Song Gye Ok: Korea's Cult Chicken Restaurant Arrives in Singapore

Korean food enthusiasts in Singapore have a new reason to rejoice. Song Gye Ok, the Seoul-based restaurant that has become legendary for drawing hours-long queues and earning celebrity endorsements, has opened its doors at Telok Ayer Street. This marks the brand's first international expansion, bringing its unique take on Korean barbecue – grilled chicken exclusively – to Southeast Asia.

From Seoul to Singapore

Founded in Seoul, Song Gye Ok is Korea's most talked-about chicken grill house and has gained cult status in South Korea, drawing queues for its juicy 6-part chicken cuts and soul-warming herbal Samgyetang.

What sets Song Gye Ok apart from traditional Korean BBQ establishments is its unwavering focus on chicken. The menu features six specialty chicken cuts, grilled in Korean style for the best texture and flavour. Rather than the usual beef galbi or pork samgyeopsal, diners here experience cuts rarely seen in restaurants: boneless neck fillet, chicken gizzard, heart, breast softbone, thigh, and tenders.

A Hanok in the Heart of the CBD

Step inside the 113 Telok Ayer location, and you're immediately transported to traditional Korea. Step inside Song Gye Ok and you'll feel as though you've been transported straight into a traditional Korean hanok. The warm lighting, wooden furniture and intricate lattice accents has a nostalgic charm of old Seoul. The restaurant features traditional Korean hanok fixtures, and wood finishings. Song Gye Ok Singapore's look, however, does take on a darker, moodier vibe, and has plenty more counter seats, making solo or couple dining a lot more convenient.

The design includes raised counter seating under makeshift pavilions where diners can watch skilled staff grill their chicken over traditional charcoal grills. Each table is equipped with proper ventilation systems to manage the smoke from the charcoal cooking process.

The Chicken Experience

The signature offering is the Assorted Grilled Chicken Platter (S$98 for 720g), which showcases all six specialty cuts. The founders set out to reintroduce underappreciated parts, such as the heart and gizzard. These cuts were once popular in the past but are now largely forgotten in modern dining. Each cut offers distinct textures and flavours, paired with six specially crafted dipping sauces designed to complement specific parts of the chicken.

To ensure the ultimate grilled chicken experience, the chicken is grilled right at your table by staff specially trained by a Korean chef flown in from Korea. This guarantees the meat is never overcooked and served at its optimal texture and flavour. The chicken is simply seasoned with salt and pepper, allowing the natural flavours to shine through the charcoal grilling process.

Two Menus, Two Experiences

Song Gye Ok operates with distinctly different lunch and dinner menus. The grilled chicken barbecue is exclusively available during dinner service, whilst lunch focuses on comfort dishes. For lunch, Song Gye Ok features dishes from their wildly popular sister restaurant, MODU, which has been drawing queues of up to three hours when it opened six months ago.

The lunch menu centres around samgyetang (Korean ginseng chicken soup) offerings, including Perilla Seed, Collagen, and Hangover varieties (all S$28). Another dish to look out for is the Singapore-exclusive Truffle Samgyetang (S$28) by speciality samgyetang restaurant MODU. This is an extremely luxurious twist on the classic Korean ginseng chicken soup. This exclusive dish features black truffle paste and white truffle oil, topped with hand-shaved black truffle.

Beyond the Grill

The restaurant's menu extends beyond its signature chicken cuts. Popular accompaniments include the Grilled Rice Ball (S$8 for two), which are triangle-shaped rice balls are brushed with soy sauce on the outside and lightly torched, giving them a smoky, sweet-umami finish.

For those seeking something refreshing, the cold Bibim Noodles (S$24) offer a bed of QQ noodles topped with pickled vegetables, fresh onions, lettuce, Korean seaweed, minced chicken tenders, and a dollop of spicy gochugaru sauce.

The "Waiting in Hell" Experience

True to its Korean roots, Song Gye Ok Singapore maintains its no-reservations policy, operating on a walk-in basis only. This stays faithful to the restaurant's cheeky tagline: "Waiting in Hell, Tasting in Heaven." This grilled chicken restaurant draws hour-long queues in Seoul (and with Singapore's weather, it truly does feel like waiting in hell).

Final Verdict

KBBQ restaurants are a dime a dozen in Telok Ayer, but Song Gye Ok Singapore is unequivocally the only one specialising in chicken. With its inviting decor, strong reputation, and meticulous attention to every dish, it's clearly poised to follow in Modu's successful footsteps. And, given Singaporeans' ongoing love affair with K-drama and Korean culture, (and the fact that they don't take reservations) we are predicting long queues in the months ahead!

The restaurant represents a significant addition to Singapore's Korean dining landscape, offering something genuinely different in a market saturated with traditional KBBQ options. Whether it can maintain the cult following it enjoys in Seoul remains to be seen, but Singaporean diners are definitely curious enough to queue for the experience!

Address: 113 Telok Ayer St, Singapore 068582
Opening Hours: 11.00 am–3.00 pm, 5.00–10.00 pm daily