The proprietors of Modu (모두) recently started their second branch outside of Singapore's busy Orchard Road. In Kuala Lumpur's The Exchange TRX, there is always a sizable crowd gathering at all hours. People are waiting for their main offering of samgyetang, a Korean ginseng chicken soup, and all the rage for it seems palpable.
The atmosphere for the restaurant was cozy yet open. With plenty of bar counter seats and a myriad of table for those with a party of three and above, the white ambiance of the place was inviting. Decorated with modernist decors around the restaurant, the wooden tables and chairs brought back humble times akin to a Korean inn-style restaurant. If you were lucky to be seated at the counter like myself, you were treated to a feast for the eyes: busy chefs working in tandem to bring out snacks and their samgyetang. In front of me, I saw the fry cook whipping up some Korean pancakes. Batch after batch, I saw the chef scoop a generous portion of his potato and carrot mixture, sliding it into his frying mold contraption.
I ordered a perilla seed samgyetang. I love being peppered with a bit of stronger flavors because samgyetang, for some, can be a bit one-dimensional. However, even though I ordered a samgyetang that should have some strong flavors, it still felt a bit bland. I will expound on that a bit later.
For now, let's touch on some of the highlights of this samgyetang.
The chicken was well-cooked and you can tell that it was stewed for a long time. At times the bones, if you were to bite into them, melted in your mouth. It was not gritty or sandy. There were no bone shards as they just dissolved into your mouth, giving you the purest essence of chicken. The meat was tender to the touch yet firm to be grasped by chopsticks. The chicken was truly the highlight of the dish.
The glutinous rice that was stuffed with the chicken was also steeped in the rich chicken essence. It felt more like a hearty congee when I slurped the rice together with the soup and chicken. The flavor mingled well together.
Then, there was the ginseng, ginkgo, and red dates which accented the dish. While not as prominent, it lent their flavor to the samgyetang. While I do not subscribe to the idea that these herbal elements would enhance one's vitality, it did give the dish a tinge of earthiness and sweetness where it counted.
And that is where my compliments for this place falls a bit short. While it was a very well-done chicken soup, I felt that the boldness of a samgyetang came from a single element that needed to stand out: ginseng. I had to bite into the ginseng to make myself feel the so-called 'heat'. The essence of ginseng should be felt at every stage of the soup. I did not feel the ginseng and it left me utterly confused throughout the meal, waiting in anticipation for the moment to kick in. That never happened until the very end when I bit into the ginseng which I purposefully left for the end.
Should I have eaten the ginseng together with the soup, slurp by slurp, with a sneaky bite in between? In hindsight, I should have. However, samgyetang still requires its ginseng to be a major part of its broth without outside intervention. I had help with the gochujang spicy sauce on the side to make the chicken spicier or its salt mixture to make it brinier. But the soup felt lacking without the ginseng flavor from the get-go. It felt like an afterthought as the ginseng piece was small.
Modu serves a thoughtfully prepared samgyetang, with tender chicken and a broth shaped by care. But for me, the experience ultimately hinged on the ginseng and that was where the bowl fell short. Without that unmistakable heat and depth running through the broth, the dish felt incomplete, almost muted.
It’s a place with strong foundations, and many diners will still enjoy the samgyetang. I simply left hoping that future bowls might embrace bolder ginseng, so the dish can stand with the confidence it deserves.
Modu Samgyetang Specialty Restaurant
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