Great Value Buffet at Ssikkek Korean BBQ Buffet (Tampines 1)

I think this is the first time I've ever come across a Korean BBQ buffet restaurant. I mean, I've had my fair share of Korean BBQ over the years, but they've all been alacarte-style, pay for each portion that you eat. So when the darling and I chanced upon this new Korean BBQ Buffet place, we just had to go in and try!


With a decidedly unpronounceable name, Ssikkek Korean BBQ Buffet seems authentic enough in that it's staffed by a half dozen Korean tai tai's. There's a pretty decent variety on offer. On the seafood side there's just Shrimp and Squid, but the meat section more than makes up for it with Pork Belly, Bacon, Pork Shoulder, Beef Short Rib, Beef Rib Eye, Sausages and a few more other cuts, all replenishable as long as your stomach has room. Some of them even come pre-marinated.


The one glaring difference between this joint and a more traditional ala-carte one, is the lack of the customary banchan (side dishes). Instead, there's free flow of soup, kimchi stew (delicious), Korean glass noodles and Pancake.


So the drill is simple; Go to the counter in the middle, grab your meat, and bring it back to your table for grilling. Rinse and Repeat times however many times you want. If you get thirsty, the first (500ml) bottle of water per table is free; you have to pay for any additional bottles, though.

Ssikkek advertises its' BBQ grills as using some sort of state of the art smokeless grill. It uses infrared light or some other unknown technology. Sounds good in theory, but in practice the entire restaurant still gets smoky anyway, so lunch may not be your wisest choice if you've got a business meeting later in the afternoon - you will smell like grilled meat for a while.


I think the no-frills concept works good. Unlike normal BBQ joints where I normally try to order less meat and fill up on the rice and/or banchan (side dishes), I found myself eating easily three or four times the amount of meat. Unfortunately the first two batches were dry and overcooked (due to a lack of grilling skill on my part), but once I got adjusted, the meat is effectively no different from more premium places.

If you noticed from the pictures above, the cuts of meat do have quite a bit of fat on them, so lots of meat means lots of fat and oil - and it does get a bit "OMG FATS OVERLOAD" at the end.


What about the price? Ranging from 14++ Weekday lunch to SGD24++ Dinners, it's unbeatable value for money. You've got to turn up early, though, because the restaurant fills up fast (reservations not accepted), and the queue moves extremely slowly.

Ssikek is on the 4th floor of Tampines 1 shopping mall. The BBQ Buffet concept is a real winner - added bonus for it being fairly near my work place / home. Non-Halal.