Da Chang Jin, Geylang, Singapore

Geylang Lorong 1 seems to be the hotspot for hotpot. We dropped by to see if Xiao Ping had moved here yet but couldn't find any sight of them, so we settled for this "Korean BBQ" joint which seemed pretty crowded.

Except for its name and the cheesy Korean pictures that ply their walls, there's nothing really Korean about this place. This Korean rice bowl was kept warm in a steamer. It's run by mainlanders and the crowd seemed predominatly made up of shrimp-eating clientale (mainlanders as well).

There's a little selection of pre-cooked food here but please avoid it. It's all quite dry and looks (and tastes) like it's been sitting out forever.

The raw selection was done in the self-serviced trough fashion which isn't exactly ideal as I'm a bigger fan of the a la carte style (the ingredients are prepared fresh that way). But nevertheless, the selection is quite decent and the quality slightly above average.

So, contradicting their name again, is this BBQ which isn't really on a Korean hot stone. There's still charcoal firing it from beneath so it wasn't too bad.

On the side of the tables were these little hotpots, so I still managed to get somewhat of a mala fix in the end.

Overall, the food here was fairly decent but it is highly unlikely that I'll come back again. The staff here seem to have an issue with turning up the flame on their appliances. Never had I been so annoyed when I got some pork belly smoking away had a waiter intervened and turned down the heat on my burner saying it'll get too smoky. Now, just stuff that hey. I'm really not fussy with service nor decor, but when someone interferes with my cooking of meat, that just hits the threshold.

D