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As we all know, Sarang which is located at Orchard Central has been a major sponsor to various concerts and events like Korean Pop Night. Some of the artistes who have personally visited the place include DGNA, Z:EA, Infinite, 2AM. Creating a menu for every event, they choose a wide variety of dishes for the groups which the groups never fail to munch up.

More onto the restaurant itself, the atmosphere at Sarang is like a modern Korean extract with majority of the utensils, cutlery, ingredients and even their chef brought in from Korea. Growing up having Korean food all their lives, they serve the food exactly how it tastes like in Korea, not adding any Singapore essence into their dishes to retain the authenticity in each dish.

Moving on to the dishes, we managed to try quite a variety of dishes when we visited.

Fermented Kimchi (Right) : 3.5/5

Though this type of kimchi can be bought at any Korean mart in Singapore, it still tasted different from the typical kimchi that you find in stores. The kimchi was not too sour nor too spicy and it would fit perfectly for the taste buds of Singaporeans. The kimchi was cut in sizes, perfect for eating with rice or BBQ meat.

Fresh Kimchi (Left) : 4/5

This kimchi was definitely something new that we have never tried before. The taste is not as sour as any other ripe kimchi. In fact, it is not sour at all! You can literally taste the chilli paste that was used to make the kimchi and the cabbage used was so fresh, you would have thought that you had sunk your teeth into an apple instead. There was also a slight sweetness with chewing onto the Kimchi as honey was also added. As compared to the Fermented Kimchi, the taste for the Fresh Kimchi is only on the surface while the taste of Fermented Kimchi is deep within the cabbage.

Japchae : 4/5

Japchae is one of the traditional authentic Korean dishes and it can be found in most Korean restaurants. It is a light, stir-fried dish that is made of primarily glass noodles, sesame oil, soy sauce and thin slices of vegetables and eggs. It can also be a great appetizer for you to begin your Korean food adventure! The chewy glass noodles mixed with the various condiments give it a slight stickiness to the noodles. Slightly salty but still tasty.

Chicken Bulgogi : 3.5/5

The marinated chicken, pan-cooked with fresh vegetables would go well with a bowl of rice. The chicken was marinated with sufficient sauce and it was neither too spicy nor too salty. A very typical Korean daily dish.

BBQ Platter : 3.5/5

This is a very commonly seen dish be it on your regular drama series or in most Korean restaurants available in Singapore. Marinated in various sauces, there’s something for everyone. Most people choose to ignore the lettuce that comes along, but it is actually used to wrap your meat sauce and rice together. Not only would it be healthier to eat the dish with the lettuce, the lettuce also enhances the taste of the meat. Although the sauce provided looked spicy, it was a slight combination of sweet spiciness which blends really well with the lettuce as well as the meat.

Kimchi Fried Rice : 3.5/5

As you would have noticed, Kimchi is a very commonly used ingredient in various dishes and it is also a must have on every Korean’s dinning table. Served on a hot plate, the Kimchi fried rice comes with a sunny side up on the side which you can mix into the rice. Something different from the usual Kimchi fried rice was that small bits of pork was added to the dish to enhance the taste of the dish. A slightly sticky dish most probably due to the egg yolk mixed in. The meat in the dish also enhances the chewing texture.

Ginseng Chicken : 5/5

This refreshing dish made with fresh ingredients is a definite must-try. The refreshing soup cooked with mainly, the sweet (yes, it is sweet) Korean Ginseng, and a whole spring chicken stuffed with glutinous rice would be able to revitalise your energy and would be ideal in the fast pace of life in Singapore. The soup is not oily nor heavy so it wouldn’t matter even if you are eating it on a hot and humid day. If you think that having a whole chicken would be too large a serving, don’t worry, because the chicken is a spring chicken and it is not as big as you would think it is. Remember! A good Ginseng Chicken is when you are able to use the chopsticks to “tear” it into bite sizes and this is something that you can find at Sarang Restaurant!

Army Stew : 4/5

This was an interesting dish with a story behind. After the American soldiers left during the Korean war, everyone in Korea was really poor but they managed to found SPAM left behind by the American soldiers and thus they mixed the available ingredients on hand to create this dish. With a kimchi base, there is also chicken sausages, tofu, dumplings and other vegetables other than SPAM. It was slightly spicy and tasted relatively similar to Kimchi stew.

Kimchi Stew (Samgyeop Kimchi Jjigae) : 3.5/5

Another dish we see very often in various drama series. This is a basic stew usually used as a base for other stews. Although it is slightly spicy, it is light on the tongue however it gives your stomach warm fuzzy feeling and thus it is a very popular autumn/winter dish to fight the cold in colder weathers. The soup had a slightly different taste as compared to the common Kimchi stew as there was a light taste from the pork belly meat which is not usually seen in this dish.

Pappa Pancakes ( Hotteok) : 5/5

The dessert was definitely something that one should try as it is the perfect way to end a meal. One bite of it and the taste of cinnamon and brown sugar would explode in your mouth and would leave you wanting more. It is also not too sweet so even if you are not too fond of sweets, you should still give this a try!

Take a mini virtual walk with us through Sarang!

On the overall, we feel that although the rates are around the average Korean restaurant rates, the atmosphere, service as well as the food is amazing and we would love to visit the place more often. Although both admins who went were a little skeptical about what we were going to experience there, it was a pleasant surprise that we enjoyed our trip there more than what we expected to. Do have a taste of their dishes there & find out how the food your idols ate tasted like!

Other than the restaurant over at Orchard Central, Sarang Express can also be found at Tang’s Food Basement. Dont forget to check out the place & let us know how you feel as well!

We would also like to take this chance to thank Sarang & their team for their warm hospitality.

Find out more information about Sarang Restaurant here: http://www.sarang.com.sg/

Address: 
181 Orchard Central #07-01
Orchard Central Singapore 298896

Reservations: +65 6773 1322

Sarang’s Opening Hours: 
12pm – 10pm on Sunday to Thursday
12pm – 11pm on Friday and Saturday

* Note: All food ratings were an average of both admins.