If you have been to Korea, you would probably have seen its distinct signboard all over heavily visited areas such as Myeongdong, Sinchon and Daehagno. Well-received among locals and tourists alike, Yoogane Dakgalbi (유가네 닭갈비) has gained immense popularity in its home country since opening in 1981, serving good quality dakgalbi, which is marinated diced chicken stir-fried with spicy gochujang sauce, vegetables and rice cake.
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A local specialty dish from the city of Chuncheon, Gangwon province, it finally made its way to Singapore’s sunny shores in mid-2014 at Bugis Junction, to much fanfare. Its rising popularity can only mean more branches to be opened, and the second outlet has finally made its appearance at Westgate. Despite the countless food joints at the many shopping centres in the West, Yoogane (pronounced yoo-gah-nay) has been kept pretty busy with the lunch and dinner crowds. So be warned that you may have to queue for a bit.
After placing an order, dishes will be given for customers to get their salad fix at the free-flow salad bar. The kimchi here is good, so all kimchi lovers will not be disappointed. And for those who are looking for non-spicy options, there is also a salad with an interesting strawberry dressing (that tastes better than it sounds) to top it off.
While the main dish was being prepared, we helped ourselves to some jeon and japchae. The price for the jeon may be a little pricey, but seeing that it came in three large portions, generous amounts of seafood and chives, coupled with the jeon sauce, it was really worth it.
On the other hand, the japchae wasn’t really what we had expected. It was no doubt flavourful, but we weren’t used to the japchae being so moist.
The main dish finally arrived to be cooked in front of our eyes, protected by a huge, circular metal plating to shield diners from the splattering of the cooking ingredients.
We ordered the Chef’s special Seafood and Chicken galbi, added sticky noodles, ramyeon noodles and more cheese.
You can try your hand at stir-frying the ingredients, but we say to just leave it to the servers to do it for you and enjoy watching.
After adding in the noodles… Ta-dah! Time to tuck in!
Oh, and while eating, if you need to charge your phone, just ask the friendly waiters for some help.
Check out the DIY cut-and-fold of the Yoogane mascot!
Because the spicy sauce is made in Korea and flown all the way to Singapore, the taste and flavour is the same as it is over there. As for the ingredients, the chicken was tender and the seafood was succulent. Usually, halfway or almost when the ingredients have been depleted, customers may order servings of rice with seaweed and more gochujang sauce to be added to the mixture and then eat the resulting fried rice. Unfortunately, we had gotten too full from feasting, and were not able to order the fried rice. We’ll most probably try it the next time when we visit!
While prices are more expensive than they are in Korea, the taste and quality are pretty much the same as it is there. You can still get a taste of Korean dakgalbi without leaving Singapore, and that to us, is a winner.
A big thank you to Yoogane Singapore for inviting us to this tasting session.
MORE PHOTOS!
Yoogane Singapore
Yoogane Bugis – Bugis Junction #02-47/48
Yoogane Westgate – Westgate #03-08
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