Um Yong Baek (Boon Tat Street)

Um Yong Baek is a Korean restaurant on Boon Tat Street in the CBD, best known for dwaeji gukbap, the pork and rice soup of Busan. It is the Singapore branch of a Busan-based pork soup chain that also has shops in Seoul. This Boon Tat Street restaurant opened in July 2022 and was the brand's first in Singapore.

The place works as two restaurants in one. Lunch is all about the soup, while dinner turns into a Korean barbecue. Reviewers often note that many of the diners are Korean.

What to order

Lunch: pork and rice soup

The lunch menu is short. There are two styles of gukbap. The Busan style has a clear broth with sliced pork, including collar, cheek and stomach, over short-grain rice. The Milyang style uses a thicker, creamier broth made from pork bones.

Salted shrimp and salt sit on the table, so you can season the soup to your taste. The boiled pork belly with skin is the other favourite. It is cooked to order, so expect a short wait. The soups are made in limited numbers each day and can sell out.

Dinner: Korean barbecue

In the evening the menu switches to barbecue. The pork is aged, and the ageing cuts are kept on display. Pork cuts such as collar and belly are the focus. Stews, buckwheat noodles and mushrooms round out the meal.

At both lunch and dinner, meals come with banchan, the small Korean side dishes. Expect several kinds of kimchi, a seaweed salad and spiced soybean paste.

The setting

The room is fitted out in warm wood, with an open kitchen where you can watch the cooks at work. There is traditional low seating, which suits the barbecue, as well as regular tables and benches.

Good to know before you go

• Book ahead. Reservations are released online in weekly batches and go quickly.
• Walk-in tables can be hard to get, so a booking is the safer choice, especially at lunch.
• The gukbap is a lunch dish, so come at midday if the soup is what you want.
• The brand has since opened other outlets in Singapore, including one on Telok Ayer Street.

Getting there

Um Yong Baek is at 27 Boon Tat Street, a few minutes' walk from Telok Ayer MRT station. Thian Hock Keng Temple, one of Singapore's oldest Chinese temples, is close by on Telok Ayer Street. It makes a good stop before or after your meal.

Nearby

For contemporary Korean tasting menus in the same area, try Nae:um on Telok Ayer Street. Meat lovers could also look at Picanhas' on Club Street, which serves Brazilian-style beef. Browse more Thai, Korean and Asian restaurants, other steakhouses and grills, or all restaurants in Marina Bay and the CBD.