Honest review of BOMUL Samgyetang: New Korean Ginseng Restaurant in CHIJMES, Singapore

Bomul Samgyetang Singapore Review Deenise Glitz

BOMUL Samgyetang is a new Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup (Samgyetang) restaurant which is located within CHIJMES. You can find it close to the bars and right opposite the restaurant is Raffles City Shopping Centre.

This restaurant specialised in Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup and they offer 10 different Samgyetang varieties. It’s opened by a Korean entrepreneur as well as his best friend who is a professional body builder and model. The owners themselves are pretty friendly and down-to-earth. They went around asking everyone for feedback.

The Restaurant interior

The restaurant has a hanok-inspired interior with modern elements, with warm cosy lightings. The restaurant seating capacity is 60 pax. There are outdoor seatings too but they are usually for customers who prefer to drink outside.

What’s unique about BOMUL?

Their samgyetang is made using whole organic chicken which is stuffed with glutinous rice. The chicken is simmered in a soup base with over 18 ingredients including aromatic medicinal herbs and ginseng. The result is a savoury and nourishing soup which truly warms the body. Samgyetang is traditionally known to boost energy and strengthen the immunity system.

Did you know that it is a tradition for Koreans to eat samgyetang during the three hottest days of summer, known as Sambok (Chobok, Jungbok, and Malbok)? This nourshing soup helps to replenish energy and fight the heat. It follows the principle of “fighting heat with heat”, where eating hot food would internally stimulates sweating, which naturally helps cool the body down.

But I personally would not drink hot herbal soup on hot days in Singapore because the weather here can sometimes be unbearable and very humid. Typically, most of us would crave for hot soupy dishes on cold rainy days here.

Minari pancake (Minari jeon) ($22)

This savoury crispy Korean pancake is made primarily with Minari (also known as water parsley, water dropwort or water celery). Minari has a unique and slightly peppery flavor. This makes a good starter and it is also a good dish for some fibre in-take.

Duck and Chicken Ddukgalbi ($32)

This is like a mixed of duck and chicken meat patty glazed with a sweet and savoury sauce. This dish tasted quite ordinary and it is rather forgettable because the highlight of our meal is their Samgyetang and Black Sesame ice cream.

Samgyetang Set

Each set comes with 3 different banchans, a shot of ginseng liquor and a traditional Korean herbal tea. The 3 banchans are: fresh homemade ginseng kimchi, fermented radish kimchi and pickled sweet and spicy garlic. Yes, even their kimchi contains ginseng! You can certainly find ginseng in every dish. But you have to pace yourself because consuming too much ginseng might be a little too heaty for the body.

Black Truffle Samgyetang ($38)

We tried 4 different samgyetang variants out of their 10 varieties. My favourite out of the 4 is their Black Truffle Samgyetang. To me, it tasted quite similar to MODU’s Samgyetang. The only different is that the chicken is not as soft or tender here. But the soups here in general are more savoury and leans towards our local palate.

The Black Truffle Samgyetang has just the right balance of truffle flavour which elevates the flavour of the soup withou overpowering the natural flavour of the chicken and medicinal herb concoction. The soup is creamy and rather thick. It can be quite heavy for one to finish it all unless you are a soup lover.

Spicy Cure Samgyetang ($32)

This spicy cure samgyetang is relatively quite spicy and has a peppery kick to it. It comprises of extra spicy chilli pepper, chives and enoki mushrooms.

Rejuvenation (infused with aged black garlic) ($36)

This soup is another table favourite. The soup is infused with aged black garlic which gives the soup a slight garlicky aroma. Like the perilla soup, it is another creamy and thick soup.

Samgyejuk – Healthy ($22)

This restaurant also offers a series of samgyejuk or ginseng chicken porridge. The porridge tasted just like the Chinese porridge we are so used to – warm and comforting. It did not quite stood out for me as the flavours for their Samgyeguk is a little more mild. But I can’t deny the fact that it is a healthy bowl of porridge cooked with nourishing ingredients.

BOMUL ice cream ($6 per cup)

We also tried their ice creams which has milk in it. There are 2 flavours – black sesame and ginseng. The roasty black sesame flavour is quite strong and I enjoyed this flavour over the ginseng one.

This is another highlight because it is quite a yummy dessert to have after a comforting meal.

My verdict

It is worth a visit if you are into Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup. A burning question would be, is this similar to MODU? I would say the taste of the soups are quite similar except that the soups here are more savoury. And it comes not come with additional bowl of rice to go with the soup. The portions are somewhat similar. Another notable difference is that chicken at MODU is more tender. The meat literally flakes off the bone.

Would I come back? Yes, most definitely because the soups are generally healthy and nourishing for the body. I just can’t say no to good quality food that benefits the general health of the body. I would skip the side dishes and head straight for their samgyetang.

Grand Opening Promo

BOMUL Samgyetang opens on 27 November and they are having a special 1-for-1 samgyetang promotion from 27 November to 6 December 2025. There’s no limit per table. This offer applies to all Samgyetang varieties except for the Anti-Ageing Samgyetang), with the higher-priced dish charged per redemption.

There’s also Kids Free Meal Promotion available every Sunday to Tuesday starting from 7 December. With every Samgyetang ordered, you will receive one complimentary Kids Meal which comprises of a small porridge, one piece of Ddukgalbi, and a canned drink.