Seorae Jem – Delicious Korean Charcoal BBQ

As you guys know, Raevian and I are big fans of Korean BBQ and recently we went to check out Seorae, a new Korean Charcoal BBQ joint at Jem. This is actually the restaurant’s second outlet, with the first one being at Plaza Singapura. This is our full review of the Jem outlet. This article was last updated on 09 October 2019.

Seorae Korean Charcoal BBQ

Seorae is a Korean BBQ restaurant that was founded in South Korea in 2007. They opened their first Singapore branch at Plaza Singapura in December 2015, followed by a second branch at Jem in August 2017.

The restaurant is known for its signature Galmaegisal, which is the prime cut between the ribs and belly of an adult pig. It is also known as “skirt meat” and only makes up 250 grams of a full-grown pig.

This premium meat is very tender and juicy, and has a minimal amount of fat. According to Seorae, Galmaegisl was reserved for Korean royalty in the past.

Good Service and Ambience

We went to Seorae at about 7pm on a Friday night and there was already a queue of around 15 people outside the restaurant. We had anticipated this because the restaurant is currently quite popular due to marketing by several famous food bloggers. Nonetheless, we joined the queue and got our seats after about 20 minutes, which was not as bad as we had expected.

I liked the bright airy vibe of the restaurant, which had plenty of pretty bronze hoods and a few traditional metal tables in the centre. The sides of the restaurant are lined with wooden tables, which was where we sat. The walls are decorated with pictures of Korean BBQ, and on one side a floor-to-ceiling mirror (with a neon picture displaying the different cuts of a pig) flanks the restaurant. Ventilation was decent and the place didn’t reek of barbecue meat smell. This was probably due to the hoods being placed very closely to the grills. On the whole, Seorae provides a casual and convivial atmosphere for diners to enjoy their Korean BBQ comfortably.

Service was very good considering that we went during peak hour and the restaurant was fully packed. The staff were all very polite and we didn’t have any problems getting their attention at all. I also liked that they took the initiative to check and clear our tables frequently.

Free-Flow Korean Banchan (Side Dishes)

Have you ever been to a Korean restaurant and felt frustrated because you could not get the staff’s attention to refill your side dishes? Well I have and so I was happy to see that Seorae actually had a “salad bar” with free-flow lettuce, kimchi, sesame beansprout and sesame spinach. However, I was a little bummed to see that they had already ran out of potato jorim and spicy cucumber. I should probably come earlier next time so I can get to eat those popular side dishes too.

Three Types of Dipping Sauce!

I was also pleasantly surprised to see that Seorae provides three types of dipping sauce: Gochujang, Ssamjang, and Cho Ganjang. Gochujang is the dark red sauce that is savoury and slightly spicy. Ssamjang is the bright red sauce that is similar to mildly spicy-sweet barbecue sauce. And finally Cho Ganjang is vinegar soy sauce with onions – our favourite sauce for Korean BBQ! We added a bit of salt (requested from the staff) into this sauce to enhance its taste further.

Japchae

We were impressed by the Japchae (14.90), which is glass noodles stir-fried with pork / beef and vegetables. The noodles were bouncy and chewy with just the right amount of bite, and I really liked its savoury flavour that was rich but not overwhelming. The meat and vegetables were decent too and on the whole this was a nice dish to go along with our Korean BBQ meat.

Garlic Dakgalbi

We started our Korean BBQ experience with the Garlic Dakgalbi ($15.90), which is overnight marinated chicken thigh with Seorae’s garlic sauce. After barbecuing it for a while, I eagerly picked up a piece to try. I was immediately surprised by how good it tasted! The chicken was particularly flavourful and tasted really juicy and tender. Raevian and I took just a few minutes to finish up these chunks of perfection. We highly recommend this delicious and affordable item.

Three Musketeers

The staff changed a new metal grill for us (another service plus point), and we proceeded to cook our Three Musketeers ($29.90) meat. This dish consists of 3 slices of original, sweet, and spicy pork belly. We ordered this item because we consider pork belly to be a staple of Korean BBQ. The meats took just a short while to be cooked, and I quickly dug in.

As expected, it was scrumptious and I enjoyed it very much. However, I felt that the meat was not as flavourful as the Garlic Dakgalbi. Perhaps this was because my expectations were too high. But on the whole it was definitely still quite delicious. My favourite was the sweet pork belly which had a nice savoury-sweet flavour.

Free Steamed Egg

We were very happy to see that Seorae provides complimentary egg custard to be cooked around the grill, because we are big fans of Korean steamed egg! And it was pretty cool that the custard was provided in a bottle for us to pour on our own. We really enjoyed this savoury side dish that was perfect for going along with our Korean barbecue meats. You can also request to add cheese, but we didn’t do so because melted cheese is not really our thing.

Seorae Jem Menu (Click to Enlarge)

Conclusion

On the whole, we had a very pleasant experience at Seorae. Both the chicken and pork belly tasted wonderful, and I liked that the charcoal gave the meats a subtle smoky flavour. Unfortunately, we did not get to try the signature Galmaegisal, but we will definitely be back to check it out! One advice: make sure you keep an eye on the meat and flip them regularly. Some of our meat were slightly charred because we had left them on the grill too long.

Seorae also has affordable weekday lunch sets from just $10.90++, which is good for office workers in the area. If you intend to visit this Korean BBQ joint, make sure you arrive earlier or call to make reservations because the queue is usually very long. We hope you will enjoy the Korean BBQ here as much as we did!

Seorae Jem
Address: #B1-10, 50 Jurong Gateway Road 608549
Reservations: +65 9199 8729​
Opening Hours: | Sun to Thurs: 11.30am – 10pm | Fri & Sat: 11.30am – 11pm |

Seorae Plaza Singapura
Address:#02-01, 68 Orchard Road 238839
Reservations: +65 9181 2709​
Opening Hours: same as Jem