Hwang Sil Restaurant is my family’s favourite Korean eatery
My mother is an incredible cook. As a Korean native living in Singapore, I’ve never really missed authentic Korean food because she can recreate almost any dish with ease. For her, home-cooked meals are a love language, and only now that I’m older do I understand that this has been her quiet, heartfelt way of connecting her children to our heritage.
But if there was one dish my mother never made at home, it was jjajangmyeon—better known as black bean noodles. It’s traditionally an order-in dish, because contrary to what some might think, jjajangmyeon isn’t the easiest dish to whip up at home, no matter how unassuming it may seem. It’s also often reserved for small celebrations and special occasions, like moving day or graduation.
So to mark my own milestone, leaving my first full-time job, I recently visited one of my family’s go-to Korean restaurants in Singapore, Hwang Sil Restaurant, for a bowl of it.
Before Itaewon Jjajang and Jeong’s Jjajang, and the many others that followed, there was Hwang Sil. I’m not sure exactly when it opened, but I can vouch that it’s been around for well over 15 years. I was still in secondary school when my father first discovered it.
Spending time with my parents in Jeju, Korea.
My family usually visited on weekends for dinner, when my siblings and I were briefly free from academic responsibilities and my father wasn’t working. It was also where we went to celebrate special occasions, and I’m certain I spent at least one of my teenage birthdays there.
Baby me, a product of both Korean and Singaporean influences.
Our orders were almost always the same: jjajangmyeon, jjamppong, and tangsuyuk. They’re simple, nothing out of the ordinary, but to me, these Korean-Chinese dishes reflect a part of who I am. Growing up, I was often asked, “Do you ever go through an identity crisis?” or “Do you feel more Korean or Singaporean?”
The blend of Korean and Chinese influences at Hwang Sil mirrors something in me. I am as much Korean as I am Singaporean, and somehow, that duality has always felt natural. This is why I’ve never seen it as an identity crisis, but rather something uniquely mine—a tender weaving of two cultures that shape who I am today.
If there’s one dish my family always ordered, it was the jjajangmyeon. When I was younger, I ate it out of routine, usually as a Sunday after-church meal or simply for dinner. But returning to the restaurant on my own, I realised just how many memories this dish holds.
Jjajangmyeon was the first thing my grandparents would treat my siblings and me to whenever we returned to Korea during the school holidays. In hindsight, I think it was partly because the restaurant was just a stone’s throw from their home, and mostly because it was the easiest answer when they asked, “What do you want to eat?”
My maternal grandparents; my pillars and my rock.
Looking back, jjajangmyeon feels tied to my early steps towards something deeper with my grandparents. It helped ease me into conversations with them, from simple exchanges like “How have you been?” to quieter, more tender moments of “I missed my grandchildren.”
Jjajangmyeon and tangsuyuk, AKA sweet and sour pork, are almost always ordered together—a pairing that just works. It’s an unspoken rule in Korean households, though I couldn’t tell you why, as I honestly have no idea. Think kaya toast with soft-boiled eggs, or chilli crab with mantou. It just makes sense.
This dish tasted different on my recent visit, not because the recipe has changed, but because I have. Back then, I ate it without much thought, as part of a regular family meal, something I probably took for granted. Years later, I found myself eating it with a stronger sense of identity, more aware of my roots in a way I wasn’t before. What once felt ordinary had gradually become something more, almost like an anchor to where I come from and a reminder of how I’ve been shaped over the years.
Similarly, traditional Korean sweet and sour pork draws parallels with Singapore’s zi char classic, gu lou yok. While they differ in name, origin, and history, both were part of my childhood, shared at dining tables with different people across different seasons of my life. Now that I think about it, they feel less like separate dishes and more like different ways I’ve come to understand home.
Pro tip: Dip each piece of fried pork into the sweet, viscous sauce instead of pouring it over the meat. There’s nothing wrong with the latter—it just makes it harder to control how much sauce you get with each bite. And let’s be honest, the sauce isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, so dipping is usually the better choice.
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been asked to recommend the best Korean restaurants in Singapore. Hwang Sil Restaurant isn’t usually the first name that comes to mind—but somehow, it means more than that.
It has witnessed different versions of me, from my teenage years to adulthood. When I came here with my family, it felt like an extension of home. But returning with my friends years later, something shifted. The space was the same, but I found myself seeing it differently, as if I was introducing them to a piece of my own history and heritage. With family, there was a sense of belonging; with friends, I was sharing it, offering a glimpse of where I come from and who I’ve become.
I can only hope that the restaurant will still be around for as long as I am here in Singapore, so that no matter how much I change, there will always be a place that holds the version of me I grew into. My next milestone, I hope, is to bring my future partner to Hwang Sil, so he can get a taste of my childhood.
If you’re looking for cheaper lunch or dinner alternatives nearby, read our Maxwell Food Centre guide. Otherwise, check out the best cheap Korean food places with mains under $15.
Address: 38 Maxwell Road, #01-05, Singapore 069116
Opening hours: Daily 11:30am to 3pm, 5:30pm to 10:30pm
Tel: 6224 4371
Website
Hwang Sil Restaurant is not a halal-certified eatery.
15 Cheap Korean Food Places With Mains Under $15, Including Hawker Options
Photos taken by Yoo Kyung and edited by Nivian Chiang.
This was an independent visit by Eatbook.sg.
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