Culinary Class Wars chef opens restaurant in the heartlands with Korean comfort food from S$12.90

Singapore has played host to a growing number of chefs from Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars, including Baek Jong-won and Min Yohan lately.

The latter is back once again with a new restaurant up his sleeve. But instead of opening in Tanjong Pagar, Singapore’s most popular K-food enclave, he has set its sights on the heartlands instead.

This is the banchan mogul’s second concept in Singapore after Bibimdeli — a build-your-own bibimbap concept that opened earlier this year.

At its ethos is the tradition of hansang — a balanced dining set with rice, soup, banchan and a main dish. The menu reimagines comfort flavours Yohan grew up with into hearty meals you can enjoy any day. 

The space at Sansok

While Hougang Mall might seem an odd location to some, it’s indicative of the brand’s push to make Korean cuisine feel approachable.

The 64-seater space takes up a unit along a crowded food stretch, easily spotted thanks to its hanok-inspired interior of wood fixtures and traditional ceramics. 

A highlight at Sansok is its free-flow banchan (Korean side dishes) station: Four rotational daily banchan, largely based on recipes from Yohan’s mother, sit in an open chiller for unlimited refills.

One of our favourites include the soy sauce white radish pickles — crunchy radish cubes that burst with flavour from its tangy soy sauce marinade. 

We also tried the geotjeori kimchi, a kimchi prepared to be eaten fresh, without fermentation. — fresh, crunchy cabbage set against a mild gochujang spice.

During the dinner menu, you’ll also get to try other types of banchan, such as japchae and marinated squid jeotgal (fermented squid), but these are on a rotating basis and are not refillable at all.

Freshly charcoal-grilled offerings 

Another highlight at Sansok is its in-house charcoal grill where chefs grill up to eight different types of proteins over Japanese white charcoal, ala minute. 

We were delighted to find that Sansok serves up a harder-to-find Korean dish — the tteokgalbi & king oyster mushroom (from S$15.90).

These Korean beef patties are made with minced short ribs and grilled over charcoal. The result is a juicy patty that leans smoky and sweet thanks to its soy marinade, with a chewier bite than the more common Japanese hamburg.

If you’re trying Korean cuisine for the first time, we’d recommend you go for the smoked beef bulgogi (from S$15.90) — thin strips of marinated beef chuck roll grilled over charcoal for that sweet-smoky flavour.

More of a pork lover? Sansok also has a spicy Jeyuk pork (from S$13.90) — tender slices of pork shoulder stir-fried in a spicy gochujang sauce before being finished off on the grill. Despite its name, the heat is gentle, and is more tingly than spicy.

The marinade did lean a tad too salty, especially towards the end of the meal, so we’d advise enjoying this between sips of soup.

Lastly, we had the salt-cured mackerel (from S$12.90) — available in a half portion for lunch and full portion for dinner. 

The mackerel is first cured in a salt bath for 24 hours before being grilled until the skin turns crispy and charred. It’s served with a Korean mustard-soy sauce, so dip it generously for a tangy kick against the smoky fish.

Korean comfort food at affordable prices

The menu at Sansok is straightforward with two types of hansang sets: a jjigae set (from S$14.90) which features your choice of soup, four banchans and sotbap rice. Translating to “pot rice”, this version of sotbap sees fluffy grains of white rice served in a metal pot.

Alternatively, there’s also a charcoal grilled mains set (from S$12.90), which features your choice of charcoal-grilled protein, daily soup, four banchans and sotbap.

The same sets will be available for dinner, but with six banchans instead of four, and without the daily soup in the charcoal grilled mains set.

Our soup of choice was the spicy braised mackerel soup (from S$15.90) featuring milky chunks of mackerel and white radish stewed in a gochujang broth. 

The stewing process releases a deep umami seafood flavour from the mackerel, while white radish adds sweetness to temper the soup’s spice.

Fish portions are generous but the fish doesn’t come de-boned, so you’ll want to be careful before scoffing it down whole.

If you’re not a fan of spicy soups, Sansok also has non-spicy options such as a light dried pollock seaweed soup (from S$14.90) or an earthy beef doenjang (Korean fermented soybean) jjigae (from S$14.90).   

Free-flow drinks and bingsu counter

From now till October 31, Sansok will be having an opening promotion: With any main purchase, diners can enjoy the free-flow drinks and DIY bingsu counter at just S$1 (U.P. S$2).

Take your pick of traditional Korean drinks such as barley tea, homemade sweet sikhye and even an omija slushie. 

After your meal, head to the shaved ice machine for dessert — don’t forget to add toppings such as red bean and roasted peanuts to your milky bingsu.

Whether you’ve been a longtime fan of Korean food or are looking to introduce more people to the cuisine, Sansok’s affordable and easy-to-approach Korean flavours are a great option if you’re craving comforting Korean flavours that won’t break the bank. 

This was a hosted tasting.

Looking for more places to check out? Try this viral matcha spot in Bouna Vista, or the newest fried chicken spot in Bugis!