As the Hallyu wave continues to soar throughout the country, business owners have found it lucrative to open a Korean restaurant in Singapore. There are various Korean restaurants here, some of them serve authentic Korean cuisines and some would try to recreate it in order to fit the Singaporean taste buds. Others would attempt to stand out by fusing it with local food. While researching on the many Korean restaurants available in Singapore, I noticed that there were many Korean fusion restaurants. Some of them may not market themselves as a fusion restaurant, but one can tell that the chef has tweaked the ingredients so that their Singaporean customers would feel familiar with the dishes.
Out of the 4 different restaurants / food outlets Nata and I visited, FLO (short for: Food Lovers Only) markets itself as a Korean restaurant serving Western-fusion cuisines. The authentic fusion creations were recreated by 19-Year-Old Korean Chef Kim Jin Myeong. It has an extensive menu that includes all-day breakfast, pasta, steak, and crispy waffles.
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| beautiful (I meant the food) |
I tried the Korean Inspired Marinated Chicken. The meal consist of chicken slices with kimchi fried brown rice and fried anchovies. For the appertizer, I was served with cheese mushroom soup and bread. I was very impressed with the appetizer. As you can see from the gif below, it looks very simple. There was a minimalistic approach in how the dish was presented. You can see that the amount of soup given was very little. Visually, I was slightly disappointed with the lack of amount. However, the taste of the soup was very delicious. As a cheese lover, I was very satisfied with it. Within a few minutes, there was no soup left. I wanted more. This made me much more disappointed by the little amount served. But then again, this is an appetizer after all.
The Korean Inspired Marinated Chicken was delicious as well. However, I personally felt that this meal reminded more of Korean food rather than western food. I am also unsure as though which part of the meal is supposed to be inspired by western cuisines. Maybe it's because of the addition of fried rice and fried anchovies - both of which are meals that I have eaten daily as a child. The marinated chicken slices were Korean-inspired as well. That being said, it was definitely a great dish nonetheless. It was very filling.
Nata tried the Korean Beef Bulgogi Sandwich. Other than the beef bulgogi, everything else was clearly inspired by Western food. It felt like beef bulgogi was stuffed into an already prepared western meal. As you can see from the gif, it has cheese and tomatoes in the sandwich as well. As mentioned earlier, I am a cheese-lover. I also love to eat meat. So, to me, this dish tasted amazing. I also found myself munching on the chips despite the fact that I did not order this meal. Nata, who loves sandwiches, admitted that she would eat it again.
The restaurant has a very welcoming vibe. It has an open space interior and a simple layout. There is a counter with board games and books for customers to read. I found that very interesting, especially since some of the games were meant for children. So it's clear that the restaurant is a child-friendly space. The staff were kind to us and elaborated on their menu when we asked for help. They also did not mind the fact that we came in with a large camera and tripod, and we were clearly setting it up to take several shots of the place. This could be because we were the first customers to arrive.
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| That large counter contains board games, toys and books |
Overall, I really enjoyed myself at FLO. I often recommend it to my friends. It's definitely a place to check out, especially during non-peak hour. I would come again just for that cheese mushroom soup.
