Oct 10, 2010
Tanjong Korea
Growing number of ethnic outlets are drawing Koreans to the Tanjong Pagar area
The Viva Korean Family Karaoke in Tras Street opened in April, adding to the many Korean outlets in Tanjong Pagar, which is becoming known as a ?Little Korea? for the growing Korean community in Singapore. -- ST PHOTO: SAMUEL HE
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Tanjong Pagar may have had a sleazy side, complete with scantily dressed women.
But there's a new wholesome crowd in the area, drawn to good ethnic food and K-pop music. Korean? Of course.
Hundreds of locals and Koreans throng the many restaurants and a recently opened family karaoke outlet in the area in the evening, especially on weekends.
They croon to the music of popular Korean boy and girl bands, such as Super Junior and 2NE1, and chat over kimchi and seafood sashimi, often past midnight.
There are at least 10 Korean restaurants in the area - specifically in Tanjong Pagar Road, Tras Street and Peck Seah Street.
Nearly every weekend, Ms H. Kang, 21, hangs out at Tanjong Pagar with her Korean friends, many of whom she first met there.
More recently, they have been going to a family karaoke bar, Viva Korean Family Karaoke in Tras Street, which opened in April.
Ms Kang, who is awaiting admission to a university in Australia, goes to Tanjong Pagar mainly for the food.
'Good food is very important to us. Where there is good Korean food, there are Koreans,' she said.
Another regular, Mr Brian Kin, 39, also goes to the area for the food.
The marketing executive in a Korean multinational firm drives from his workplace at Suntec City to Tanjong Pagar every other day for lunch and dinner with his Korean colleagues.
Among his favourite restaurants are Kko Kko Nara in Tras Street and Hyang-to-gol Korean Restaurant at Amara Hotel in Tanjong Pagar Road.
Kko Kko Nara opened in 2008, while Hyang-to-gol has been at Amara Hotel for five years.
As recently as December last year, another Korean eatery opened for business in Tanjong Pagar.
That month, Korean coffee chain Tom N Toms started its first franchise store here at Icon Village.
Tom N Toms, which has 160 stores in South Korea, is known for its brewed coffee and made-to-order pretzels.
These new eateries add to the area's many Korean outlets, some of which have been doing business there for about a decade.
The old-timers include Han Kook Gwan Korean Restaurant and Manbok Korean Seafood Restaurant, both located at a row of shophouses in Tanjong Pagar Road.
Said Ms Eon Lee, the boss of Kko Kko Nara: 'Here, it's a Little Korea in Singapore.'
Most of her customers are Koreans, many of whom drink past midnight. For this reason, she sometimes keeps her restaurant open till 4am.
Hyang-to-gol keeps long hours as well - until 2am - for its customers, mostly Korean businessmen.
Many of these restaurants are full every evening and on weekends. There is little surprise as to why they are packed.
As of last year, the number of Koreans living in Singapore was about 13,500, South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said. The number represented a jump of more than 80 per cent from the figure in 2006.
In the last two years, some not-for-profit organisations such as the Korean Association (Singapore) and Korean International Trade Association have also moved their offices to Tanjong Pagar.
Mr Moses An, assistant manager at the Korean Association, said many of its members - some 250 companies owned by Koreans and/or which trade in Korean goods - had asked for the relocation.
He said: 'This place is central, and there are a lot of Korean restaurants.'
KOREAN'S HAIR SALON BUSINESS BOOMING
Everybody identifies with a victim. Naturally, the suffering lead actresses of popular Korean dramas like Ajuma and Cruel Temptation are hot topics in offices and coffee shops - even more so in Ms Lee Hyun Jun's hair salon.
Being South Korean, she would explain to her Singaporean clients why equality of the sexes can take a back seat even in modern-day South Korea.
Ms Lee, 42, has run Hairdo Beauty Parlor in Peck Seah Street for five years now.
At first, her customers were mostly South Koreans. But in recent years, more Singaporeans have dropped in as the series of Korean drama broadcast here stirred up a craze for everything 'K' - from food to haircuts.
'Singaporeans ask me a lot about Korean drama,' said Ms Lee, who trained as a hairdresser back home in Kyungki-do, South Korea.
Some clients even ask to be styled like their favourite actresses. The most popular choice: the shoulder-length layered crop sported by Kim Ha Neul, who starred in the latest Korean dramas Road Number One and On Air.
Ms Lee came to Singapore eight years ago with her husband, who was working in a travel agency here.
But three years ago, he moved back to South Korea as he could not adjust to the humidity here. She stayed on because of her two sons, aged 15 and 11, who are studying in local schools.
'In Singapore, they learn English,' she said. 'They have been away from South Korea for so long they may not be able to catch up with the lessons taught in Korean.'
Moreover, Tanjong Pagar is like a second home, having most of the amenities she needs. But on weekends, she goes elsewhere. 'I want to go to other places here and try something new.'
Irene Tham
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Oct 10, 2010
On the menu: Mum's home-cooked dishes
Kko Kko Nara in Tras Street is popular for its spicy stews and fried chicken. The owner says many of the dishes on the two-year-old restaurant's menu were inspired by her mother's cooking. -- ST PHOTO: SAMUEL HE
Few restaurant owners get their hands dirty in the business. But Ms Eon Lee does.
The owner-chef of Kko Kko Nara, a Korean restaurant in Tras Street, still makes the sauces and broth that form the base of the eatery's wildly popular spicy stews and the marinade for its fried chicken. And she is not about to give those secrets away.
'I love cooking and those are my secret recipes,' said Ms Lee, a self-taught cook in her 40s.
Many of the dishes on her two-year-old restaurant's menu were inspired by her mother's cooking.
'My mother was a very good cook,' she said.
But Ms Lee did not spend much time in the kitchen of her home in Jun Ra Book Do, South Korea, until after her mother died. That was more than two decades ago.
'I missed her cooking so badly I decided to cook her dishes myself,' she said.
Her culinary experiments turned into a passion - to the extent that she would dig into the rubbish bins of popular fried chicken shops in her home country after they closed, to find out what they used for marinade and batter.
Three years ago, she mastered the art of cooking those tasty, crispy birds. It was also around then that she decided to open a restaurant here.
Why Singapore? Since 1999, she had been coming to visit her niece, who is studying here, and to escape winter in Korea. Singapore is like her second home.
She also found that many Korean restaurants here lacked both variety in their menus and the ambience of street eateries back home. So she decided to introduce her recipes to fellow Koreans living here.
Having run a furniture business in South Korea, she naturally decked her restaurant with imported Korean furniture.
In the last two years, her business has been flourishing.
Her niece, Ms Annabelle Lee, 21, has been roped in to help out at the shop, serving customers and manning the till. The graphic design undergraduate at Raffles Design Institute designed every visual art work at the restaurant, from the menu to the posters and paintings.
In April this year, Ms Eon Lee jointly started a karaoke bar in Tras Street with a friend.
The new business, Viva Korean Family Karaoke, can accommodate more than 100 customers. It has been doing brisk business, she said.
'It's always packed. Eating, drinking and singing karaoke is a daily affair for Koreans.'
Irene Tham
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