Kim's Family Korean Restaurant

Kim's Family Korean Restaurant
17 Lorong Kilat

https://www.facebook.com/kimsfamilyfood


Hearty Portions, Good Korean Food, Poor Ventilation

(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 8
Ambience & Setting: 5
Food & Beverage: 8
Service: 8
Value for Money: 8
Spent about SGD $17 per person.


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Kim's Family Korean Restaurant, otherwise known as Kim's Family Food, has been attracting crowds for years with its hearty, generous portioned dishes, reasonably low prices, and up to 10 sides dishes (banchan) served with every meal ordered. It's popularity is such that in any conversation of the best / top Korean food in Singapore, Kim's Family Korean Restaurant is sure to come up.

Ambience is the weakest point of Kim's Family Korean Restaurant. The extremely poor ventilation of the place means you'll come away smelling of food no matter how long you visit... The smell of cooking hits you the minute you step in! Plus points include the creative grafitti wall, where you can scrawl your own creations, and minimalist Korean inspired decor. Layout is spacious, and lighting is sufficiently bright. Furniture is functional, but not very comfortable, and the menu looks old. It's a testament to the good food of Kim's Family Korean Restaurant that diners are willing to brave the poor ventilation and smell of cooking!

Service at Kim's Family Korean Restaurant is friendly and casual. Staff are relatively young, but polite, and food is served quickly. During my visit, there was a slight mixup in our order. Not only did the wait staff come to apologise, but the chef as well. Thumbs up for the service recovery at Kim's Family Korean Restaurant! Product knowledge is fairly good with the experienced staff, but the more junior staff may need more training and familiarity with the menu.

Food at Kim's Family Korean Restaurant sticks to traditional recipes from South Korea. Portions are generous, make sure to order a small portion for 1 or 2 people, because the regular portion is more suitable for 3 to 4 people. Prices are relatively cheap and inexpensive, with each main dish costing around SGD $20. Each main dish is accompanied by unlimited servings of 10 side dishes / banchan. Suffice to say that dining at Kim's Family Korean Restaurant means you'll never leave hungry! Water is also complimentary.

Dishes at Kim's Family Korean Restaurant are tasty and flavourful. Pickled items are properly preserved, with the right balance of salty, savoury and bitter. Fresh vegetables and seafood is used, and meat is properly marinated and evenly coated. Their soups have tasty stock, and gravys are savoury enough. Generally, you won't go wrong with most of the items on the menu, though the popular South Korea dishes stand out more in taste, as the chef prepares them more often.


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The drab walls of the place is livened by grafitti scrawled by diner past. But the generally enclosed area means smell lingers in the air, and sticks to your clothes. If you're planning to head elsewhere or meet others after dining, then this isn't a good restaurant to visit for a meal.

Kim's Family Korean Restaurant Interior

Kim's Family Korean Restaurant Kitchen Entrance

Kim's Family Korean Restaurant Wall

Unlimited refillls of up to 10 side dishes / banchan is served with every main meal ordered. The Kimchi Cabbage, Kimchi Cucumber, Anchovies, Kongnamul Soy Bean Sprouts and Mushrooms were the best dishes for me among the lot. I like that vegetables are fresh, and pickling is done relatively well. But I felt the worst dishes were the Sausage Chicken, which was uninspired, and the Fish Cake, which was slightly tough.

Banchan 01

Banchan 02

Ssalbap / Korean Steamed White Rice

Sigeumchi Namul / Boiled Spinach

Myeolchi Bokkeum / Fried Anchovies

Oi Muchim / Pickled Cucumber

Kimchi Baechu / Kimchi Pickled Cabbage

Kimchi Oi Sobaegi / Kimchi Pickled Cucumber

Kongnamul / Cold Soy Bean Sprouts

Beuseus Namul / Boiled Mushrooms

Haecho Jogag / Seaweed Flakes

Chikin Sosiji / Sausage Chicken

Eomuk Bokkeum / Stir-Fried Fish Cake

The Dak-Bulgogi Marinated Chicken Hot Plate is available in small or regular size portions. The chicken is well marinated, and while I like the addition of enoki mushrooms, they didn't add much to the already tasty and flavourful dish. Lovely, especially when paired with rice.

Dak-Bulgogi / Marinated Chicken Hot Plate

The Samgae-Tang Ginseng Chicken Soup has a good portion of bone-in chicken, soft and tender, with just a slight hint of fragrant ginseng aroma. The soup is light but flavourful, and the spring onions, rice and dates complete this overall tasty dish.

Samgae-Tang / Ginseng Chicken Soup

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