D’RIM is one of the newest Korean restaurants in town that I’ve been invited to try recently, located at the upscale Mandarin Gallery. I initially thought that D’RIM was a wordplay on “dream”, but it was actually the short romanized version of 드림 (deu-rim), which means the act of giving with respect and sincerity. It’s normally used as a sign off on emails/letters, something akin to “Yours Sincerely”.
The restaurant has multiple dining areas, including private rooms for gatherings. We were seated at the counter seats where we got to view most of the action.
There were a la carte and set lunch menus, an all day Korean barbecue grilled meat menu, and even a dinner omakase menu.
From the lunch set menu, we had 2 lunch “Bansang” sets. These sets came with a choice of main dish and fixed side dishes of Korean steamed egg, kohlrabi kkakdugi, pine nut salad, sungchae dumplings, yukjeon and Korean pickle. The sungchae dumplings were the interesting and not so commonly found side dish that I was hooked on – unlike the usual dumpling, the filling is wrapped with Chinese cabbage leaves.
We also had some healthy teas to pair with our sets. I got the Mandarin Peel Tea which tasted very medicinal and healthy.
Moving on to the mains, the D’RIM Signature Noodle (A la carte $26, Set $38) is one of their signature dishes which I highly recommend. It featured 100% buckwheat noodles with a fragrant perilla seed sauce, beef heel muscle, handmade soy sauce, perilla oil, garlic chives, spinach, sesame seeds, perilla leaves and perilla leaf sprouts. The noodles here are freshly made daily with special Jeju buckwheat flour, which even within Korea is sold as a premium item with a higher cost. I loved the springiness of the noodles, and particularly the fragrance of the entire dish after pouring in the perilla oil and mixing all the ingredients.
The other main I tried was the Jeju Yukgaejang (A la carte $32, Set $44), which was a spicy beef and vegetable soup made with Jeju rock fern, brisket, buckwheat flour, green onions, sesame seeds and red pepper powder. The rock fern and brisket combination had an interesting texture, and together with the soup, this dish felt earthy.
The premium ingredients used in the dishes was the highlight for me – the dishes all tasted wholesome as a result.
Would love to try their K-BBQ menu at the next opportunity.
333A Orchard Road, #02-14, Mandarin Gallery, Singapore 238897
Weekdays 12pm – 3pm, 6pm – 10pm
Weekends 11am – 10pm
Foodography: A Singapore Food Blog 