Busan concept Dolpan Hwajoo brings its hot-stone sharing dishes and ube makgeolli to Singapore

Busan favourites, hot off the stone

While Dolpan Hwajoo operates mainly as a dining pub in Busan, opening later in the day, its Singapore outlet opens at 11am daily (with a break between 3pm to 5pm) and has both a lunch and a dinner menu. 

Many of its lunch offerings feature smaller portions of the dinner dishes — so you don’t have to rustle up the whole gang if you want to try something off its menu — and are served as sets, accompanied by side dishes and rice. 

Lunch sets start from S$17.50, with options such as the dakdoritang set, featuring a spicy chicken stew, and the jjimdak set, which comes with Korean braised chicken. 

For something a little more indulgent, there’s also the dolpan mulgalbi set (S$28.50), featuring sizzling beef short ribs served in a spicy broth. Whichever protein you choose, itsall-in-one sets are perfect for those days when you just want a fuss-free meal for one.

As we wanted to enjoy the full dining pub experience from its original Busan venue, we opted for its dinner menu, where the portions are heartier, with some even arriving on sizzling hot stones. 

This is also a nod to its name, which are made up of the characters which mean stone, pan, and fire. 

The last character in its name, joo, refers to alcohol, which is also why you can expect to find a good variety of alcohol, as well as flavoured makgeolli at dinnertime!

What’s on Dolpan Hwajoo’s menu

If you want to dine like the Koreans do, start with Dolpan Hwajoo’s best-seller, the nakgopsae (S$52), a sizzling spicy stew loaded with spicy octopus, beef intestines, and shrimp, served in a hot-stone vessel. 

It’s meant to be shared by three to four diners, especially if you’re ordering other dishes for the table, but we think two big eaters could probably finish this, too. 

Packed with mushrooms, tofu, shrimp and more, the stew delivers a slight kick of spice without being overwhelming, balanced by a rich, savoury broth that soaks up all the flavours from the ingredients. 

The intestines were pleasantly chewy and clean-tasting, making it surprisingly easy to enjoy, especially alongside the other robust seafood ingredients in the pot. 

By the end of it we could see why this dish is such a hot favourite — in fact, it quickly became ours, too!

Can’t get enough of it? You can even add on glass noodles (S$4) or chewy noodles (S$4) to soak up more of that leftover broth after you’re done with the ingredients! 

Another dish you ought to try, which also isn’t commonly found in Korean restaurants in Singapore, is the dolpan rose daechang dakbal (S$46). It features chicken feet and beef large intestines served in a bubbling, creamy rose broth on a hot stone. 

If you’re unfamiliar with rose sauce, it’s essentially a blend of Korean red pepper paste (gochujang) and cream, and is often a go-to for those who love spice but can’t take too much of it. 

Here, the silky rose broth evenly coats every ingredient, from the chewy daechang (beef large intestine) to the tender chicken feet. The chicken feet pieces even come deboned, making it much easier to enjoy.

The spice is considerably mellow, with sweet hints from the gochujang. Taken altogether, it’s an indulgent dish that’ll go great with drinks, without being overwhelmingly spicy.

If you’re not a fan of innards, fret not, there’re stews with other proteins, too, such as the  cheese deunggalbi (S$48), which you may have seen appear on Korean mukbang livestreams where streamers consume large quantities of food, and dakdoritang (spicy chicken stew, S$44). 

Thefeatures spicy, tender pork ribs blanketed in melted cheese. The meat on the ribs falls right off when you bite into it, while the generous coat of cheese adds sheer indulgence while helping to mellow out the spice.

You can’t really go wrong with saucy ribs, spice, and stretchy melted cheese anyway.

Besides its stews and hot-stone items, the yukhoe (S$38), with fresh Korean beef tartare served with sweet pear and a creamy egg yolk, deserves a mention, too. 

Be sure to mix everything thoroughly before digging in. The creaminess of the yolk and the sweetness of the crisp, juicy pear come together to temper the richness of the beef quite well.

If you’re looking to add more carb-heavy dishes to the table, but want to keep things light, there’s the perilla oil mak guksu (S$18.50), a bowl of buckwheat noodles tossed with fragrant perilla oil. 

Similarly, you’ll want to give everything in the bowl a good mix before digging in. The nutty, refreshing noodles work especially well as a palate cleanser between the heavier, richer dishes.

Given its origins as a dining pub, you shouldn’t miss out on Dolpan Hwajoo Singapore’s drinks, especially its makgeolli (rice wine), which comes in four flavours: ube and strawberry (S$22 each), and apple-mango and shine muscat (S$23 each). 

Served in a big bowl, each order of makgeolli is generous enough for three to four diners to share, which is great value for its price. 

The vibrant-hued ube makgeolli is a must-order for its more unusual flavour — creamy and subtly sweet, while still retaining the familiar tang of makgeolli. 

For something fruitier, the apple-mango is another easy pick, with a refreshing tropical sweetness that makes it dangerously easy to drink.

If you love a good Korean meal with drinks, Dolpan Hwajoo’s newest Singapore outlet is definitely one to add to your list. Even if you don’t take well to innards, we’d say give it a shot because the flavours will surprise you. Or maybe you could just have more of that flavoured makgeolli to quell any squeamishness. 

Drop by soon before word gets around on how good the food is and the crowds start rolling in!

This was a hosted tasting.

For more on what to eat, check out Buona Vista’s latest matcha cafe, Bouche, and Elijah Pies’ second outlet in Joo Chiat.