The colleagues wanted to have lunch so we decided to check out the newly opened D’Rim Korean Steakhouse which wasn’t very near our office. But hey, Happy Friday you know. And to our surprise, the place was actually quite packed for a weekday lunch crowd. The restaurant is located nearer to the hotel side of Mandarin Gallery and spread across 2 seating areas. So considered it’s quite a sizeable place and pretty full, it’s quite impressive

Redesigned like a modern Hanok

The charcoal grill which the staffs would grill the meat for you. Double yay. For the premium you are paying, they better cook for you. lol

We had the lunch set priced $98++ which we got to choose 2 mains, 1 sharing plate and 2 tea. I thought it was quite a reasonable deal.

The tea that came with our sets, refillable

Comes with fixed complimentary side dishes of Korean Steamed Egg with Truffle, Sungchae Dumplings and Pork Belly w Chives Salad

The Korean steamed egg was decent though the colleague went – taste like chawanmushi lor. lol. I liked the taste of the truffle in it. The sungchae dumpling was delightful. The meat was savoury and bouncy, wrapped with Chinese cabbage that made it even sweeter

D’Rim Signature Noodles

100% Buckwheat Noodles w Fragrant Perilla Seed Sauce, Beef Heal Muscle, Garlic Chives, Spinach, Sesame Seeds

We chose the signature noodles as one of the mains cos signature.. must try right? And it was a good decision. You could taste the fragrance of the buckwheat noodles that were chewy in texture, mixed with the nutty sesame sauce. The different vegetables also created different textures, making the dish wholesome and delicious

BiBim NaengMyeon

House-made Buckwheat Noodles, Beef Heel Muscle, Shredded Egg Crepe, Pickled Radish, Pickled Cucumber, Fresh Cabbage Kimchi

The naengmyeon was decent. Not that it wasn’t good, but it definitely paled in comparison as compared to the signature noodles

Buckwheat Pancake

The pancake was the first to arrive at the table. First impressions? Wasn’t impressed. It looked a little sad. After one slice, the colleague went – this is the nicest pancake I’ve eaten. And went on after we got back office. lol. It’s not the usual Korean pancake you will expect. But the thin crepe was a surprise. You could taste the fragrance of the buckwheat with each bite and alongside their special sauce, it was actually not bad

Pork Soybean Tofu Stew $30

Korean Soybean Tofu Stew w Rice, Pork Belly, Pork Jowl, Korean Soybean Paste, Tofu, Enoki Mushrooms, Korean Zucchini

We were a little overwhelmed by the banchans. It felt like every dish came with it. And the unusual worm-like dish was the first time I came across. We later found out it was Chinese artichokes, which tasted like pickled vegetables. Very interesting 

Anyway the highlight – soybean stew. We had the pork version and I was glad we did. The stew was comforting and satisfying. It had the right balance of the soybean and spice and the savory flavour of pork made it even more tasty. It was a good decision to add on this dish

What a feast.

At some point, we were like do we have any more space on the table? lol

Setting the charcoal for the grill

You can actually go ala carte on the meat if you preferred not to have the set cos we felt it was too much for us and probably over indulgence for lunch. But do note you need to have a minimum of 2 portions of order

Not too sure these kimchi came alongside with which dish but the spring onion kimchi was really good, more so than their cabbage one

Ssam $15

We added Ssam to go with the meat and the colleague went $15 for Ssam?? lol. And it came with a variety of vegetables. We concluded they should just stick to lettuce and perilla leaf. Their selection was too funky. I get they need to give an improved version for the price you are paying but sometimes less is more

Happy is when you don’t need to grill the meat yourself

Boneless Short Ribs 100g $58

With choice of smoked salt, sea salt and truffle salt. Everyone agreed the truffle salt went well with the meat. Well, I thought the ribs were a little too oily for my liking, definitely better to go with the Ssam

Kurobuta Pork Belly 100g $36

The pork belly, on the other hand, was a surprise. I felt it was nicer than the beef. Even the colleague agreed. She said she tasted better beef. It was good but not great

Generally the food was decent and if you are looking for good Korean places in orchard, you can give this a try. Go for the lunch sets! I personally think it’s a good deal. Else be ready to splurge cos the prices are clearly on the premium side

D’Rim Korean Steak House

333A Orchard Rd, #02-14

Mandarin Gallery

Singapore 238897