2D1N Soju Bang

For my full write up with pictures see here: http://www.citynomads.com/reviews/korean/125/kitsching-it-up-the-korean-way-at-2d1n-soju-bang

Unless you have been hiding under a stone, you will have noticed that Tanjong Pagar Road is a veritable hotbed for Korean eateries. Having started off our Korean munching escapades at Todamgol, a relatively more upscale Korean restaurant on the stretch, I thought next stop should be something infused with a good dose of Korean pop culture.

And 2D1N Soju bang is certainly that place. Think Seoul city scape images blown up onto the walls, K-Pop and Korean songs pumped out through the speakers, and a whole lotta buzz.

Soju Bang has quite a reputation on the stretch for its BBQ buffet but having heard tales that it can turn into a bit of a BBQ warzone with smoke everywhere, and the mad rushing and elbowing of BBQ buffet addicts trying to get their fix, we thought we'd play it say and go for the al la carte eatery downstairs instead.

Now while we were in the mood for some BBQ, I would have to say that if BBQ is really what you're after, you probably need to brave the buffet upstairs as the BBQ selection offered downstairs in the a la carte section of the restaurant is somewhat limited. However the rest of the menu is absolutely HUGE and quite frankly, we were somewhat unimpressed with the BBQ offerings. The other dishes....well that's quite another story.

Things got off to a good start as a our myriad of banchan (side dishes) invaded the table - macaroni salad, braised sweet potato, cucumber, tofu topped with scallion soy sauce and of course the dish that no Korean meal can be complete without - kimchi. For me this part of the meal is always welcomed to keep hunger at bay until the main event begins!

Speaking of Kimchi, the Kimchijeon ($15), or Kimchi pancake is delicious here. Huge, perfect texture, excellent taste and incredibly more-ish. To be honest I would have been content just to have eaten this all to myself and finished on that note it was so good.

For fish lovers the Godeungeogui ($20), a nice fat piece of grilled salted mackerel was simply delicious with just the right amount of saltiness and that satisfying texture - juicy inside and crispy on the outside - that only comes from grilling up this healthy fish.

The Yangpunibibipbap (Big Bowl Bibipbap, $20), a large but seemingly humble dish turned out to be great. Despite most bibipbaps coming with some kind of meat or another, this one is all about the vegetables...and, well, rice! But don't let this fool you because this dish was one of our favourites - really flavoursome with a fantastic sesame aroma to it. N.B. The picture below shows only one individual serving size...

Read on here: http://www.citynomads.com/reviews/korean/125/kitsching-it-up-the-korean-way-at-2d1n-soju-bang

For photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow.

We have been to 2D1N Soju Bang Buffet on the second storey of the shophouse several times. The excellent Buffet was very scary, not for the faint-hearted. It is like a war zone with smoke all over (grenade smoke) and people rushing for food like war-hungry citizens.

This time, we went to the a la carte restaurant on the first floor. Decor: The restaurant is partitioned flimsily with plywood and foldable plastic doors to ensure extreme privacy. Mr NGFL said, “Wow, we can have s** in here and nobody knows.”

Service: As we have said in the entry in Todamgol, the Korean restaurant across the street, the female servers in Todamgol are hot but at 2D1N, the boys are hot. 

Wise Guy asked the s*** waiter a few very reasonable questions about the food–for example, can we add meat to the broth? Or can we change the broth to another broth? Or can we get more kimchi? Or can you get us water?–but he was rather short-fused. He was containing his temper, we could tell. Mr NGFL said, “Stop irritating him, don’t ask him so many questions!”

Wise Guy said, “But it’s his job!”

Perhaps goodlooking people are meant to be wallflowers; he shouldn’t wait on tables.

We ordered dakdoritang ($35), a spicy bean-paste chicken hotpot. A bowl of rice costs $2. The dish was value-for-money! Huge portions and the soup was very tasty, especially when drizzled over rice. AWESOME. But it got one-dimensional after a while.

We spent $45.90 for three in total – very worth the money. The food was good, the privacy was bonus, and the service was tolerable. Recommended. Will be back.

Came here for dinner with a group. The queue for the buffet was too long on a Friday night so we decided to go for ala carte. The business was so good that they didn't allow booking in advance. This is not a good system at all as we will never get to try the buffet since we won't bother to wait in the queue. They should have a reservation system.

Ala carte. Food was quite good for Korean restaurant in Singapore. Bulgogi was a bit disappointing as it was not as tender. Overall, food was tasty and enjoyable. Service was relatively fast.

What was shocking was - after we paid the bill, though we were still talking (last words to wrap up the dinner with the friend who came), we were rudely told to leave the table as there is a long queue outside.

This could be better managed frankly. Won't go back again.

$22 for an authentic Korean meat BBQ buffet is really worth it. So much so that I went an hour before it opened to get in during the first round. It was worth it. There're a lot of choices to choose from, different types of chicken and pork meat in generous cuts. They also offer sikhye, a sweet rice drink that's refreshes you in between rounds. 

The staff are very attentive and swoop in to change the aluminium foil once there are carbon bits on it. 

The standard way is to wrap your meat with lettuce together with kimchi and bean paste before eating it. It's a good idea to skip lunch in order to maximise your tummy space for this meat feast.

The place is a little stuffy though, as it's crowded with a lot of tables using the hotplates. Be prepared for the lingering smell that sticks onto your clothes. 

On a side note, prices have increased! It used to be $20 + 10% service charge = $22. Now there's GST as well so it's about $23.50/pax. 

Their watermelon is good, but the last time I went there there was only orange, and they restocked the rice a bit slow, we waited for quite some time. But they were always prompt in changing the foil. 

Food as good as always! :) Queue is as long as always as well... Impossible to make a reservation so try to go earlier! REMEMBER you will smell like BBQ PORK so for girls, try to tie up your hair and bring an extra shirt! 

Pictures here! http://cheapo-aunties.blogspot.com/2011/10/2d1n-again.html

Alrights, I didn't really have a good start with this restaurant. Took several persistence calls to get through to make a reservation for an a la carte dining. Recommend  to call them around 5.30 to 6+pm, so your calls will be taken. The rest of the daytime they either off the phone or they do not pick up any calls. And remember to get the person's name when u make your reservation. Their standard of English is rather weak, so I was trying very hard to make a reservation  when I was giving them my name. I guess after spelling twice and hard, letter by letter, they still got it wrong. Had an argument with them when they said we do not have a reservation because my name was not on the list. I was persistence to make them give me a table cos I have 6 others coming for dinner. In the end, they gave in and gave me a table after showing my mobile phone history record. I did have proof.

But the food is great. Go for the Budaejikae, if you have several people. Its really a huge pot, they have rice cake, fish cake, luncheon meat, sausage (chicken perhaps), cabbage, carrots and you can request for addition instant noodles for the pot. Soup can be refilled under request. Its actually a pot of instant food but we love it. We also love the seafood pancake and the chilled tofu which they serve as standard small appetizers. I will prefer the grilled meat at Amara Hotel instead of this place though. We requested for the meat to be grilled for us but I find it a little tough.

Ready bottle still water are served on the table.

Expect you will smell like a korean grilled pork after dinner when you exit the restaurant.

Best for big groups, this place endures the crowd noise.

The staff are pretty quick in serving but do endure that they do not smile much. Well I guess this is Korean culture!?!? I don't know.

They are famous for their buffet as well but that doesn't come with a reservation which I heard that from a friend. If you do not want to risk waiting, make a reservation early for a la carte dining. Remember, take down the receiver's name.

For pictures and more reviews, please visit http://foodphd.wordpress.com!

At 2D1N Soju Bang for their Barbeque Buffet! The meat selection was rather wide – beef: loin, ribeye etc; pork: collar, ribs, loin, belly, sausages and bacon; as well as chicken and prawns. The meat were generally well-marinated and very tender. The prawns were fresh and succulent. Other free flow food choices include kim chi, sweet corn, different kinds of salad, soup, rice, noodles, watermelon. Once the alminium foil turned a bit charred, the staff would come over to change the foil and transfer our food over.

At $22 per pax, 2D1N Soju Bang’s buffet is really a good deal!

Booking system suspect Jan 15, 2011

This place held so much promise but left me wanting for more.

Called to placed a booking at Wednesday 7:31pm for 6 people and was confirmed a booking at 8:30pm on Thursday evening (earliest slot available). Having chosen an ala carte reservation, we were told to come latest by 8:40pm to avoid having our reservation cancelled.

However, when the whole group reached at 8:30pm, we were told that there was no such booking in place. We were then told that we will have to wait 45 minutes. While there might be a screw up, the restaurant personnel did not attempt in any way to mitigate our predicament. In the end, we had to leave in dejection and settle for a sub-par restaurant nearby.

Of course, the normal reaction to such a scenario would be to send a feedback to the restaurant management, but i was disappointed to find out that 2d1n Soju Bang, being such a famous restaurant, do not even have a website, or a feedback email for that matter. As such, I am writing this review in the hope that someone from the restaurant management can reply me on this.

I am currently voting on a "Not Sure". Hopefully i can recommend this restaurant if i can finally get into the restaurant.

**I am not sure why the review was deleted the first time round. If the review is deleted again and a proper reason is not given to me, i will be lodging an official complaint to HGW.

After a disappointing experience at some other Korean BBQ place, I was skeptical to try this.  Thank God I did go afterall, because I haven't been regretting ever since. :)

Priced at $20/adult, $15/child, the food at 2D1N Soju Bang BBQ Buffet is really value for money.  For first-timers, do make sure you head to level 2 of the restaurant as that's where the bbq is at.  I believe they do not take in reservations unless you call some days in advance.  On weekends the place is really crowded and you might have to wait up to 45mins to get a table.  While queueing, don't be stupid and just wait, do go right to the front and write down your name cause when there's a table available, the staff will call out your name.  Some of them merely joined the queue and realized only a hell lot later that they should have wrote their names.

Definitely not a typical Seoul Garden sight if you expect the buffet to come with choices like noodles, desserts, seafood and all.  The focus is really all on its meat.  The only seafood they have is prawns, but not disappointing at all because they're really fresh. 

Do it the traditional way by eating your bbq meat wrapped in vege with some chili, super tasty and makes you less guilty (for me at least, for the fact that I'm not just consuming meat).

Only downside is that ventilation is poor and the air con is barely there.  Be prepared to walk out with your clothes smelling like bbq! (They do provide Febreze to let you rid the smell left lingering on your clothes)

Service is not excellent but they're very attentive.  You need not ask them to change the foil as they do that automatically.  Oh, just to mention that the staff there are all Koreans.  They have got quite a no. of Korean customers as well. 

Free flow plain water as well if you don't waste money on drinks!  And, their watermelons are always very sweet, every single visit I had there, they always are sweet. :P

They close at 2230hrs so you probably have to pop by 2100hrs latest.

Went to the restaurant for lunch today, and was quite blown away by the food. I've eaten at many Korean restaurants, and also at my friends' homes, but this is really quite impressive.

Lunch sets are on the last 2 pages of the menu, and they all come with side dishes, soup, and iced lemon tea and mineral water.

I ordered the dolsot bibimbap (S$12). Usually, I'd have to add sauces to the rice if the bibimbap is not very tasty. This was great - no sauce needed. Vegetables and rice were well seasoned. 

Lots of side dishes, and tofu seaweed miso soup which was yummy. I liked everything there, including the private rooms (although this meant that the servers ignored you after serving you, and they don't come into the rooms to check if you need everything else).

Price wise, it was good value for money. My friend ordered a spicy pork dish with rice, and it cost her S$10. Total bill S$23.10, after a 10% service charge. No GST was charged.