More poultry dishes, the nourishing Ginseng Chicken Soup or Samgyetang in Korean came served piping hot. Consisting of a whole young chicken stuffed with jujubes, ginseng, garlic, chestnuts and sticky rice, it was both nourishing and tasty. This traditional Korean soup, available on until January 2013, was an ideal dish to have in cold weathers as it really warms up the soul, so to say. The chicken meat literally fell off the bones, and went well with the sticky rice. If having ginseng chicken isn't your thing, then I'm sure the Beef Short Ribs soup will cater well for your tastebuds. At least that's what it did for me, tantalizing my tastebuds with really tasty homemade broth. Arduously prepared, with a 3-hour simmering time, this nutritiously rich soup made from quality short ribs and Korean herbs was just what the doctor adviced, to combat any incoming flu. Ah, finally a barbecue dish, with Bulgogi Brothers introduction of their Spicy Chicken Bulgogi. Highlighting a tantalizing dish of juicy chicken thighs marinated in signature Bulgogi sauce, this was indeed a sweet and sourish tasty dish. A meal on its own, I do like how the flavour blended into the chicken, giving out a heavenly aroma even before we digged in. Served with rice cakes and choice vegetables, go for this if you love your chicken spiced up and barbecueed. If beef is your meat, like me, I would definately recommend the signature Bulgogi Brothers Special. Explore the variety of different tastes and texture of fresh beef featuring a combination of Unyang-style Bulgogi (seasoned beef hand-pressed in heart shapes), and the Gwangyang-style Bulgogi (bulgogi in the style of the southern provinces of Korea, thinly sliced seasoned beef served with mushrooms, sweet potatoes, leeks and onions). Grilled by the waiter in front of you, the aroma of yummy barbecueed beef filled our nose while it was being cook.

For Bulgogi Brothers ala carte menu order, it will comes with 6 complimentary refillable side dishes of kimchi, spinach, radish, spiced water crest, sweet lotus root and mashed pumpkins. This seems to be the norm at any Korean restaurants, a tradition I think, ensuring every meal fills up the stomach fully. Our first dish off Bulgogi Brothers' new menu selection was the Sauteed Beef Wraps, or Sogogi Milssam in Korean. It looks colourful enough, enticing and encouraging me to make my own wrap. The dish consisted of naturally-coloured wheat flour pancake wraps to be filled with deliciously seasoned sauteed beef slices and crunchy julienned potato. I really like the taste of the sauteed beef here, as it was really savoury, bringing out the sweetness of the meat. Up next were the poultry dishes, coming in the form of the Crispy Tofu with Chicken and the
Crispy Chicken with Leeks Salad. I found it interesting that both these dishes were a combination of chicken and healthy alternatives such as tofu and salad, a healthy dish indeed. The Crispy Tofu with Chicken was essentially fried tofu squares with beautifully marinated diced chicken in teriyaki sauce. Served with bean sprouts, the teriyaki sauce really sweetened the dish, just the way I like. The Crispy Chicken with Leeks Salad features a platter of crispy chicken cubes with piquant chilli sauce atop fresh leeks in sweet fruit dressing.

Mushroom lovers unite! Served in truffle oil, Ribs' Grilled Portobello Mushroom came beautifully served. It wasn't exactly a piping hot dish, but eating it at room temperature was good. The portobello mushroom had a certain taste and texture to it, not found in our usual button mushrooms and whatnot.If you're a pasta person, then try their Chef Pasta. I personally didn't fancy much of this dish. It was basically a tomato-based spaghetti pan-fried with Taiwanese sausages, bacon mushrooms and pork croutons. The taste didn't really appeal to me probably because it was a tad too sweet for me. The Rosemary-baked Baby Iberico or in simple layman's term, rosemary-baked baby oink, came in a rather long dish together with baked potatoes and garden vegetables. Honey glazed, the rosemary herbs really brought out its flavour. Pretty good dish if you asked me. Another Rosemary flavoured dish, Ribs by Vintry's Rosemary Baked Chicken was a no frills basic chicken thigh with chanterelle mushroom cream. The chicken thigh is baked to tender perfection, literally melting in our mouth. The Braised Beef Ribs that was served next got me thinking it was lamb instead of beef because it was so tender. Braised and infused with red wine herb sauce, the heavy lamb taste was lesser in this dish, which is a good thing. Vintry's Sakura Pork Steak was a dish not yet in the menu, something I loved to bits. With cut apples on top of the meat, it tasted like any beef steak, but was made from pork instead. I love the fatty parts which went well with the lean portion of the meat.

Our 'appetizer' came in the form of Ribs' signature dish, the Vintry Roast Pork. In fact I was told by my fellow friend that this dish was her favourite dish at Vintry. Roasted and crackled, using their traditional home made recipe, this was indeed a yummy dish. I like the fact the meat wasn't too fat, and had all the trademarks of a good roast pork, crispy on the outside, moist and soft on the inside. My first time having the Beef Carpaccio was a couple of months back, and it hit a note with me. Here at Ribs by Vintry, the Beef Carpaccio tasted as good as it looks. Served with sliced Parmesan cheese, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil, I found a taste for raw beef that I never thought I had. The Duck Rilettes was good as well, served with baguette slices, these were good cold starters to whet our appetite for more good things to come. Up next was the soup of the day, something I'm told wasn't in the menu yet, the Spicy Chilli Mussel Soup. Now I'm not a very big fan of mussels, hence I just had a try at the soup itself. It was pretty okay, with lots of garlic taste. Spicy, yet not too overbearing, I would think this dish will sit well with mussel lovers

So there I was at Bijan Bar & Restaurant the other day with the good folks from The Entertainer for a night of good food and catch up. I've heard of Bijan before, with a rather good reputation for serving very nice fine Malay cuisine, so when I heard the meet-up would be over dinner here, I was elated. The 3 in 1 platter that served as our appetizers arrived looking really appetizing. I may be biased as I really love satays, and here the beef and chicken satay was done really well without being overcooked, nor too hard. The Cucur Udang wasn't spectacular though, but it came with some nice peanut sauce to dip in.#2 Daging Bungkus Kukus

Being part of the opening appetizer platter, Bijan Restaurant's Daging Bungkus Kukus was a unique dish indeed. When I saw the wrapped dish, my first thoughts were of 'otak otak' or some fish wrapped dish. The Daging Bungkus Kukus however was a welcome change to the usual appetizer, where we had these delicate steamed mince meat and herbs wrapped within a layer of pancake and coconut gravy. A great appetizer dish to whet our appetite for more to come. When the Rusuk Panggang was brought out, I must admit the looks did not do justice to it, as it looked really dark to begin with. One bite into the slice of chargrilled marinated short ribs meat, and everything changed. What started off as being a negative perception due to the dark texture, turned immediately to pleasure, as the meat literally melted in my mouth with a few soft bites. Served with pegedil, sweet soy sauce and sambal belacan, this is a must have at Bijan Bar & Restaurant. Tahi what? Well, again the name deterred me initially from the Pucuk Paku Goreng Tahi Minyak dish. But I can tell you, it tasted really nice, the wild fern blending well with the chilli and caramelized coconut. Served with a good amount of shrimps on top, this dish went really well with our plates of rice. Up next was the Rendang Itik dish, juicy and tender deep fried marinated duck legs topped with the aromatic rendang sauce. It was duck, and like its namesake, the meat was a tad too tough for my liking. The rendang was good, but the meat was just a bit too hard. Another signature dish from Bijan Bar & Restaurant was their Ikan Siakap Masak Asam Pedas. Coming from a nyonya family background, asam pedas dishes were the norm when I was growing up. Here, the seabass was simmered in a tangy chilli and tamarind gravy with okra, or asam pedas for short. I did like the taste here, as it was both sour, and spicy enough to tantalize the taste buds.