Met up with a group of friends for dinner on a Monday night. 5 of us shared their Eight flavors set meal. That's 8 different flavors of pork belly from the Mangaloca Pig. Meat was served 4 types at a time and grilled in front of us. Starting with the mild flavored ones and ending with the more flavorful types. Flavors here refers to the seasoning / marinate used on the pork belly. Some of the meat pieces were fatty and may turn some people off. It is the fatty pieces that are the most flavorful. The meat is cooked and cut into pieces so it is easy to share. Each set of meat cane with kim Chee and sprouts served on the front side of the grill. They and the fresh lettuce leaves complement the meat well. There are also typical Korean side dishes as appetizers or snacks. Service was ok. There seems to be a lack of water to quench the spiciness of the kim Chee. Maybe they charged for each carafe of h2o. It was a quiet night and one of the staff came over with a camera asking if they can take a photo to post on Facebook. It seems they post every 1st of the month for the last month so hoping to see our group pic then.

We first tried 8 Korean BBQ in Seoul. It blew our mind. When we heard about them opening a store in Singapore, we jumped at the chance to try it. The taste didn't failed us. Meat was succulent and well marinated. Just like how we tasted it in Seoul. Although we are limited by the variety of vegetables we can get in Singapore, it did not diminish the whole experience. Price here is on the high side compared to Korea. The price for 2 pax in Singapore would feed 3 in Seoul.

The 40-year old founder behind Sticky Singapore, Jamie Lim, and his wife, are now focused on building their 8 Korean BBQ concept, which sees four branches across Singapore and United States. Their recently launched Cheesy Pork Ribs is a delightful rendition of ribs dipped in cheese fondue. E!GHT is named after its eponymous 8 Colours Set -- a sizzling DIY hot plate of thick, scrumptious cuts of Mangalitza pork belly in eight flavours. Here's what we tried: 1. 4 Colours Set, $58 (stew included) As this is a full-serviced BBQ Korean restaurant, diners can sit back and relax while enjoying the appetisers as the food is being prepared. We had mixed feelings about the different marinates - some taste better than others but I personally preferred the herb and miso! 2. Cheesy Pork Ribs, $32 One of the most stellar inventions ever - cheesy pork ribs! Combine the gooey cheese with melt-in-your-mouth pork, and you'll be off wanting for more. I regretted not sitting nearer to this dish because you have to pay a lot of attention in ensuring that the cheese doesn't get burnt and be careful with the heat. It also takes skilful handling of the cheese to ensure that each part of the pork rib is covered. 3. Design Your Own Bibimbap, $10.90 and up You can also design your own bibimbap for $10.90 and more. The ingredients were fresh and the vegetables were freshly cut. 4. Budae Jigae (Army Stew) -- S$24 The army stew was, in my opinion, overpriced for cheap ingredients. For S$24, there were relatively little ingredients and the noodles were nowhere unique or different. Luncheon meat always taste great with spicy soup though! 5. Bibimbap Bingsu, $28 Another one of our favourite part of the session - the desserts! It was made to look like a bibimbap with the use of different colours from kiwi, strawberries, mango and cookies. The ice-cream melted really quickly in this one, so it'd be great if somehow the bowl was refrigerated first!

Good quality tasty and nice casual ambience. We had the Ginseng Black Chicken soup and Pork Belly Kimchi Stew. Both came out piping hot and smells great. They have served the side dishes which were usual in Korean fares. The side dishes presents Kimchi, Cuttlefish strips, white carrots (radish?), beansprouts, & small potatoes, all nice starters for the main meals. We like the Ginseng Black Chicken the best. The soup is almost thick and flavourful, almost collagen-like. I think it's a whole chick in there, stuff with rice. The portion is definitely large enough for two. The pork belly kimchi stew when compared to the Ginseng chicken is less impressive. On its own it would be a nice meal, though it is stingy on the pork belly. Lots of kimchi and the stew is spicy and appetizing enough. I finished my bowl of rice with it. On the whole, the ambience is casual, and probably surprisingly nice as we left the place without smelling like food. And the pricing is exceptional, $38.

We tried out 8 Korean BBQ last night and I'm a huge fan. The place was hopping and I'm happy we had a reservation. There were three of us and our server was very helpful in explaining the menu. We started with the vinegar soju with plum and then ordered the pork belly, the ribeye and the seafood stew with bean paste. I was happy with the drink, but my husband may have found it a bit girly for his tastes. The meats and kimchi were awesome. I was really impressed with how everything was cooked at the table and the level of service we received. It wasn't 5 minutes since the time we ordered that the table was swarmed with servers toting a ton of food. What an experience! We'll definitely be back.

Without a doubt the best Samgyupsal (Pork Belly) in Singapore. This is the same franchise as the one in LA's Ktown and Korea (although in LA, it's called Palsaik, which essentially means 8 flavors anyways) I'd been to Palsaik in LA (and became a fan!) and was eager to try it out here when I read that they opened about a month ago. One of the things I miss most about LA when I'm in Singapore is the good korean food and was hoping it'd taste just as good here. It did, if not, better. 4.5 stars... Here's why, When you first arrive, you're greeted by a dim interior, with Kpop girls dancing around on the TV screens attached to the brick walls. The space isn't particularly big (and I can see it becoming really crowded, once word hits the street) but it's very well decorated with a nice hip underground feel to it. The staff are super friendly and showed us to our table as soon as we got there. The thing to order here is definitely the '8 flavors' samgyupsal. It sounds like a lot of food but it's really not as it's essentially one thick strip of pork belly for each flavor (good for 2-3 people). The 8 flavors are: Wine, Original, Ginseng, Garlic, Herb, Curry, Miso, Red Pepper. Every single flavor tasted good, my favorites being Wine, Ginseng, Garlic, Curry and Miso (okay I guess that's almost everything) Now, what makes the singapore branch BETTER than the LA one? The service and the flavors. The service: Service here is top notch. Possibly the best I've experience in such a restaurant (of course, not comparing with fine dining type places). Aside from being super friendly and attentive, they cook your food to perfection. Yes, perfection. Sure, there are countless amazing korean bbq places in LA but the one thing I find annoying is they often start cooking your meats for you and then walk away and come back too late only to have it become slightly burnt, overcooked or resulting in you having to flip it over yourself. Not here!! They flip it at the perfect time, cut it up, and then turn off the fire and transfer it onto a small plate for you after it's perfectly cooked so it does not get burnt. This results in pork belly perfection. The food: The Samgyupsal here is actually better than their branch in LA because, the flavors are more distinct. In LA, they do the 8 different flavors as different "cuts" of pork belly as well as marinates. However, though yummy, I didn't think the flavors were very distinctly different from each other there. Also, with the different cuts, there were cuts of the pork I didn't like as much resulting in a lot of uneaten meats. At 8 flavors here in Singapore, however, every flavor is made with the same pork belly. This allows you to differentiate and really taste the change in taste with each flavor. The cut aside, the flavors itself really are most distinct too. Super well marinated and bursting in flavor, you can no doubt tell wine from miso from garlic etc etc. The only slight downside for this place is the price point. For a plate of 8 flavors, you're looking at $98. This is before soups, drinks etc. And since (if you're a big eater like us - heehee) a plate of 8 flavors only feeds 2-3 people, you can imagine it becoming really pricey with a big group. Thus, I had to knock of 0.5 stars (but only because of the price) Still, I'll be back, and 8 flavors has no doubt earned the title of best Samgyupsal in Singapore in my books. I just hope the service and food quality remains just as good, even when they start to get super busy (because I know they will soon enough).