So it doesn't really happen but it is making me kind of emo writing this right now.
See, when I first began writing about Koggi sometime around the middle of last year, I had no idea that by early 2026, about 9 plus months after, I would be writing a last post of this place that I had come to cherish, and love.
A dramatic statement this is not- not when over the course of all these months I have appreciated, loved, and enjoyed everything that Koggi has to offer.
It might seem surprising that a typical, regular, normal K-BBQ place would strike such a chord in me, but, you see, what Koggi offers is more than just a meal. It offers a cultural dining experience- at a gorgeous, affordable price.
Never mind that it is in a central location of Suntec City.
Never mind that it is priced at $19.90++ after 530pm on weekdays and all day on weekends.
It is the presence of menu offerings and its charcoal grill that I prefer.
Today at Koggi we ordered our favorite serving of Thin Sliced Pork Belly. I can't remember if we ordered any other meat- we might have, we might have not- but definitely there were at least five or six of these pork belly plates which we unrolled, placed atop a bed of onions on the charcoal grill, grilled, and ate.
In recent months we had discovered the joy of cooking with them fresh sliced onions.
Not only does the unmarinated meat taste slightly better- there's the faint hint of caramel sweet as the onions cook- the meat doesn't stick to the grill even if we happen to leave it there longer.
Of course, in that sense, we don't.
The meat gets too hard otherwise.
It isn't really that difficult to eat a slightly tougher piece of meat, especially when you have a choice of dips to go with it.
Now, tradition says that you're supposed to have your meats with a combination of salt and sesame oil.
This- I have- which I take from the counter and keep it on my table to eat with either the meat, or dishes that I want to have a bit taste of sesame oil.
Beyond that, however, we like to concoct our own dip where we have two small cups of Greek-style yogurt, a little bit of garlic powder, and a little bit of miso. Most of the time the garlic powder is more than enough, but the miso adds just that little bit of fermented kick.
I often have my meats with this homemade dip.
Same too I have my meats with kimchi.
They serve two types of kimchi here. One is the packaged kind with larger size lettuce. The other is the fresh kimchi which they introduced to the menu not too long ago and which I have taken ever since.
If yogurt makes for a good effect of digestion, so does kimchi, I tell you, and very delightful it is to wrap up the meat inside the lettuce and eat it in one solid bite together.
You know, up till coming here to Koggi I had not known just how good a combination of meat and kimchi could go together. There's a fresh burst of lettuce juice coming out from the leaf, and all at once your palate is bombarded with a balance of flavors sour, slightly sweet, spicy, and savory same time. What's more, the crunchy lettuce contrasts the gentle rough of the meat, so you get that rounded wrap of taste, and texture both at the same time.
In recent times they'd begun serving fresh kimchi, which, I'm going to say, I absolutely love.
Suaku, yes, but I had no idea that fresh kimchi and packaged kimchi actually tasted so different. It wasn't just the manner of ingredients, there was also the difference in crunch. Packaged kimchi was significantly crunchier than fresh kimchi, and, well, I found I liked the fresh one better. Less stressful on my teeth.
Coming here, of course I was not going to miss out on their cooked food selection and on their sides.
I had (quietly) hoped for japchae- it was one of my absolute go-tos whenever they served it here- but in the tray it was- I think- spaghetti this afternoon.
No matter, I helped myself to a portion of chicken nuggets and criss-cut fries, and a serving of macaroni salad, that, I have to say, I also love.
I'm not complaining about the banchan.
One of the joys coming here is seeing what they have brought out for the day.
Especially since it varies a huge deal. .
So far so, there have always been a few staples, like the macaroni salad, the chicken nuggets, the rice, and the fries. But the rest- they vary.
Sometimes there's japchae. Sometimes there's spaghetti. Sometimes there's tteokbokki. Other times there're other dishes.
Today there wasn't tteokbokki. I think they had a braised meat dish, that, honestly, if I knew how to eat it, would probably go well either eaten on its own, with rice, or with spaghetti. Maybe you were meant to mix the braised (stewed?) meat together with your grilled meats.
I don't know.
But I was glad for them banchan dishes.
I may not take everything, I may not know how to take everything, but everything they have makes for a rich cultural experience- including the macaroni salad (as I only recently found out)- and am so thankful I got to try.