Guksu

Met up with two dining companions for dinner on a weekday and was asked to choose between Mad for Garlic and two Korean restaurants, all on the 2nd floor of Suntec City. As I am not a fan of garlic, we checked out the menu for Guksu and Kimchi Korean Restaurant by the same owners. Both had stews and while the former is the first homemade Korean noodle house in Singapore, the latter's offerings included ramyeon and barbequed meats. A dining companion was enticed by the Hankook style hotpots at Guksu, which features a fiercely protected handmade Korean noodles recipe that was passed down two generations since 1945 in its Executive Chef Kang family line, though we did not order that in the end. Were tempted by the Korean fried chicken with options of having them classic (honey mustard sauce), soya or spicy.

We settled on the spicy platter with Hite beer, and oyster pancake instead of the usual kimchi and seafood ones. While waiting for our orders to arrive, we helped ourselves to the three types of banchan which were mediocre – kimchi, beansprouts and brinjal. Sauces and garnishes are also available for us to concoct our own mix. Thrice-cooked toasted and deep-fried chicken was crispy on the outside with moist and tender insides but a tad spicy. Perfect for washing down with beer, the portion big enough for two was served with fruits pickles we had no complaints about and buttery smooth mashed potato. I could not rave about the oyster pancake, reminiscent of oyster omelette in local coffeeshop and hawker centres, as the oyster (not the tiny ones) was only palatable with the accompanying chilli sauce.