Food Review: Kobayashi Hangul

What would cheer up a pair of wet, sodden and cold couple who's into Korean stuff? Well, a nice hot Korean meal would certainly hit the spot. Yesterday, as we trudged along the rain soaked Somerset Road to Cathay Cineleisure, our sole aim being collecting our tickets for the movie "My Girlfriend is An Agent", we decided that a nice hot meal would be a great way to start off the evening.

None of the food places caught our fancy since they are mostly the run of the mill foodcourt stalls, fastfood restaurants and the franchised Japanese restaurants. By this time, we were ready to tuck into anything that will satiate our growling tummies when we chanced upon a resturant by the name of Kobayashi Hangul.

Upon closer inspection of the restaurant's menu, we were happy to realise that it served both Korean and Japanese food. What better way to start off the evening than to have a Korean themed dinner before catching a Korean movie.

Scanning through the menu, I decided to try their barbequed chicken hotplate with kimchi set while Yupgi ordered a seafood kimchi jigae set.

Yupgi's seafood kimchi jigae in the background and my barbequed chicken kimchi hotplate is in the foreground.

Presentation wise is 'ok'. Taste wise is really disappointing.

The food looked not too bad when I collected it from the counter, the restaurant being a self-styled 'fastfood' Korean/Japanese  restuarant. However, we were both sorely disappointed when we started eating.

Having eaten Korean dishes from various places, foodcourt stalls to expensive restaurants, the food at Kobayshi Hangul is really poor. My grilled chicken tasted just liked a plate of chicken that have been stirred fried with kimchi. It doesn't taste anything like the Korean food that I have eaten at other places. If Korean food is simple adding kimchi to the recipe, than this  restaurant would have passed with flying colours. Needless to say, I didn't enjoy the substandard quality of the this dish.

Yupgi shared my disappointment with her jigae. Her 'stew'was simply a mis-mash of kimchi (again), seafood, and fish fillet (those you find in Macdonald's fill-o-fish). Simply put, it doesn't taste like anything that a respectable Korean would serve on their dining table.

On a scale of 10, the food we had is simple a poor rating of 4. The only saving grace for this place, if we can even consider it as such, is its rather reasonable pricing, ranging from S$5+ to around S$8 per item. However, given the poor food quality, this would be the first and the last time I ever eat at this restaurant.