Soju Girlis a modern Asian fusion restaurant that I have been meaning to check out for while now. When better to try it out than on 2 for 1 Tuesdays! The 2 for 1 deal is only valid on select ‘small plate’ dishes, or tapas style dishes, in the bar/lounge/communal area.
The space inside Soju Girl is huge. There is a space for the lounge/communal area, the main restaurant area and the bar towards the back. There is also outdoor dining behind the restaurant on Odgers Lane (next to Loading Zone). The barman informed me that on Friday nights, the place turns into more of a bar than a restaurant.
Our group of 4 were seated at the communal area. A big square table with stools and shared with other diners located towards the front of the restaurant. I love the manga artwork against the wall. Wish I could’ve gotten a better shot of it.
The bar towards the back is nice and sleek curving around the corner.
There are a variety of dishes on the 2.4.1 menu. We decided to start off with 4 dishes and ordered this at the bar.
Soju Girl apparently do really good cocktails. Being a non-drinker, I asked the barman if they did mocktails and they did. I asked what kind of mocktails they do, to which he replied ‘what kind of mocktail do you want?’. He listed items such as berries, passion fruit, mint and more. I asked for a minty mocktail and left it up to him to mix it up. I received a tropical looking passion fruit and mint mocktail. Yum!
It didn’t take long for the dishes to come out. First to come out was the Wagyu carpaccio – 4 thin slices of Wagyu with picked radish on top. A rather small dish but the wagyu was fresh and yummy. The pickled horseradish added zestiness to the dish. I found it was a refreshing dish to start off with.
Next came the silken tofu with fried chickpeas. This dish really set a standard for the food about to come out. The silken tofu was lightly fried and seasoned, so there was some crunch when I initially bit into it, and then falls apart as silken tofu does. No idea how they managed to make this. Silken tofu is so delicate and breaks if you even touch it. How did they fry these perfect cubes and leave it intact? The crispy (fried?) chickpeas were innovative and so good! Kind of like a healthy version of chips. The crispy and lightly fried taro slaw added extra crispiness to the dish. Everything was fantastic in this dish.
The pork belly came out next – about 8 cuts of pork belly pieces with fried onion spirals on top. Decent pork belly that went really well with the crunchy onion spirals. Couldn’t taste the coconut caramel, perhaps because pork belly in general is a bit salty and has such a strong flavor on its own.
The pork pom poi came out sitting on a bed of salad and roti. The waitress informed us that pom poi also means ‘fat boy’. The pom poi was nicely seasoned and tasted a little bit like the mince in a sausage. The roti was fluffy but still crispy. An okay dish but nothing spectacular.
Still hungry, we ordered another 4 dishes including a second round of the silken tofu (so good!) The basil and chilli fried rice came out in a large bowl with a heap of basil, chillies and coriander mixed through. I found the rice extremely salty and just slowly picked at it. A bit too hot for me since I can’t handle much chilli.
The squid came out sitting in a big rice cracker. The squid itself was soft and easy to eat. I wasn’t sure whether it was meant to be a crunchy fried kind of squid that had gone soggy, or a lightly crumbed squid that was meant to be crunchy. It was fun to break off parts of the thin rice cracker (that wasn’t too oily) but I don’t think it added much value to the overall dish.
The cauliflower flowerets were served on a wooden board with horseradish foam. The deep fried flowerets were not too oily however there wasn’t much flavour even with the horseradish foam. They were crunchy to bite in to though.
One of my friends is gluten intolerant but luckily only 2 of the dishes on the menu had gluten in it. I’ve noticed the website states their dishes have been designed with gluten intolerance in mind. That’s pretty cool. Favourite dishes were the silken tofu and wagyu carpaccio.
Total bill came to $72 or $18 per person. A sweet deal! Definitely recommend this place on 2.4.1 Tuesdays. Bookings recommended.
