Gu:um, which also means “to grill” in Korean, is unlike any other Korean barbecue joint you’ll find around Tanjong Pagar. For one, it’s the latest concept by chef Louis Han, the man behind one-Michelin-starred Nae:um, the well-loved contemporary Korean restaurant where he reimagines nostalgic dishes from his past.
Think of Gu:um as Nae:um’s younger and dare we say, hotter sibling – but only because its dishes are cooked over a modern charcoal grill. A platter of fresh seafood and premium cuts of meat is paraded around your table before it’s brought back to the open kitchen where the ingredients are then kissed by the embers of three different types of charcoal.
Choose from protein options like red prawns ($56 for five prawns), Iberico pluma ($118 for 300g), New Zealand butterflied quail ($48) and Tojima wagyu ribeye ($188 for 280g). All of Gu:um’s grilled meats also come with four marination choices: galbi, chilli gochujang, fermented fish sauce or simply salted. And unlike other Korean barbecue restaurants where you have to do all the cooking yourself, the chefs at Gu:um do all the hard work for you so everything is perfectly grilled, succulent and big on flavour. Not to worry, though, you can still DIY your ideal ssam bite with the assortment of raw leaves, housemade kimchi and sauces that accompany each sharing plate.
Aside from the grilled meats, there are also dishes inspired by popular Korean street eats on the menu. Try the yukhwae jeon ($32), a cross between two popular Korean dishes – a fried potato ‘jeon’ pancake topped with hand-chopped beef tartare ‘yukhwae’. There’s also Korean Fried Cauliflower ($26), where morsels of cauliflower, spam and rice cakes are battered and deep fried before being tossed in a sweet and sour yangnyeom sauce and cashew snow. But our favourite starter has to be the Nacho Dakgalbi ($26), where boneless chicken thighs are marinated in a gochujang-based sauce before it’s stir-fried with leeks, chilli, onion, perilla leaves and lots of mozzarella cheese before it’s topped with a generous drizzle of nacho cheese for good measure.
And while you don’t often find dessert on the menu at most Korean barbecue joints, Gu:um’s sweet treats are worth a visit in their own right. The hotteok ($18) is a must – a pan-fried rice flour pancake is stuffed with cinnamon powder and brown sugar and served piping hot with a scoop of burnt honey ice cream and chopped mixed nuts.