirloin

wagyu sirloin

wagyu sirloin

wagyu sirloin

wagyu sirloin

fortunately the kagoshima wagyu sirloin was excellent. it was priced at S$65++ for a steak that looked >120g (maybe 150g), so at 50% off, it was really very good c/w (say) kagoshima wagyu sirloin i had recently at mikuni, my favourite restaurant.

wagyu karubi

wagyu karubi

wagyu karubi

wagyu karubi

& the wagyu karubi (beef ribs) was also excellent. the wagyu sirloin thankfully came last so w/o direct comparison, the wagyu karubi was really very good, very marbled & flavourful. just look at the top photo makes one salivate. ^^ if the wagyu sirloin was heavenly then this was 1/2way to heaven. ^^

wagyu karubi + belly pork

wagyu karubi + belly pork

belly pork

belly pork

belly pork

belly pork

belly pork

belly pork

leek

leek

the pork belly was surprising poor & tasteless. this is really odd as the sister restaurant down the road, azmaya (shabu shabu) serves an excellent tasting pork belly. fortunately the leek was an excellent dip & condiment & the pork (S$16) tasted pretty ok with the dip. there wasn’t much on the menu that we liked other than the few meats. we love the complete meal experience at aburiya because it has the kimchi chigae & the bibimen that we like very much. here the meat was superior for the price but no kimchi chigae & my wife was not keen on bibimbab (they did not serve bibimen).

omakaseya azmaya yakiniku

omakaseya azmaya yakiniku

omakaseya azmaya yakiniku

omakaseya azmaya yakiniku

after dinner we learned that we could actually get 50% discounts for all food items at our next visit. while for a complete meal experience i would go back to aburiya, this is a good alternative venue & an excellent place for very good wagyu yakiniku (of comparable standards to the average yakiniku in japan). i should be going back shortly with some friends. c.h.e.f andy

Enjoyable Kurobuta Kimchi Nabe @ Shirokiya Cuppage Terrace on 12Oct2014

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kurobuta kimchi nabe - groupon S$22.80nett

kurobuta kimchi nabe – groupon S$22.80nett

had a nice kurobuta kimchi nabe at shirokiya cuppage terrace on 12.10.2014. 🙂

last time i came here was on 11.6.2014.

we had a groupon voucher at S$22.80. the usual price of a nabe (there were 3 choices) was S$38.80++ = S$45.70.

my wife & i love kimchi chigae, so we selected the kurobuta kimchi nabe.

additional order of kurobuta (S$9) for kurobuta kimchi nabe

additional order of kurobuta (S$9) for kurobuta kimchi nabe

we later added an extra order of kurobuta pork at S$9++.

broiled kurobuta S$10.80

broiled kurobuta S$10.80

broiled kurobuta S$10.80

broiled kurobuta S$10.80

we didn’t want carbs, so decided against the bibimbap & the dons like ikura shake don, and ordered the broiled kurobuta. it was like a very tasty chashu that came with a good chashumen. 🙂

kurobuta kimchi nabe - groupon S$22.80nett

kurobuta kimchi nabe – groupon S$22.80nett

the sake were expensive & my wife decided against ordering them. iced water was free.

service was great, and there was a tablet order pad which you could also call for service.

dinner including my groupon voucher was about S$46nett, and we had 3 servings (90g per serving) of kurobuta (2 for the nabe + 1 added).

it was good price. the other items on the menu other than kurobuta though did not excite us. sashimi, maki were expensive c/w what we could get at better restaurants like mikuni & sun with moon wheelock etc. overall, we had better satisfaction at aburiya, though that was more expensive. the kimchi chigae at aburiya was small & actually tastier (of course with very little pork) & we love grilled meats. shirokiya though is not a yakiniku restaurant.

it was pretty ok just for a change.

c.h.e.f andy

Our Favourite Yakiniku @ Aburiya on 6Oct2014

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ohmi wagyu beef set

ohmi wagyu beef set – S$39.95

went to aburiya for dinner with wife & daughter on 6.10.2014. 🙂

i had an excellent dinner here last on 19.3.2014. today was just as good! 🙂

yakiniku

yakiniku

aburiya yakiniku

aburiya yakiniku

sake

sake

kimchi chigae

kimchi chigae – S$11.90

kimchi chigae

kimchi chigae – S$11.90

bibimen

bibimen – S$12.90

we ordered our usuals – kimchi chigae & bibimen. i love both these dishes.

kimchi chigae always so tasty, with some slices of thin belly pork. i love the kurobuta kimchi nabe at shirokiya @ cuppage terrace but for a simple small helping of kimchi chigae, aburiya’s is the best.

bibimen is something i come to like because my wife prefers it to bibimbap. now i get to like everything about it, flavours, texture. 🙂

ohmi wagyu beef set

ohmi wagyu beef set – S$39.90

we decided to order the ohmi wagyu beef set (above & top photo). it looked marbled, tasted good, but somehow not quite matching our expectations of the intense marbled flavours of 1 of the 3 best kuroge wagyu (黑毛和牛) in japan, along with kobe & matsuzaka. somehow the last time we had the cheaper hokkaido wagyu here on 19.3.2014, it left a more lasting impression. maybe it’s better just to order karubi or jo-karubi than to have the tokumori mixed set.

for me tajimaya@vivocity’s wagyu was pricy but good too only if there is amex 50% discount, but they did not have the kimchi chigae & bibimen we liked here, so the enjoyment was not the same. 🙂

jo karubi negi (prime short ribs with leek)

karubi negi (short ribs with leek) – S$11.90

we had the cheap australian angus karubi negi (short ribs with leek). it was quite ok. anyway we had always liked it before we started trying the wagyu here.

kurobuta & iberia pork set

kurobuta & iberia pork set – S$25

kurobuta & iberia pork set

kurobuta & iberia pork set – S$25

we tried the kurobuta & iberia pork set this time. it was really good. certainly better than the karubi. i think overall our enjoyment of the pork was more than even the ohmi tokumori set, not that the ohmi was poor.

the bill

the bill

the bill came to S$143 nett for 3pax including a bottle of sake. quite ok for a very enjoyable dinner. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Great Kurobuta Kimchi Nabe Dinner @ Shirokiya on 11Jun2014

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kurobuta kimchi nabe

kurobuta kimchi nabe

bought a groupon voucher for a japanese hotpot at shirokiya cuppage terrace branch (S$22.80 voucher for a S$38.80++ nabe) & went with my sis for a 2pax dinner on 11.6.2014. 🙂

there were 3 choices of nabe for the S$38.80 price option, 2 were chicken.  we picked the kurobuta kimchi nabe.

kurobuta kimchi nabe

kurobuta kimchi nabe

there were about 10 large slices of kurobuta belly pork (the restaurant said 160g for 2 servings), and you could add another serving (80g) for S$9++.

kurobuta was quite excellent. nabe also came with 4 mussels (ok la..), tofu, lots of vegetables & kimchi. it was a good tasty & satisfying nabe.

broiled kurobuta

broiled kurobuta

broiled kurobuta

broiled kurobuta

broiled kurobuta

broiled kurobuta

the other menu items though did not attract me. sashimi salad at S$20.80++, sushi & sashimi were quite ex, assorted sushi maki was S$25.80++. i would rather take these at mikuni or sun with moon at wheelock.

there was a (limited order) S$17.80 grilled salmon belly that looked great but was too large for 2 of us. we considered a S$13.80++ ishiyaki kurobuta don but decided we didn’t need the carb & selected the S$10.80 broiled kurobuta. this was really good! 🙂 a very tasty, flavourful, generous helping.

both items were very good. dinner came to S$35.50 nett (S$22.80+S$12.70). i bought 2 more shirokiya vouchers when i got home. 🙂

not sure i would do this at the usual price of S$38.80++, but at 1/2 price S$22.80, it was very good value. the very good kimchi chigae at aburiya cost S$13.80 for <1/2 portion & <20% pork (& not kurobuta) by comparison. azmaya used to offer 50% discount for pork shabu shabu ala carte buffer at S$12++. currently there is only a S$17.50 pork shabu shabu set, which comes to S$35 for 2pax c/w S$22.80. so shirokiya’s groupon offer great value. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Excellent Yakiniku Dinner @ Aburiya on 19Mar2014

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hokkaido wagyu jo karubi (prime ribs)

hokkaido wagyu jo karubi (prime short ribs)

had an excellent yakiniku dinner at aburiya on 19.3.2014. 🙂

had not been there for a while..just checked my blog & it was almost a year ago that i had dinner at aburiya on 26.3.2013.

1509051_10152267765829494_493358192_n

jo karubi (prime short ribs)

karubi negi (ribs with leeks)

karubi negi

yakiniku

yakiniku

1939644_10152267766009494_1351092563_n

yakiniku

the prices had gone up slightly. we basically ordered similar food. for this evening the jo karubi (S$15.90) was not that great but the cheaper karubi (S$10.90) was good. we also added hokkaido jo karubi (S$21.90) which was excellent, nicely marbled and very flavourful. they did not have the ohmi wagyu though it was on the menu.

bibimen

bibimen

1964930_10152267766149494_1677678164_n

kimchi chigae

1380202_10152267766219494_99060285_n

kimchi chigae

1958447_10152267766374494_874492899_n

ice sake

we always ordered the bibimen & kimchi chigae. both were very good. 🙂

10003317_10152267766504494_981405429_n

aburiya

1150150_10152267766574494_335839706_n

aburiya

the inside tables were mostly taken up at 7pm. there were still quite many tables available outdoors.

the dinner including sake (S$15) added up to S$105 for 2pax, not cheap but it was very enjoyable. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Excellent Yakiniku @ Gyukaku at Matsumoto on 13Oct2013

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kuroge wagyu

kuroge wagyu – 980yen

we modified our trip plans last minute, dropped unazuki & included kamikochi which my wife had always wanted to go, so switched our hotel bookings from omachi onsen to matsumoto on 13.10.2013, as there was a direct bus 1hr 50mins journey from matsumoto to arrive at kamikochi at 12pm the next day.

after traversing the alpine route, we took a 1 hr train from shinano omachi to matsumoto, and was very happy to be greeted with our forwarded luggage the moment i mentioned my name at check-in to matsumoto tourist hotel at 4pm. the legendary japanese luggage forwarding was well, legendary! 🙂

i was walking around the hotel for dinner place & found a name i knew – gyukakau, a yakiniku restaurant which i had tried the hollandv outlet once (ok but we prefer aburiya). in japan though i guess its different. we got very good wagyu beef at much lower prices!

wagyu karubi

wagyu karubi – 680yen

some thick cut beef

some thick cut beef – 590yen

thick belly ham

thick belly ham – 390yen

yakiniku

yakiniku

ishiyaki bibimbap

ishiyaki bibimbap – 690yen

seafood kimchi chigae

seafood kimchi chigae 490yen

the bill

the bill

the kuroge wagyu sirloin was excellent, marbled & tasty. but so was the wagyu karuni, very flavourful! (we made a second order but now looking at the bill, the second order might have been different & with too much garlic on it). the thick cut beef which was flamed or lightly smoked was quite tasty too, but inferior to the other 2. the thick cut belly bacon was ok but of course it was not to be c/w kurobuta.

they ran out of bibimen so we ordered bibimbap. it was ok but the seafood kimchi chigae was bad (i guess kimchi chigae must always be the belly pork version to give it the flavours & umami). for these last 2 items, aburiya‘s were much better! & my wife had her usual hakkaisan sake (八海山).

anyway the bill with taxes came to 5274yen = S$58++! 🙂 at aburiya the plate of kuroge wagyu alone would be like S$28!

this was 1 excellent dinner. of course it was no comparison with the one we had at moritaya at kyoto station but still a most enjoyable one. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

Yakiniku Dinner @ Aburiya Robertson Quay on 26Mar2013

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20130326_201235 20130326_201224 20130326_201447

Aburiya is my wife’s favourite yakiniku restaurant, and so it is mine. 🙂

We usually order karubi (short ribs – the korean galbi) and jo karubi (prime short ribs). Aburiya also has one of the best kimchi chigae and we also like the bibimen (spicy korean cold mixed noodles 拌面) and bibimbap (mixed rice 拌饭).  When the items add up  and if you order sake too, it is not that cheap, but it is guaranteed to be a thoroughly enjoyable meal.

For the evening, we ordered 1 plate of jo karubi (top picture) – S$14.90 a plate, and 2 plates of karubi – S$9.90 (below picture). The prime short ribs were very tasty, beefy with the BBQ flavour. But the karubi was not bad too & it was2/3 the price!

20130326_203751

karubi (short ribs)

We also had the usual kimchi chigae. So far we liked this dish best here, even when compared with korean restaurants like Chang & Hyangtogol. The soup was very tasty and not too salty. There were a lot of kimchi & silky tofu but I would have liked a bit more of the belly pork. 🙂

20130326_201317

kimchi chigae

We also had the kurobuta pork. There were quite many types & I could not recall which. It was very good, like a good pork collar meat with marbling giving it good taste plus the BBQ flavour.

20130326_202249 20130326_202256

and we had the bibimen also. I liked very much the sweet spicy taste of gojuchang sauce mixed with the vegetables and some chicken meat and the nice texture of the noodles. 🙂

20130326_202129

bibimen

What I did not like though was that for this evening, we were sat at a table where there was no sunken pit & the charcoal stove was placed on the table. The heat from the stove was quite oppressive! I would avoid that next time.

c.h.e.f andy

Lunch @ Sarang Restaurant at Orchard Central on 20Mar2013

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korean banchan (side dishes) comprising kimchi, peanuts & kimchi carrots

korean banchan (side dishes) comprising kimchi, peanuts & another veg kimchi

had lunch with my sister today. I had 2 xS$30=S$60 deal.com Sarang vouchers (which I paid S$30 for) expiring soon so we decided to lunch there.

I don’t frequent korean restaurants much these days. My family are mostly carnivores aka meat-eaters and for barbeque beef we generally prefer the Japanese-style korean barbeque yakiniku restaurants. One of my wife Lisa’s favourite yakiniku place is Aburiya. We used also to go to Chang & Hyangtogol but find them rather expensive. Though we all like banchan, those very nice free & refillabe korean side dishes, but they cannot be our sole motivation for having korean.

Sarang at Orchard Central served a very small banchan, comprising just peanuts (which was very nice & we duly had our free refill of peanuts), and the usual cabbage kimchi & another vegetable kimchi.

20130320_121552

kimchi belly pork with tofu stew – S$15.80

We ordered the kimchi belly pork.  Though I would have liked it with a lot more soup (like the kimchi chigae which I always like and order at Aburiya & Watami),  this belly pork was differently done (not just boiled like in kimchi chigae to add base to the soup) & very much better, had very good “mouth-feel”(口感) in texture and taste.

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spicy sotong (squid) – S$11.80

We also had the spicy sotong (squid) which was a generous helping. It might be too spicy for some but was perfect for me.

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galbi (korean beef ribs) – S$24.80

We also added the usual galbi – korean beef ribs. It did have a bit of fat & tendons but it was a very nice dish which I liked a lot and was as good as that served at Chang (though I would need to confess that was many years ago). I guess the chef was a bit modern in his approach so his banchan was not quite the traditional big spread of side dishes, his sotong (squid) was accompanied by thin white noodles & this galbi dish also came with a cup of smooth potato mash (not in picture).

The meal comprising 3 very good dishes & banchan came to just S$34nett (about S$26++) using the vouchers.  I think the prices were actually quite fair for the quality of food offered even though I am unlikely to frequent soon without the discounts.

c.h.e.f andy