Masizzim – Korean Riceballs, Beef & Pork Stews

The storefront of Masizzim @ 313 Somerset, Singapore

Masizzim 마시찜 is a famous Korean restaurant with outlets all over Korea specialising in beef and pork stews. They have since expanded internationally and they have opened their first Singapore branch at 313 Somerset on 24 September 2015! This is a brand new hot Korean restaurant in Singapore and it has gotten our resident Korean-speaking specialist Sheryn all excited. She explains that Masizzim’s Korean name 마시찜 actually means ‘drink stew food’ which is grammatically improper, but taken separately ‘마시 (ma-si)’ is a play on words from ‘맛있다 (ma-sit-da)’ which means delicious, and ‘찜 (jjim)’ refers to stews – giving the meaning ‘delicious stews’.

This is actually the queue outside Masizzim on a Thursday night

Service and Ordering

Despite the super long queue pictured above, we actually got our table in about 15 minutes as they seem to have more tables available for pairs than say larger groups. If you want to avoid the wait, we absolutely do not recommend going down in large groups.

The ordering is a bit complicated and you get to choose the following for your stew:

Step 1: Beef, pork or chicken stew

Step 2: Soy flavour or spicy flavour (level 1-4)

Step 3: Udon or glass noodles

Step 4: Choose optional add-ons such as cheese, toppoki or extra noodles

Their stews come with plain rice.

We were actually a bit confused about their signature dish. Their beef rib stew is placed prominently and highlighted in their menu. However, we have seen Masizzim Singapore’s Facebook page refer to their pork rib stew as their signature dish. In Korea, their signature is galbijjim stew, which is made with either beef or pork short ribs. The good news is, they are both great! It is a matter of preference here but we are very very slightly partial to their beef.

As for the choice of flavour, we tried the spicy flavour on our first visit and actually returned on another day for their soy flavour. Personally I prefer the soy (by a country mile) and Sheryn prefers the spicy flavour. However, we caution against ordering anything above the level 2 spiciness which we found a bit too spicy for our taste buds.

Masizzim Beef Rib Stew

This is their signature beef rib stew with spiciness level 2, serving size for one person. It is slow cooked for 6-hours to produce that really fragrant stew. The beef was so incredibly soft and tender. When you bite into it you can actually feel it melting in your mouth. This is really top-class beef stew.

However, we found the spiciness for level 2 way over the top. Sheryn had previously tried the level 3 and she did not find much difference between level 2 and 3. However, we can imagine that the beef should go extremely well with the level 1 spiciness. Also, there isn’t really much ‘stew’ left to drink after the boil. For us, we found the spiciness fragrance delicious and addictive, and it went very well with the beef, save for the super spicy hit afterwards. Sheryn rates their beef stew 4.2/5 – rating given for their level 1 spiciness on the assumption that it is not too mad-spicy.  You can get the single portion for S$18 or the double portion for S$32. We recommend topping up S$6 for their special anchovy and tuna rice balls!

Masizzim Pork Rib Stew

We actually came back to Masizzim one week later to try their soy flavoured pork rib stew. The one big difference between the spicy and soy stews is that you can actually drink the soy stew! And it was delicious. We finished the stew down to the very last drop. The pork ribs were super tender as well, but a tad less impressive than the beef ribs. Sheryn prefers the spicy stew, but I prefer the soy stew. Personally I wouldn’t come back for their spicy flavour but I definitely would for their soy flavoured stew.

We rate their soy pork rib stew 4.2/5. This is S$16 for their single portion and S$29 for their double portion. Again, don’t forget to add the S$6 for their special rice balls.

Anchovy Rice Balls

This was the highlight of the day! These are not too uncommon in Korea, but we haven’t had the chance to try these in Singapore. This is sticky rice together with anchovies (ikan bilis), seaweed and lots of other small seasonings. You have to mix it yourself with their provided plastic glove into a nice round riceball. We were really excited to try these we could only imagine the extent of the deliciousness given the mouthwatering ingredients.

They were great, tasty and solid. The balance between the rice, anchovies and seaweed was just right and when you munch it down you will get a satisfying smile. We rate them 4/5, and you can get them by topping up S$6 to upgrade the plain rice that comes with your stews, or S$8 a la carte.

There is the tuna rice ball version as well, but Sheryn, who has tried both, recommends their anchovy one.

Tomato Cheese Kimchi Pancake – 3.8/5 – could have been a bit crispier

Final Thoughts

This is really top quality Korean stew in Singapore. I personally find their soy-flavoured stew variations really super delicious. They only have one outlet at 313@Somerset and you can expect to queue for a long time, whether on weekdays or weekends. We recommend coming before 7pm and preferably in a group of two. If you come in a bigger group be prepared for an extended wait.

This place is not cheap though. As usual we note that the local prices have been inflated by around 30% as compared to Masizzim’s prices in Korea. You can get their stews in Korea from ₩11,000 to ₩13,000.

Nonetheless, if you are a fan of Korean food we expect that you will be returning to Masizzim for many visits to come.