Chowon Garden: Eatigo 50% Scam?

If you're following me on my IG, you should have seen me raving about Eatigo for a while (before circuitbreaker, of course) now. Some of my really satisfying meals at a range of 20 to 50% off includes Iron Supper Club, Harry's (HERE & HERE), Meats N Malts, Princess Terrace Cafe, Yummo Chow & many more. 

And so recently, my #koreanfoodkaki with S and her HB has finally formed, and we decided to kickstart our Korean Food outing with a 50% off at Chowon Garden via Eatigo. 

S was craving kimchi pancake so we ordered a Haemul Kimchijeon ($27) and a large Budae Jeongol ($58) to share among the 3 of us. And we did double check with their staff on their serving size, and confirmed that the large one is meant to serve 3 to 4 pax (while the small one is for 2 to 3 pax). 

And, before we get to the actual food, we were already kind of disappointed by their banchan (so disappointed that I didn't even wanna take a picture). They only had 4 different banchan served (kimchi, braised brinjal, beancurd skin and shredded cabbage in coleslaw dressing) and only allowed a 1x refill. 

Anyway, here's our very disappointing food....

Budae Jeongol (L) - $58

Yes, your eyes aren't pulling a trick on you. This is not some visual magic that's worthy of an exhibit in the Trickeye Museum. 

THERE WAS REALLY JUST HALF A CAKE OF RAMYUN IN OUR LARGE JEONGGOL, MEANT FOR 4 PAX.

And this picture was taken before we've scooped anything (not even a teaspoon worth of broth) out of the pot, and see just how shallow the pot itself is (the ladle at the side was dipped all the way in) and how low the content of the pot came up to the edge. Not sure how 4 pax is supposed to get satiated just on this miserable pot of jjigae, but I could have easily finished the entire pot on my own, no joke, and then perhaps go elsewhere for something more filling. 

To add salt to (our) injury, it was just a very normal pot of budaejjigae, the very standard kind of taste that you may even find in some better Korean food stalls at foodcourts. 

Haemul Kimchijeon - $27

The awkwardness of us staring at the jeon in silence when it was served; followed by S's disappointed whisper of "it's so small" when the server left our table would have been quite a funny story to retell, as long as you're not (one of) the protagonist. 

Portion size aside, this has definitely done better in the taste aspect as compared to the budae jeonggol. Crispy with a bit of charred bits at the edges and still moist and chewy in the middle. 

But have I tasted better kimchijeon elsewhere? Yes, definitely. 

And are they cheaper? Yes, definitely.

And because the jeonggol and kimchijeon could hardly fill us (only three of us!) up, we decided to add in another order for their Dolsot Bibimbap ($17, not pictured). 

And tell you what, there must be a reason why when you google "chowon garden dolsot bibimbap" you won't be able to find any pictures or reviews. Their Dol-Bi is definitely the worst bibimbap I've ever eaten, even with consideration of random $6 bibimbap served in a metal bowl at random foodcourt/kopitiam korean food stalls. 

OMG, this is.... jjinja cannot, Chowon Garden. 

Not sure if they're doing this because it's tough times for them now with the Covid-19 situation, or it's their SOP to cut portion sizes for all Eatigo reservations, but the serving size for the jeongol shown HERE is definitely way more than what we were served, and a lot more deserving of being $58. While I fully understand that it's some very tough times now, and many business are tanking. But if they're unwilling to truly fulfill their part of the agreement (of offering 50% discount) with Eatigo, then they should have taken themselves off the app first, instead of outright shortchanging paying customers? There's many restaurants/eateries on Eatigo currently with reservations blocked out and tagged as "coming back soon", I don't see why Chowon Garden can't do likewise. 

Not cool, Chowon Garden, really not cool. 

All menu pictures credit to Chowon Garden

If you're still not on Eatigo, do sign up via this link or with referral code 'simi15ipv' to enjoy a $10 reward after completing your first Eatigo reservation!

Till then,

Mia Foo

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Mia's Review: Chicken Up [1-for-1 Bingsu GIVEAWAY]

After my first visit to Chicken Up some time back while on a food trail event, I finally got to return to their newest branch located at Centrepoint along with fellow bloggers Oyhz, Michhysaurous and Susan Wong. 

I'm really thankful to be exclusively invited to try out their latest addition to the menu, the snow squid topokki!

But first let's get back to Chicken Up first. Do you know that they first started up in 2010 in Singapore with a vision to provide a casual dining experience and introduce some of the authentic Korean food here, and it's their 7th year with us this year!

 Grapefruit Sojurita - $20

If you've tried their usual sojurita before, you'll fully understand the 'soju problem' when you get to the bottom of the cup, when all the syrup infused portion of the drink was gone and all you've left with is the bitter soju straight from the upturned bottle. But this eliminated your woes!
Replacing the usual soju with grapefruit flavoured sweeten soju, you're now assured with a yummy sweetness down to your very last sip!

Assorted Lightbulb Drinks - $6

Left to Right: Matcha Latte, Mango, Strawberry Banana, Blue Lemon

Seriously, how can you not want to order every single one of them to take a group picture? 

#woesofaninstagramaddict

While the strawberry banana looks really pretty in a dusty, creamy pink colour, it tasted a lot more like a banana smoothie instead. Too little strawberry taste, probably because banana by itself usually overpowers all other tastes. 

I've never had a banana-something flavoured food that didn't taste all banana-ish. Have you? 

Bulgogi Fries - $18

Probably one of their most popular dishes, Chicken Up's bulgogi fries is made up of crispy golden fries piled up and topped with bulgogi (beef marinated in soy sauce), drizzled over with white garlic sauce and added with spring onions and corianders to garnish.

I didn't try this as I do not take beef for religious reason, but I do love their kimchi cousin! 

Ugly Tang (Army Base Stew) - $30 (Serves 2 pax)

The reason why Chicken Up named it Ugly Tang is because.... it's ugly. If you're an instagram-foodie, I reckon you will understand. But not that much of an understanding from me though, because I'm a huge fan of budae jjigae so they look good in all angles to me. 

And before you start to think I'm trolling on you.... It's really called Ugly Tang. 

They even have a U R Ugly Tang Set! 

Well, that was the before pic and it takes you about 15 minutes of simmering to get to this stage. Full of spams, chicken franks, korean chewy rice cakes, enoki mushroom, and ramyun, how can one not fall in love instantly with this incredibly tasty (and unhealthy) pot of yumminess? 

Chicken Up has also added something unusual into their Ugly Tang, and that's (if you haven't seen it at the top right hand corner of the pot) macaroni! 

The macaroni does taste a little bit strange (especially if you aren't a fan of it when it's not drenched in cheese) in the jjigae, but it might just be me for the feedback Chicken Up received on the addition was quite a good one. 

I'll say, try it out and decide for youself! 

But do note that this will serve two pax provided you ONLY order this stew. Servings aren't that little, so it can probably feed up to 4 pax if you'll prefer to have slightly more dishes on your table. 

Snow Squid Topokki (UFO Topokki) - $39 (Serves 2 Pax)

The first word that came from all of us when this baby was served was, "WHOA!"
And the taste of this was whoa indeed!
A huge platter with topokki (spicy rice cake) in the middle, topped with one whole fried snow squid, and surrounded by side dishes such as caramelised kimchi, corn cheese, melted cheese, steamed egg and kimchi bokkeumbap (kimchi fried rice), this is as good as a mini buffet served on stove.

And don't worry about that snow squid, for it shall be cut nicely for you at your table.

The squid is tender, slightly chewy and tasted really fresh. If you're quick-handed enough to not let the fried batter get utterly drenched in the flavourful topokki sauce, you shall be rewarded with a mouthful of fresh seafood that's crispy on the outside and succulent on the inside.
The topokki was super yummy as well, just spicy enough for you to feel the shiokness and yet not too overpowering.

Watermelon Bingsu - $18

Having their watermelon bingsu once again after 2 years, still as good!
(Read my previous review HERE)

And now, do you wish to have a tasty of these yummy, creamy dessert with a friend?
So, it's going to be a bingsu giveaway time!

I have with me TEN numbers of 1-for-1 Korean Bingsu voucher for giveaway, courtesy of Chicken Up!
Just head down to Chicken Up's instagram account (HERE) and FOLLOW, before coming back here and leave me a comment with your instagram handle and email by 8th March. 
It's really that simple!

ps. I will also be holding another giveway for a 4-piece soya chicken wings redemption voucher on my instagram at a later date, so do keep an eye for it!

Chicken Up (Centrepoint) is located at
Centrepoint #01-33H, 176A Orchard Road

For more information, visit their facebook HERE.

Till then,
Mia Foo

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Mia's Review: Sarang Korean Bistro

A while ago, finaldust gave us some vouchers at the korean restaurant he worked part time for and recommended us to a couple of good dishes there. Initially we planned to have a small girls' outing but nobody really took the idea with much thought until it was too late (vouchers expiring end of this month, yikes!), and so.... it was left with SL and me. And yup, we went to Sarang Korean Bistro, located at level 7 of Orchard Central.

A badly taken picture of the restaurant. 

The place is quite nice, with two sections to the restaurant, one air-conditioned and one outdoor (as seen in the picture), both generously packed with tables and chairs. It was vastly different from what I read/seen from older online/blog reviews about the place. Turned out Sarang has recently renovated the place and revamped their menu as well that gave me a second surprise, which I shall get to it later on. 

SL and I reached the place at about 6.15pm and we were told by the restaurant usher/greeter that they're fully reserved for the day, and can only squeeze out a table that they will need it back by 7.15pm. We took the offer without a second thought. No matter what, the vouchers must be spent! 

We were then ushered into the restaurant, through a glass door clearly labelled 'manual sliding door' using masking tape and teen-girly scribbles with a blue marker, to the air-conditioned section of the restaurant and then further in to a small table for two at a cramped corner. The next table lies just inches away, the space in between just enough for a grown adult to wedge through. I can only say, Sarang has really fully maximised their restaurant place and yet still cannot fully accomodate their walk-in customers.

Knowing that we only have 1 hour to spare, SL and I were quick to look through the menu and I got a shock. Items are pricey, unlike what I've read on the reviews online. Turned out that when Sarang revamped the menu, they had also "upgraded" their prices with the consideration of the renovated environment.

 My cold Yuja Cha (Citron Tea), $6.80.

Yes, it's just a small mug of it. Pretty much felt like a rip-off. The taste is a little bit more to the bland side, for I've tried much strong yuja cha elsewhere. The only good thing is that it wasn't too sweet. Some places serves yuja cha that are so horribly sweet it leaves a "sweet film" on your teeth after drinking it. 

And for the oatmeal cookie served together with the tea, I really don't understand it. This is the first time I'm served yuja cha with a cookie and frankly speaking the tastes don't compliment each other like how English tea biscuit goes well with black tea or how biscotti goes well with coffee. 

It was definitely a head-scratching moment as I took a sip of the yuja cha after one bite of the biscuit. 

And you can see the pathetic tray of side dishes behind my tea. Yup, that's all that was served. I have no idea if it's refillable, but even if it is, the variety is also pathetically little compared to a more authentic or traditional korean restaurant. Taste wise, nothing fantasic & nothing bad. Mediocre. The kimchi was okay, not too sour and still pretty crunchy. The black beans was rather hard to chew down on (I wonder if they're cooked) and my teeth hurt after a while. The corn was... well, just corn. As I've said, mediocre was the perfect description.

And then now for two more pictures to make me feel that my yuja cha was a total rip-off.

 

SL's orange juice, $5.80

The amount of preserved yuja I found in my tea. I do remember sucking up a bit more with my straw, but heck! It's still a miserable amount compared to the yuja cha served pretty much everywhere else.

And moving on to our main courses for the evening....

 Army Stew (Bu Dae Jji Gae), $32 + 2 (for ramyun noodles, pathetic 1 serving)

Okonomiyaki-Style Korean Scallion Pancake, can't really remember the exact price of it but I reckon it was about $7-9. Do note that the sauce dish is just a normal sized sauce dish. Yes, I'm once again hinting about the food serving size.

Being a Korean foodie (I LURVE KOREAN FOOD!), I really cannot dislike the taste of the food, especially the army stew. For those who wonders what on earth is army stew, I can only describe in a very layman's term that it's basically kimchi stew (kimchi, pork belly, tofu, rice cake) added on with luncheon meat & sausages. It tastes perfect with the added on ramyun, and will also be awesome with a bowl of steaming white rice. I absolutely loved the luncheon meat, tofu and oyster mushrooms, for these had absorbed a good amount of the stew soup. A bite into them will release the sourish spicy goodness in the mouth, awesome. Same goes for the rice cake, which reminded me a bit of the authentic deokbokgi selling on the streets in Korea (minus the subtle sweetness). The sausages weren't as good, though. It would have been better if they've just used the normal chicken franks, but I guess to justify the price tag of $32 dollars, Sarang used a more expensive alternative of the black pepper chicken sausage, which not only is tougher but the black pepper taste also didn't really go too well with the stew. The tiny pieces of pork belly swimming around in the stew was also overcooked and tough. The radish and ramyun was also not too fantastic as the latter was overcooked (soggy) while the radish was undercooked (tough). It's even more disappointing for the radish as it has the potential to be as heavenly as the oyster mushroom, tofu and luncheon meat. Radish is the perfect vegetable for stew, and they just had to kill it. 

Sorry for saying this, but I got to take off another 2 brownie points for the pathetic amount of ingredients and the price tag. I seem to enjoy as much luncheon meat, sausages & kimchi (maybe even more) when I ate bu dae jji gae at MANNA, located at most Kopitiam foodcourt. On their good days, the soup will be thicker and even more flavourful than what I had at Sarang. The best part of it is that I will only need to pay $7 and will even be given an extra bowl of rice and equal amount of kimchi as my side dish.

The scallion pancake seemed to go quite well with SL, but not for me. I guess I would have enjoyed a kimchi pancake more, but that's really besides the point. 

The pancake was rather thick and chewy (which sadly, makes the ONLY plus point), stuffed FULL of scallions with very little seafood (I only managed to find half a shrimp in the amount I ate, twice. Perhaps SL was luckier.), and topped with a generous amount of katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) and mayonnaise. I'm not sure if I'm unlucky or what, but I keep getting pieces choked full with the lower end part of the scallion, which I absolutely hate. The amount of katsuobushi was way too much and overwhelming, killing the whole idea & taste of a korean pancake. I mean, yes I know it's okonomiyaki-style, but it's still a korean pancake I've ordered. To cut my long story short, I've ordered a Korean pancake (or at least I thought so) and was served an Okonomiyaki. It's still tasty, yes. But it just didn't make the cut. 

Doesn't get it? Imagine that you've ordered a korean kimchi ramyun, but what came to your table was Japanese miso ramen. That's the whole idea. It definitely won't be a pleasant feeling, regardless of how tasty the miso ramen is. Because what you wanted to eat was kimchi ramyun. 

Actually there's still the japchae and heotteok, which I really wanted to try, along with a cute mini burger that both SL and I totally got excited about by just seeing it. But I guess I'll have to give it a harder thought about revisiting Sarang without vouchers. My take is that they do serve decent food, but it's really easy to get the same elsewhere, at much lower prices. 

So is the new Sarang a go or no go? Comment below and share your thoughts with me. 

Till then,

Mia

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