[Korean Food] First Specialty Store in Kimbap and Tteokbokki : Rolling Rice

Are you a fan of Korean Street Food such as mini kimbap (rice rolls), tteokbokki (rice cakes) and summer dessert patbingsu (shaved ice)?  Most Korean restaurants in Singapore serve main course dishes such as jjigae (stew), rice or noodles dishes and Rolling Rice is probably first to specialise in serving Korean street food in Singapore.  They are perfect for a light meal or something easy to take out, including their patbingsu.

Rolling Rice has more than 10 outlets in Korea and a few store globally including in Japan and Philippines.  I am really glad that they had chosen Singapore as part of their global expansion.

 

The outlet is conveniently located at the basement level of The Central.  It is the first stall that you see when you take the escalator from the street level.

Check out the menu!  There is a great variety of mini kimbap as well as tteokbokki in addition to popular Korean rice or noodle selection.  What I really like is that there is a selection of tteokbokki cooked using the Korean-traditional gochujang or the western-type cream sauce.  For those of us who have tried School Food (in Korea), Rolling Rice's concept is very similar to School Food's!

 

On my first visit to Rolling Rice, I was on vegetarian diet, and the silken tofu salad was perfect for me!

A wide selection of Korean drinks is available to go with your meal... The can on the left is Orange, center can is sujeonggwa, a traditional fruit punch made from dried persimmon, cinnamon and ginger, and the can on the right is shikhye, a traditional Korean sweeten rice punch.

Main course 1: Cream sauce tteokbokki.  This is similar to having pasta, just that tteokbokki replaces pasta as the staple ingredient.  The cream sauce is pretty light.

Main course 2: Spam (or luncheon meat in our local terms) kimbap.  It is basically rice roll with spam and pickled radish.  It comes with soy sauce to dip the kimbap, if you prefer a little savoury taste.

Main Course 3: Rice cake and dumpling ramyeon.  This is cooked using Korean instant noodles with pork or kimchi dumpling and sliced rice cakes.

Dessert: That's the main reason I was there for dinner - the patbingsu.  It is quite difficult to get patbingsu in Singapore.  Other than Paris Baguette (PB) and Seoul Yummy (SY), I do not know if any other restaurants that serve patbingsu.  Personally, I find the patbingsu to be the most authentic compare to PB or SY, even though it does not taste exactly like what you can get in Korea itself.  Good thing about the patbingsu at RR is the choice of regular ones with red bean or milk-flavoured / nut-flavoured patbingsu.

Take-away is also available for patbingsu.  The dessert will be packed in a container as well as in chiller bag!  The service stall are very friendly and easy going.  Do check it out!

Rolling Rice
The Central, Eu Tong Sen Street, #B1-49
Tel: 6222 0801
Opening Hour: Monday to Sunday 10am to 10pm.  Last Order is 8.30pm.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RollingRiceSingapore
Website: http://www.rollingrice.co.kr/

Getting there: Take MRT to Clarke Quay Station and take the connected exit to basement 1.  It is located near Crystal Jade Bakery. 



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Korean Fried Chicken - BBQ Chicken

Credits to Hallyu, even Korean food chains are stepping foot into Singapore.  BBQ Chicken raves itself as the No. 1 franchaise brand in Korea.  It now has outlets in 55 countries including Singapore.  For the health conscious folks, BBQ Chicken claims that it using Olive oil from Turkey for cooking.  Perhaps that is the reason that their food is pricier than other fried chicken competitors.

Thumbs up for the golden and tender BBQ wings... while the name says "BBQ wings", these are actually fried chicken wings.  6 pieces for $8.90.  Served with a small bowl of coleslaw.

Korean Traditional Charbroiled set.  Came with 2 huge pieces of charbroiled chicken cutlet, butter rice, drinks and 2 side dishes.  For small eaters, this set can be shared by 3 or 4 persons, especially if your meal includes other side orders.  The chicken was a littttle tough in my opinion. 

Besides chicken, the restaurant has a pretty extensive menu including other types of meat - beef and fish etc.  If the price had been less expensive, I would be attracted to frequent the restaurants more often....

Website: http://www.bbq-chicken.com.sg/
Address: The Central 
6 Eu Tong Seng Street, #01-58/59, The Central, Singapore 059817
Tel: 6224 1138 Fax: 6224 0830

Operation Hours
Daily 11am - 10:30pm
(Last Order 10:15pm)


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You may also like to check out other postings on fried chicken:
- Nene Chicken
- Kkul Dak
- Korean Fried Chicken Culture

Saizeriya @ Liang Court

Saizeriya

Liang Court #02-22

Originating from Japan, this family restaurat serves pasta, pizza and grilled dishes.  The dishes are reasonably priced with pasta starting from $7+.  BUT, food quality is just very average. 

The cabonara (above) comes in a relatively big portion BUT there's no egg.  It was just a plain pasta with cream sauce and a few pieces of fatty bacon.

For the drink, it is quite worthwhile, if you opt for drinks set.  You get free flow drinks for $2+.  Selection of drinks include soft drinks, flavoured tea and coffee (espresso, mocha, cappucino). 

Overall, you can get a decent meal with $10 but do not expect any fantastic food standard.

Haato Ice Cream at Liang Court

Looks like Haato is my most visited ice cream parlour.  This time, I was at the Liang Court outlet.

I had a double scoop (green tea and mocha coffee flavours) on a waffle.  The green tea ice cream is made from matcha powder, the taste is really authentic.   As for the mocha coffee flavour, I would say, it is just average.

Just read that Ridgewood Close outlet serves milkshake now.  And it is the only outlet that serves milkshake!  Do I consider myself lucky that I can go to RWC on weekday lunch or am I preparing to pound on some more weight??  Argh...dilemma...

Tampopo Restaurant

My second visit to Tampopo and still not impressed by the food. Tried the black pig cutlet the first time round and the black pig shabu raman this time.

Service was efficient, the ramen was served within 10mins after we had placed the order. However, it was disappointing as the soup was not piping hot as I had expected. Some say, blame it on the aircon which was going at full blast. I wonder if the aircon was also going at full-blast in the kitchen as well?!

The only saving grace was the thin kyushu ramen which was springy and plain delicious. The ramen was supposed to be spicy but I thought it was less "potent" than expected.
 

Tip : Making reservation is a MUST to avoid long wait.

Tampopo Restaurant

Finally get to try the Black Pig Cutlet after hearing many rave reviews... what was so difficult was that I only get to try it only on my 3rd trip to Tampopo Restaurant (177 River Valley Road #01-23/24 Liang Court Shopping Centre). The story went like this...

First visit - I arrived too early on a Sunday morning and the restaurant was not open yet. At the time, it was located at Liang Court Supermarket @ the basement.

Second visit - Went back to Liang Court basement but found out that the place was taken over by another restaurant. It was only after that I realised that it has moved the level 1.

Third visit - it was an impromtu decision since I happen to be ard that area during dinner time.

The menu... the ala carte cutlet alone costs $21.80!! It'd better be good!

The actual cutlet....

Frankly, I think the quality of food has been over-rated and grossly over-priced!! The cutlet was quite oily and perhaps I am just not into meat with lots of fats, which is found in the cutlet...

Don't think I will be back for a second serving...

The Pump Room

It looks like a great piece of art... how can I bear to eat it? This is the Grilled Cod ($29) from The Pump Room.

Bottom layer is a generous serving of warm mash potato, center layer is a slice of cod that was sliced into 2 almost equal thickness, added with some black pepper for grilling, and top layer is half a piece of grilled tomato.

This place is packed during dinner time (esp from 7.30pm onwards). Hence, making reservation is a must to avoid disappointment.

Kyomomoyama (京桃山) at The Central

Was supposed to have dinner at Clarke Quay but the place was full.. so we headed towards The Central since there are many restaurants there and my impression has always been - The Central is not as popular as it shd be yet.

The thing about The Central is - there are really quite many Japanese restaurants such as sun with moon, waraku, tom ton, ma maison etc etc. It has become an 'eating mall' more than a 'shopping mall'.

We checked out several outlets but finally decided on Kyomomoyama, a Taiwanese franchaise, cos... zero waiting time. haha.

"Will you hoot me if I suggest to go check out another place"

"YES!"

Kyomomoyama (京桃山)

6, Eu Tong Sen Street

#03-87/100/101/110

Singapore 059817

Tel: +65-65348001

The menu selection is quite limited ... anyway, I decided to go for something which I seldom order - Unagi Don.

The unagi portion was quite huge - 2 broad slices. Actually the amount was a little too much for me. Got a bit jerlat and I could not finish the 2nd slice. The rice came with sprinkles of seaweed and some soy sauce.

Would I return again? Well, if other restaurants are fully booked again...

Pasta De Waraku @ The Central

I have heard many rave reviews about Pasta de Waraku since last year. Finally had the chance to taste it .... quite happy that we decided to wait... a long one. Was there at 7.15pm and the restaurant had no more seats. We left our name and contact number and we eventually got a seat about 45 mins later. During the wait, the restaurant served green tea to the waiting guests and gave little toys to kids to entertain them...

The outlet at The Central (level 2). Signature and standard deco at the entrance of Pasta de Waraku cafes. You get to look at the display menu and decide in advance what you wanna treat yourself to...
 

The 4 of us decided that we shall try a bit of everthing... so we ordered the Waraku Carbonara and macoroni gratin set... which came with a soup and salad.

The macaroni gratin... the top layer slightly burnt cheese is what I like most about this dish...heehee.

Pork cutlet curry rice... the curry sauce is served in a separate "aladdin" metal bowl. You can add the amount of curry to your liking.
 

The super thin mushroom pizza... which measures approx 2mm on thickness. Pizzas come in 2 sizes and we ordered the mini size, which was cut into 4 slices.

 

My friends had wanted to order the strawberry ice dessert but it was sold out. So they chose the chocolate flavour instead. The orange topping is actually some orange paste.

The other dessert that we had was this green tea ice cream with rice ball (taste like tang yuan) and red bean paste. If you like milky green tea ice cream, this is one you shd not miss...

Overall, I am very satisfied with all 4 dishes that I tried... will definitely be back again to try other dishes!

Cute and Delicious - Marcial Kobe Donuts [Closed]

Marcial Kobe located at The Central @ Clarke Quay basement 1. This is the level where you find snacks - from local, Japanese to Taiwan snacks.

This is the shop, found at a corner around the Taiwan snack shop - Taiwan Laozhaopai.

The donuts are really cute, measuring about 4 to 5 cm in diameter and comes it fancy flavours such as maple syrup, cinnamon, chocolate, chocolate peanut, peanut, candies etc. The donuts aren't too sweet and it simply tastes delicious, 'al dente' crispiness when still hot.

12 pieces at $4. Well if you think 12 pieces are a little too many, just imagine it only takes 12 pops to finish them off :P