There was a collaboration between Butcher’s Block and IMOK Smoke dining some time back in Singapore. And if you are not aware of IMOK Smoke dining, the chef participated in Culinary Class Wars season 2 and was made famous due to his BBQ meat. So after CCW2 went viral, I tried booking Chef Yoo’s restaurant in Seoul and it was very difficult to book. lol.

I was actually quite excited to try the collab cos for all you know sometimes collab can go either direction. Priced at $188++, I was surprised to see there were still seats available so I jio-ed the friend to go down together

Started with some complimentary bread with seaweed butter which was very decent but we tried controlling how much to eat

Chef’s Snacks – Smoked Kanpachi, Seaweed Tartlet

You can really taste the smokiness in the fish, ending with a slight saltiness, finished with a crunch of the tartlet

Chef’s Snacks – IMOK Korean Beef Tartare

I felt that the beef tartare was better if you were to compare the 2 snacks. There was a slight kick to it with the chilli oil so you get a whole lot of flavour in one bite

Grilled Baby Gem Lettuce, Crispy Spam, Pecorino Cheese

I like the creaminess in the cheese that goes well with the lettuce though I think the crispy spam has no value add

Scallop Crudo, Soy Sauce Marinated Seaweed, Chive Oil Vinaigrette

Can really taste the freshness and sweetness of the scallops and I think the nuttiness of the nori and vinaigrette complements it very well

Grilled Spanish Mussels, Char Kway Teow, Bread Crumbs

They called this Char Kway Teow but I felt that it was the wrong term cos it gave us the image that we were really gonna eat CKT or at least something similar to that. Well, all I can say It was really nothing like that. But I had to say overall, this was a very interesting dish. Mussels and sauce were good. Noodles were a little too soft in my opinion but the breadcrumbs really made a difference to the dish

Jeju Korean Pork

IMOK Pork Loin, Hawaiian Kalua Pork Belly

Belly was a little dry but the loin was good. Loin was sliced so thin yet you can still taste the smokiness in it and I thought the sauce complemented the meat nicely

Smoked Beef Short Ribs

Garlic Chilli Puree, Chimichurri, Wholegrain Mustard, Beef Emulsion

Moving on to the star of the show that’s Chef’s Yoo signature ribs. Wah, they were really good. The meat had a melt-in-the-mouth texture. Each slice was coated well with the sauce, bbq-ed to the right smokiness and was just simply delicious

Burnt Icecream

Candied Bellflower Root, Makgeolli Granita, Black Sesame Mochi

I felt the ice-cream was a little normal but I liked the black sesame mochi

Was happy there was a collab so that I can finally try IMOK Smoke Dining in Singapore and I was glad Chef Yoo’s meat didn’t disappoint. I thought collab was cohesive on a whole or at least there wasn’t too much disparity in the story-telling of each dish. I hope that there’s another chance to try Chef’s Too BBQ meat again

Butcher’s Block x IMOK Smoke Dining

Raffles Arcade

328 North Bridge Rd, #02-02 Singapore 188719