Newly opened Korean restaurant Onggii at Suntec City serves up hearty Korean soul food

The weather’s undeniably hot and humid these days, but we all still love our soupy dishes, regardless of how warm it is out there. 

Onggii, a new Korean restaurant at Suntec City, started by the folks behind the widely viral Sotpot in the same mall, is the perfect spot to be if you’re craving both Korean food and something soupy. 

The restaurant is named after the Korean earthenware pots that you’ve probably seen in traditional Korean dramas — you know, the ones used to store fermented food items such as kimchi and soy bean paste? 

It calls itself a “haven for heartwarming Korean comfort food” and serves up dishes that impart “Korean soul flavour”.

In case you’re wondering what all of that means, it’s simply all about dishes that comfort your soul — think broths, soups, stews. and more. 

The restaurant is slated to have its soft-opening today (Mar 28) and opens for both lunch and dinner, with a short break in between. 

Currently, its signature dishes include gomtang (there’s beef, pork, chicken, and ox-bone variations), jjigae (stews), suyuk (boiled meat), and jjim (braised dishes).

Fun fact: For those who might be unfamiliar with what gomtang is, “gom” in Korean also means bear. Don’t worry, though, there’s nothing bear-like about the soup. 

Instead, the word “gom” comes from the Korean verb “go da”, which is to boil something down, so gomtang usually refers to a soup dish that’s been boiled for hours. 

At Onggii, you can get different versions of gomtang, but we’d have to say the clear winner for us was the ox-bone version (S$20.90), which was slightly milky from the hours of boiling the bones down.

The resulting soup was rich but not overly savoury and went extremely well with both rice and noodles.

Another favourite we couldn’t get enough of was the kimchi jjim or braised kimchi. If you haven’t had it before, kimchi jjim is akin to a “dry” version of the well-loved kimchi stew, where the focus of the dish is on its ingredients — kimchi and pork typically — rather than the stew itself. 

Onggii’s kimchi jjim was delightfully soft but not mushy, and the pork was almost melt-in-the-mouth tender. The kimchi was just slightly sour, which we felt suited the local Singaporean palate more.

Speaking of kimchi, midway during your meal, you might spot a chef pushing a trolley with a big bowl around — don’t say we didn’t give you a heads up, but make a beeline for it once you see him coming around.

Think of it as the ice cream man, but instead of ice cream, the chef serves up freshly made kimchi (known as geotjeori), which is crunchier than regular kimchi and somewhat sweeter. 

We hear — Sotpot, its sister outlet, which opened in end December — is still commanding queues for its pot rice. Judging by the quality of its stews here and Singaporeans’ penchant for soup, we won’t be surprised if Onggii also draws in the same, if not more, crowds.

Owner of Sotpot and Onggii, James Lee, 41, tells us that more K-food concepts are in the works, such as a takeaway concept within the same mall. 

It’s anybody’s guess as to what this new concept might sell. But given that he’s hit the nail on the head so far with two K-food concepts in a matter of months, to say we’re waiting with bated breath might be an understatement. 

This was a hosted tasting.

For more K-food places in Singapore, check out our listicle on the best places for jjajangmyeon in Singapore, or our review of the newest Um Yong Baek branch at Far East Square. 

Do explore the GrabFood Dine-in service for awesome deals. 

You can also book a ride to Onggii at Suntec City.