One Pot: Ssam's Transformation to Street Food

The reinvention of one’s self is always an intriguing proposition. There was the forced one of Modo into Modo Urban Deli last year, but it was fitting and begat such things as a memorable Cuban sandwich and a superior banana panna cotta. Of his own volition but with equal success, chef and owner Andrew Ahn has reimagined Ssam and its modern Korean cuisine into One Pot.

You must be a lover of fermentation; you are in a Korean restaurant after all. A tomato cauliflower kimchi (RMB 20) intrigued the table with its deviation from the banality of cabbage and encouraged future curiosity with its brilliance – sweet and tart, soft and crunchy.

Recent history ripples through the menu. Kimchi reappears in one variation (RMB 28) of the kim bap – a snack food which grew out of the Japanese rule during the early 20th century. Seaweed and rice (oiled with sesame, not vinegared like sushi) wrap around pickled turnip, braised salsify, spinach and egg. The menu shows how the ripples of history wash over cuisine again in the GI Stew (RMB 68/98), a questionable pot of luncheon meat, a pale smoked pork sausage, minced beef, macaroni, baked beans and two iconic ingredients of each country, kimchi and processed cheese.

Pork bugolgi topokki (RMB 78) is overwhelmingly, but delightfully large and what scant remnants remain can be refashioned with rice, flecks of seaweed and sesame and cheese into an outstanding fried rice by Ahn on a small burner at the table.

The most unusual, and perhaps most pleasing, culprit of the night was a roasted beer chicken (RMB 118), though the strong ice coffee served in a beaker rivaled it in presentation. Skip the cocktails and put your energies, and energy intake, towards the remarkable ginseng tiramisu (RMB 48) and its smear of date. 

Also try: Saveurs de Coree, SG Song

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Photos: Mitchel Masilun