Song Gye Ok Singapore: Popular grilled chicken concept opens second store at The Centrepoint

Last June, Korean grilled chicken concept Song Gye Ok arrived on our sunny shores with its first outlet at Tanjong Pagar. 

In a space dominated by pork and beef offerings, it set itself apart from the other K-BBQ joints around by specialising in chicken.

Less than half a year later, it opened a second outlet right at the heart of Orchard, in The Centrepoint mall, offering its signature dishes, in addition to fan-faves from its sibling brand!

Situated at a quiet corner, on the second floor of the mall behind Din Tai Fung, Song Gye Ok’s second outlet draws quite the crowd during mealtimes. 

Like the Tanjong Pagar outlet, The Centrepoint outlet has a variety of seating options, from booth seats for bigger groups, to cosy couple seats or solo-diner seats. 

Signature chicken barbecue

The main chicken barbecue offerings at the second outlet remains similar to the Tanjong Pagar outlet. 

All the cuts of chicken are grilled for you by the staff, so the process is fuss-free — all you have to do is sit back and relax. The staff will also recommend which condiments best pair with the different cuts for the best flavour. 

The SGO signature set (S$148, for four diners) offers all signature chicken cuts, two shareable dishes and a serving of grilled rice balls. A smaller portion for two diners is available with its SGO selected set (S$98).

Diners that don’t fancy organs with their barbecue can opt for the SGO classic set (S$98) for two. 

What’s new at Song Gye Ok Centrepoint

Something worth making the trip down for would be its outlet-exclusive dakdoritang (from S$48). 

The spicy chicken stew was a standout for us. The fiery spice from the dakdoritang was a nice contrast to the milder grilled chicken and sides, while the chicken was incredibly tender and soft. 

The dakdoritang is available in limited quantities for dinner, with about 10 servings on weekdays and 15 servings on weekends. 

Diners can also look forward to dakgomtang (S$28, chicken soup), which will launch soon as an outlet-exclusive item on The Centrepoint outlet’s lunch menu.

Beyond chicken barbecue

As with all barbecues, it takes a bit of time before your whole platter of raw chicken meat turns into a platter of grilled chicken goodness. 

For those feeling peckish during the wait, Song Gye Ok offers an array of drinks and sides to tide you over. 

If you’re looking for an appetiser to go along with your grilled chicken, consider the assorted mushroom fries (S$14). The tempura was battered lightly, giving it a crisp bite and a clean aftertaste in your mouth. The fries also managed to stay crispy throughout our dinner. 

K-BBQ seems a little incomplete without a boozy accompaniment, so we tried Song Gye Ok’s signature earl grey highball (S$16) and a new addition, the ginseng highball (S$16). Having ginseng in a highball is not often seen elsewhere, but it does make for a rather novel drinking experience.

Non-alcoholic drinkers might want to opt for the nurungji sikhye (S$5, sweet rice punch with scorched rice) instead. The scorched rice adds a nice toasty profile to the sweet sikhye drink. 

Besides serving up chicken barbecue, Song Gye Ok has teamed up with Modu to offer Modu’s signature samgyetang at Song Gye Ok outlets, too. 

If you’re popping by Song Gye Ok during lunchtime, you might want to give its truffle samgyetang (S$46) a try. This truffle samgyetang variant is exclusive to Song Gye Ok and can’t be found elsewhere, even at the main Modu store!

The consistency of the broth is significantly thicker than that of a regular samgyetang, with its truffle flavour prominent in every mouthful.

But if you’d prefer a thinner, more soupy consistency, you can get a refill of the regular collagen broth to water it down.

While the restaurant is spacious, seats get filled up quite quickly during peak hours. When we were there on a weekday evening, it was a full-house around 7pm, with a constant stream of customers joining the queue.  

As with the Tanjong Pagar outlet, the Centrepoint outlet operates on a walk-in basis only, so dining before peak hours would be advisable, if you’re not big on waiting!

This was a hosted tasting. 

For more ideas on what to eat, check out this new bakery offering baguettes at Tiong Bahru. Also, read our review on Song Gye Ok’s signature chicken barbecue at its OG Tanjong Pagar outlet.