Gu:um chef Louis Han elevates casual Korean cooking at new Keong Saik eatery

NEW RESTAURANT

GU:UM  29 Keong Saik Road Singapore 089136 Tel: 8831 6308 Open for lunch and dinner Fri and Sat: 11:30 am to 2:30 pm; 5:30 pm to 10:30 pm. Dinner only on Tues to Thurs. Closed Sun and Mon.

THERE once was a restaurant called Nae:um, which liked to tell stories as much as it liked a colon in its name. 

Then along comes a restaurant named Gu:um, which also fancies colons but not long-winded tales about personal journeys through food, yada yada. 

Which is why Gu:um is a restaurant after our own heart and attention span, with food that cuts to the chase and just thinks about pleasing you with no manifesto attached. 

Think of Nae:um and Gu:um as two sides of the same chef – Louis Han, who scratched his creative and philosophical itch (and got a Michelin star for it) with the fine-dining Na:eum and now aims for simple pleasures instead. 

Gu:um – which translates to “cook over fire”, is styled as a contemporary grill but has no resemblance to the Korean BBQs of Tanjong Pagar.

You pick your meat but you don’t get to grill it, and why bother when they do all the work and you do all the munching in the warm-toned, woodsy surroundings in Keong Saik. Expect things to start off quiet and family friendly-ish in the early evening, and become party central at later, more adult hours.

If you have kids in tow, practise intermittent fasting or are just starting to display old-people dining habits, Gu:um opens at a convenient 5.30 pm. It’s still bright enough to see the menu – an enticing mix of familiar and not so familiar Korean favourites, as Han channels both his nationality and western kitchen training. Hence, there are quirky creations such as honey butter corn and KFC (Korean Fried Cauliflower). 

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While the spotlight is on the grill selection – Tajima wagyu, Black Angus, lobster, Iberico pluma, quail, Atlantic red prawns and the like – what’s more interesting is everything else. You can get a good taste in the S$168 set menu – a greatest hits list of snacks and sides, finished off with a pre-chosen meat platter.

Chef Han literally gets your stomach juices going with an innocuous-sounding iced summer broth – more like a salad where you eat the vegetables and then drink the vinaigrette. Depending on your tolerance level, it can at best be called bracing but refreshing; at worst, it’s an insta-perm for the hair in your nostrils. Greens, chopped tomatoes and leeks swim in a shallow broth of potent kimchi brine, with little cubes of mung bean jelly as a consolation prize.

But everything else that comes after is an easy-pleasing bite. Like “pizza” slices of potato jeon or Korean pancake that are crunchy outside and tender within, topped with a layer of hand-chopped beef tartare (yukhwae) seasoned and finished with some jammy egg yolk. Like two opposing street snacks matchmade in Myeongdong market heaven, this is a salty-sweetish union we totally approve of.

It’s a hard fight which we like more – the yukhwae-jeon connection or the crusty-buttery sourdough toast covered in a layer of spicy stir-fried chicken and mozzarella cheese, drizzled with extra nacho cheese. Which should sound nasty but is guilty pleasure throughout.

We’re neutral about the Cinderella noodles, though – glass noodles tossed in a straightforward gochujang dressing with the herbal bite of perilla leaves, meant to be slurped up quickly for full effect.

Prior to our meal, a display of raw meat and shrimp is paraded before us – USDA Prime NY striploin, quail, pork collar and belly, and Atlantic red prawns. When our Cinderella noodles turn into an empty bowl, the platter returns fully cooked and sliced, seasoned either with salt, fermented fish sauce or gochujang. 

The meats are decent, with the pork belly the best of the lot when eaten on its own. But add the garnishes, especially the red kimchi, ssamjang and fermented squid, all wrapped in lettuce, and they spring to life. Ask for rice – it comes topped with stir-fried pork and vegetables, and Han’s addictive version of Korean XO sauce. In case that’s still not enough food, a bowl of homey pork kimchi stew shows up too. 

We won’t submit Gu:um’s cooking to an authenticity test because we’re glad it’s not full-blooded Gangnam style. Han has spent enough time in Singapore such that the food is true to his heritage yet attuned to the local palate, but not in a negative way. Slightly sweeter in profile, not too heavy or pungent, it won’t sway purists but it suits us just fine.

And it doesn’t end here. One of the best desserts we’ve met this year is hotteok – a warm, chewy hug of sesame-stuffed toasty mochi pancake coupled with burnt honey ice cream and a handful of ultra fresh candied nuts and dried fruit. Simple bliss.

At Gu:um, Han taps into the current demand for casual versus fine dining. Punctuation predilections aside, we like how he’s writing his next cooking chapter.

Rating: 7