Seoul & So National Gallery Singapore: Modern Korean steakhouse

We had lunch at the new Korean restaurant, Seoul & Co National Gallery Singapore. It sits on level 5, the top floor of the National Gallery. Below is a picture of the scenery from outside the restaurant. No, aliens have not landed in the Lion City. The orange object is a sculpture and the flying saucer is part of the new Supreme Court building. The ancient dome on the left was part of the old Supreme Court building that is now part of the Gallery.

New Korean Restaurant at National Gallery Singapore

Seoul & So is a sister restaurant of Seoul Restaurant in Conrad Singapore Orchard which can be traced back to their first stall established in 1997 at the old food court at Amara Hotel (shopping centre).

Opened in early 2026, Seoul & So seems to be a popular restaurant. The most highly sought after time slot for reservation is opening time – lunchtime 12 noon. Like other hungry diners who arrived just before 12, we patiently stood in queue for the doors to be opened.

The decor of the interior is spacious and minimalist with a few artistic plants placed in strategic locations to break the emptiness of the space.

The layout and furniture is similar to what we experienced in Seoul during recent visits. Basic but well made wooden furniture placed reasonably apart from each other. The large window provided a view of the rooftop garden outside. It reminded us of Samwon Garden Seoul which is also a Korean BBQ restaurant but much larger.

Korean BBQ restaurant without tabletop stoves

One feature that is unique at Seoul & So is the absence of BBQ stoves on individual tables. The cooking is done at cooking stations located in the centre of the restaurant. This is a picture of one of these serving stations. Diners seated at the adjoining counter can see their meat being cooked. Diners at the tables only get to see their meats before cooking and after they are cooked.

Seoul & So National Gallery Menu

Here are pictures of some pages of the Seoul & So Menu.

The menu also features Korean Hanwoo beef that seems to be in vogue these days.

Executive Set Lunch A and B

For a quick lunch, the Seoul & So executive set lunch options were attractive. These are available from Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays and eve of holidays. Since there were two options, we picked one of each – Set A ($45++) and Set B ($35++).

Kim Chi, BBQ Meat and Cold Noodles Lunch

A few side dishes including a large portion of kimchi was served soon after our food order was taken.

For the Lunch Set A, there was a choice of short ribs (USDA Prime) or rib fingers (Australian Wagyu 6/7). We picked the short ribs. The options for set B were jeju pork belly or Iberico pork collar. We picked the latter. The raw meat was presented to us before cooking. The pork is the one on the left.

Since we were seated at the counter, we could observe the cooking taking place on the stove in front of us. The staff member doing the cooking was quite busy, having to prepare the main course for three couples (and we all arrived at the same time). It has to be said that the ventilation was good and there was no smell in the air or on our clothes.

BBQ Meat Lunch at Seoul & So National Gallery Singapore

Main Course

This is a view of the main course when served. You can see the food being cooked for another table in the background. There was a glass divider between us and the stove (but with gaps for items to be passed through).

These are the cooked pork collar (picture above) and beef short rib (picture below). They were nice but we did not detect any distinctive flavours of complexity in the meats.

Cold Noodles

For us, the stars of the lunch were the cold noodle dishes. There were four options for the “post main” courses. We picked two noodle items – mul naengmyeon and naeng kalguksu.

Naeng Kalguksu (picture below) is a type of Korean knife-cut noodle, served cold as a summer version of the classic hot noodle soup. The handmade, knife-cut wheat noodles were garnished with a lot of crisp vegetables – we detected some cucumber and lots of chilli slices. Fortunately the chilli was quite mild – although we had to be careful not to scoop too many at the same time. Some slices of lemon added a zesty tropical feel to the dish – both visually and in terms of taste.

Mul Naengmyeon (picture below) is a type of Korean summer noodles served in icy cold broth. It had a clear and refreshing taste. We think this is great for a place like Singapore which has summer all the time.

Coffee & Dessert

Coffee and dessert were served as part of the meal. The coffee was pretty good. Dessert came in the form of a small cup of Häagen–Dazs in a choice of flavours.

Ratings:
Food: 3
Service: 3
Value: 4
Atmosphere: 4
Overall Rating: 4 TOPs 

Seoul & So
1 St Andrew’s Road, National Gallery, Level 5
Singapore 178957

Tel: +65 64232807

Opening Hours:
Lunch: 12 noon to 3pm
Dinner: 6pm to 10:30pm

Nearby MRT Stations: City Hall (NS25 / EW13), Esplanade (CC3)

Website