Welcome to Song Gye Ok (송계옥) at Telok Ayer, the Singapore outpost of a Korean chicken speciality grill that has apparently built a cult following back home for cutting up a bird in ways most of us have never seen on a menu. I went in expecting the usual thigh and breast routine. I did not expect to leave having eaten more chicken heart in one sitting than in the rest of my life combined.
First Impressions, and a Rooster That Knew Something I Did Not
The shopfront made a strong first impression, the signboard neon-lit against raw concrete in one of those Telok Ayer shophouse rows that always makes a restaurant look better than it has any right to. Inside, it is brown and rustic: wooden benches, straw cushions, low tables built for sharing.
There is a canvas scroll painting of a rooster hanging on one of the walls, peach blossoms and all, and I will admit it gave me a small moment of pause. I was born in the Year of the Rooster. Sitting down to a menu built entirely around chicken, under a giant painted rooster, felt like the universe making a point I chose not to think about too hard.
Getting seated involves an online queuing system on a tablet at the door rather than a paper ticket, which I fumbled through longer than I should admit. Kevin, running late as usual, missed the whole ordeal.
Six Cuts of Chicken I Had Never Ordered Before
Song Gye Ok’s whole premise is that a chicken is more than thigh, breast and wing. A small black info card at the table lays it out plainly: neck, cartilage, heart, thigh, tenderloin and side ribs, each worth ordering on its own rather than as an afterthought in a mixed platter. All of it, the menu notes twice over, is free from pork and lardons.
My colleague Kevin, who loves chicken more than most people love anything, would have had a field day with the neck fillet alone. He is also, by his own admission, not much of a drinker, and warns anyone at the table early that one drink is usually enough to have him talking funny. Ray, on the other hand, takes his food seriously enough that I would call him a genuine food critic rather than just a foodie, and every cut that hit the grill got a proper, considered verdict before anyone reached for seconds.
The charcoal pit at the centre of the table is fitted snugly into a stainless steel ring, and the heat comes through almost immediately, so wear something light. The moment the raw cuts hit the mesh, the sizzle starts, and so does the appetite.
What impressed me most was the chicken heart. There were so many on the platter that I started doing the maths, one heart per chicken, so how many birds actually went into this order. I never landed on a number. What I can tell you is that they were tender rather than chewy, which is not what I expected from an organ cut, and I would order a plate of just that on a return visit.
Fair warning: this is not a menu built for people who only want the breast. If you are squeamish about neck, cartilage or gizzard, order the marinated thigh and stick to it. Nobody will judge you, though Ray might raise an eyebrow.
Sides, Sauces and a Fried Rice I Went Back For
The Uiseong Garlic Fried Rice is the dish I would order again on its own merits, no chicken required. It arrives in a foil tray set on the grill to finish cooking, built around premium Uiseong garlic, crispy garlic chips, a runny egg yolk, scallion and shredded nori. I like garlic to begin with, so this was never a fair fight, and the restraint it takes not to finish the tray alone is genuinely underrated.
The Bibim Noodles were the table’s other favourite, tossed in a properly flavourful gochujang sauce with fresh vegetables and a boiled egg, and pulled apart with a stretch of noodle long enough for a decent photo the moment someone lifted the chopsticks too high.
The Doenjang stew was fine rather than remarkable to me personally, though I will always take a hot bowl of soup with rice, so that is more a note on my own bias than on the kitchen.
What genuinely surprised me was the trio of curated sauces served alongside the meat: a green herb and chilli blend, a mellow garlic dip, and a red chilli sauce with a proper kick, each in its own little clay pot with its own spoon. A rare-cuts guide card at the table even recommends pairings, chilli or pickled chilli through the fat of the chicken neck, for instance. It is a small thing, but it tells you someone here has actually thought about which sauce suits which cut, rather than handing you one bottle of gochujang and calling it a day.
For drinks, I opted for the Earl Grey Highball, whiskey infused with Earl Grey tea and topped with sparkling water and lemon, served in a proper mug. There is also a Happy Hour daily from 9pm, two pints of Cass draught for $20++, worth knowing if you are staying on for dinner.
Worth the Wait, and the Chicken Hearts?
Yes, must try. That is the short version. The longer version is that Song Gye Ok is doing something genuinely different with a bird most of us have eaten a thousand times over, with fresh ingredients and staff meticulous enough that nothing on our table came off the grill dry or overdone. Would I go back? Yes, and next time I am ordering a full plate of chicken hearts on their own.
The full menu also lists slow-simmered specialities I did not get to this round: Dakgomtang, a chicken bone broth simmered for hours, hand-cut Kalguksu noodles, and a Samgyetang built around ginseng and a young bird cooked low and slow. If broths and noodle soups are more your speed than charcoal and rare cuts, I covered that side of the menu in an earlier LBRD visit, worth a read before you book.
Official Details
Song Gye Ok (松鸡屋) (not halal-certified; kitchen is 100% chicken, 0% pork, 0% lard)
Telok Ayer
Address: 113 Telok Ayer Street, Singapore 068582
Lunch: 11am to 3pm daily (last order 2:30pm)
Dinner: Sunday to Thursday, 5pm to 10pm (last order 9:30pm); Friday and Saturday, 5pm to 11pm (last order 10:30pm)
Nearest MRT: Telok Ayer MRT (DT18), Exit B, about a 3-minute walk along Telok Ayer Street itself
Parking: no dedicated carpark on site. Telok Ayer Street has metered street parking, and the nearest off-street option is the Amoy Street car park at 86 Amoy Street, listed by Motorist.sg at $1.50 per 30 minutes on weekdays from 7am to 5pm, dropping to $0.60 per 30 minutes after 5pm and on weekends and public holidays (walking time from there to the restaurant not independently confirmed, see drafting notes)
Reservations: walk-in queue system only, no table bookings
Website: songgyeok.sg
Instagram: @songgyeok.sg
WhatsApp: +65 8088 3850
The Centrepoint
Address: 176 Orchard Road, #02-53 & 54, Singapore 238843
Lunch: 11am to 5pm daily (last order 4:30pm)
Dinner: 5pm to 10pm daily (last order 9:30pm)
WhatsApp: +65 8088 2035
Prices (subject to 10% service charge and 9% GST)
SGO Signature Grill Platter, $138. Special Grill Platter, $98. Add-on organs (gizzard, heart, boneless neck fillet), $40. Signature cuts, minimum 2 portions: marinated thigh $32, boneless neck fillet $32, thigh $30, tenders $23, breast softbone $21, heart $21, gizzard $21. SGO Signature Doenjang Stew, Spicy Chicken Feet or Bibim Noodles, $28 each. Jidori Udon, $25. Uiseong Garlic Fried Rice, $18. Earl Grey Highball, $16 (keg for the table, $68). Cass Draught Beer, $12. Happy Hour daily from 9pm, 2 pints for $20++.
Have you tried Song Gye Ok’s rare cuts, or do you have a chicken speciality grill in Singapore I should be trying next? Drop it in the comments.
