Beauty World Korean Food: Best Restaurants, Menus & Reviews
There’s a small stretch of Bukit Timah Road where the smell of sizzling pork belly does half the marketing; within a five-minute walk of Beauty World MRT, two Korean restaurants — Joo Mak and Myung Ga — serve everything from BBQ pork to an oversized tonkatsu, with most mains between S$10 and S$25. The reviews, the menus, and the small print — halal options, booking habits, opening hours — decide which night out you’ll actually have.
Top Korean restaurants featured: 2 (Joo Mak, Myung Ga II) ·
Most recent food guide published: 9 Apr 2025 (Eatbook) ·
Beauty World MRT station: Downtown Line (DT5) ·
Average price per main dish: S$10 – S$25 ·
Distance from MRT to restaurants: Under 5 minutes walk
Quick snapshot
- Joo Mak (reviewed as Joomak) is operating in Beauty World Centre, with a kitchen that leans on Korean BBQ and braised pork dishes, per District SixtyFive’s review (Singapore food review site).
- Myung Ga is an established Korean restaurant in the same area, per SethLui.com (Singapore food and lifestyle site).
- Beauty World Food Centre is open and operating, per Eatbook’s Beauty World Food Centre guide.
- Halal certification status for the Korean restaurants is not documented in the reviews we checked. (Eatbook’s Pink Candy listing (Singapore food guide))
- Whether any Korean stalls beyond Pink Candy operate inside the food centre; Eatbook’s Pink Candy listing (Singapore food guide) names Pink Candy as the standout.
- Myung Ga’s menu prices vary between dine-in and delivery listings, so treat quoted prices as approximate, per Asia Voice SG’s guide (community food guide).
- Pink Candy has been run by its Korean operator for more than a decade (Eatbook, Singapore food guide).
- Eatbook’s current Beauty World food roundup was updated on 9 Apr 2025 (Eatbook’s Beauty World Food Centre guide).
- Check the day before you go: Pink Candy closes on Tuesdays, and Joo Mak’s dinner service is booking-recommended.
- Compare delivery prices before ordering — samgyetang is S$23 dine-in but S$29.90 on Foodpanda (Asia Voice SG, community food guide).
Eight quick facts, one pattern: every reliable Korean option in Beauty World sits within a short walk of the MRT.
| Quick fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Best for BBQ | Joo Mak (Joomak) (District SixtyFive, Singapore food review site) |
| Best for tonkatsu | Myung Ga (Middleclass.sg calls it a must-try) |
| Price range per main | S$10 – S$25 (premium shareable dishes above that) |
| Location | Bukit Timah, Singapore — around 144 Upper Bukit Timah Road |
| Nearest MRT | Beauty World (DT5), Downtown Line |
| Signature dish | Joomak Gukbap at S$21.90 |
| Largest Korean menu | Pink Candy — 40+ items, from S$8.50 kimbap (Eatbook) |
| Halal certification | Not documented in current reviews |
What are the best Beauty World Korean food reviews?
If you read one review before eating Korean in Beauty World, read the pattern across all of them: two sit-down restaurants — Joo Mak and Myung Ga — plus a hawker stall called Pink Candy. The verdict splits cleanly: Joo Mak for BBQ, Myung Ga for the tonkatsu, Pink Candy for a fast, low-cost Korean meal.
Which Beauty World Korean restaurant has the highest ratings?
- Joo Mak (Joomak in some reviews) carries a 4.0 TripAdvisor rating, where a reviewer calls the Korean BBQ “quite authentic.” District SixtyFive reaches the same verdict, describing the food as reasonably priced and authentic (District SixtyFive, Singapore food review site).
- Myung Ga is treated as an established dining address, not a newcomer, in SethLui.com’s coverage of the area’s Korean BBQ.
- Eatbook’s roundups point to Pink Candy as the budget standout, with kimbap at S$8.50.
- Generous portions show up as a theme at both restaurants — Myung Ga’s tonkatsu size and Joo Mak’s shareable BBQ plates get called out again and again.
The pattern: the reviews rank experiences, not restaurants. A BBQ night at Joo Mak and a tonkatsu lunch at Myung Ga are both “best” — for different cravings.
If the reviews agree on anything, it’s this: pick the restaurant by the dish you’re craving, not by which one is “better.” A BBQ craving points to Joo Mak; a tonkatsu craving points to Myung Ga.
What this means: the highest-rated meal in Beauty World is the one that matches the occasion — a group ordering grilled pork at Joo Mak, or a solo diner attacking an oversized cutlet at Myung Ga.
What is on the Beauty World Korean food menu?
Menus at the sit-down restaurants lead with Korean classics, with one or two house signatures. The hawker stall is where the breadth gets interesting.
Popular dishes at Joo Mak
- Signature: Joomak Gukbap, a braised-pork-and-rice bowl at S$21.90. The kitchen also specialises in Korean braised pig’s trotters and Jeju black pig (District SixtyFive, Singapore food review site).
- BBQ pork and beef, mackerel, jajangmyeon and seafood pancake complete the menu, per the TripAdvisor review and the wider listicle coverage.
Joo Mak’s menu is built for sharing — the BBQ plates and trotters work best with a few people at the table.
Myung Ga menu highlights
- Korean-style tonkatsu is the signature; Middleclass.sg calls it “a must-try.”
- Mul naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodles) is listed at S$20, and bulgogi pajeon at S$28, in Asia Voice SG’s Beauty World Korean food guide.
- Samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) is S$23 dine-in but S$29.90 on Foodpanda, and bossam (boiled pork wraps) reaches S$50, per the same guide.
The trade-off: Myung Ga’s prices climb quickly once you leave the noodles — the bossam and group dishes push the bill toward S$50, so lighter orders give the best value.
What to order at Beauty World Korean restaurants
- Budget meal: kimbap (S$8.50), black bean noodles (S$12.90), spicy cold beef noodles (S$14.90), bibimbap (S$12.90) and spicy rice cake (S$12.90) at Pink Candy (Eatbook’s Pink Candy listing, Singapore food guide).
- Shareable big plates: kimchi pancake (S$21.90), pork army stew (S$34.90) and original sweet-spicy fried chicken (S$36) — the same Eatbook listing covers these.
- First sit-down meal: order the BBQ set at Joo Mak, or the tonkatsu at Myung Ga.
The implication: you can eat Korean in Beauty World at two very different price points — a S$8.50 kimbap at the hawker stall or a S$50 bossam at the sit-down restaurant — and both are legitimate versions of the same cuisine.
The pattern: the menu range supports both a solo budget order and a group feast, so the deciding factor is how many people are at the table.
Is Beauty World Food Centre closed?
No — the food centre is open, and the 2025 guides treat it as a working hawker destination, not a construction site.
Beauty World Food Centre operating hours
- Daily operating hours: 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., per Eatbook’s Beauty World Food Centre guide.
- Stall hours differ: Pink Candy serves 10:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. and 5–9 p.m., Monday and Wednesday to Sunday (Eatbook’s Pink Candy listing).
- Tuesday is Pink Candy’s closed day — the one consistent shutdown noted in the reviews.
Current status — is it open or undergoing renovation?
The building is open, but the stalls are the real schedule. Eatbook’s roundup, published 9 Apr 2025, lists 30 stalls worth trying; Pink Candy’s Tuesday closure shows why you check the stall, not just the centre.
- The centre completed a renovation in 2020 and has operated normally since, per local food coverage (Eatbook’s Beauty World Food Centre guide).
- No published review we checked mentions a closure or a new renovation for 2025.
What this means: the “is it closed?” search is understandable, but outdated — the food centre is an active hawker option in Bukit Timah, with the usual caveat that individual stalls set their own hours.
Which Beauty World restaurant serves the best Korean food?
The honest answer splits in two: Joo Mak is the best Korean BBQ option, and Myung Ga has the most distinctive single dish.
Best for BBQ
- Joo Mak’s kitchen leans on Jeju black pig and Korean braised pig’s trotters — the basis for the “authentic” label reviewers keep using (District SixtyFive, Singapore food review site).
- A TripAdvisor review of the restaurant is blunter: “Quite authentic Korean cuisine with BBQ pork and beef.”
- BBQ pork, beef, mackerel, jajangmyeon and seafood pancake are the dishes that show up across the coverage.
Best for tonkatsu
- Myung Ga’s oversized Korean-style tonkatsu is the dish that earns a “must-try” from Middleclass.sg.
- SethLui.com frames Myung Ga as an established Korean address rather than a recent entrant.
- Portion size is the recurring theme — the cutlet’s size gets as much attention as its taste.
The trade-off: choosing between the two is choosing between a shared, smoky meal and a solo plate with a single hero dish. Both are right — for different nights.
What are the practical tips for visiting Beauty World Korean restaurants?
The practical details matter more than the menu here: the restaurants, the stall and the MRT all sit within a few minutes of each other, so the friction is in the timing, not the travel.
How to get to Beauty World
- Beauty World MRT (Downtown Line, DT5) is the anchor — the restaurants cluster within a five-minute walk of the station.
- The key address is 144 Upper Bukit Timah Road, Beauty World Centre, which houses Joo Mak and Pink Candy.
- Myung Ga sits in the same MRT-adjacent cluster, easy to reach on foot.
Reservation requirements
- Joo Mak: booking is the recommended route for dinner, especially on weekends.
- Myung Ga: none of the reviews we checked mentions a booking requirement.
- Pink Candy: a hawker stall — no reservations; you order at the counter.
Halal options
- No halal certification is documented for Joo Mak, Myung Ga or Pink Candy in the reviews we checked.
- Pork is central to the menus — braised trotters, pork belly BBQ and pork army stew — so Muslim diners should confirm each kitchen’s status directly before visiting.
Price range
- Most sit-down mains land between S$10 and S$25 — the gukbap at S$21.90 and the naengmyeon at S$20 both sit in that band.
- Dine-in beats delivery: Myung Ga’s samgyetang is S$23 at the restaurant but S$29.90 on Foodpanda (Asia Voice SG, community food guide).
- Premium shareable dishes run higher — bossam at S$50 per Asia Voice SG; pork army stew at S$34.90 and fried chicken at S$36 per Eatbook.
The catch: the S$10–S$25 range holds only if you skip the shareable plates. The moment a group orders army stew or bossam, the per-person price moves toward S$30 and beyond.
The implication: the cheapest plan is a Pink Candy lunch, while the most reliable plan is a booked Joo Mak table with a known budget cap.
Joo Mak vs Myung Ga: a side-by-side comparison
Two restaurants, one pattern: Joo Mak sells a Korean BBQ night out, while Myung Ga sells one standout plate that people cross town for.
| Aspect | Joo Mak (Joomak) | Myung Ga |
|---|---|---|
| Signature strength | Korean BBQ; braised pig’s trotters and Jeju black pig (District SixtyFive, Singapore food review site) | Established Korean sit-down with an oversized tonkatsu |
| Price per main | Joomak Gukbap at S$21.90; most mains within S$10–S$25 | Naengmyeon listed at S$20; samgyetang listed at S$23; bossam listed at S$50 (Asia Voice SG, community food guide) |
| Distance from Beauty World MRT | Under 5 minutes’ walk | Under 5 minutes’ walk |
| Best for | Groups sharing a BBQ spread | Solo diners or small orders after a strong craving |
What this means: on price alone, the two restaurants land in the same band until shareable plates enter the order. The real differentiator is the experience — a table full of grilled meat at Joo Mak, or one dramatic cutlet at Myung Ga.
The upsides and downsides of Beauty World’s Korean restaurants
Upsides
- Two solid sit-down Korean options within five minutes of the MRT.
- A real budget path: kimbap at S$8.50 and bibimbap at S$12.90 at Pink Candy.
- Reviewer consensus on the highs — authentic BBQ at Joo Mak, a must-try tonkatsu at Myung Ga.
Downsides
- No documented halal certification for the Korean kitchens.
- Shareable plates push the bill to S$34.90–S$50.
- Hours and bookings add friction — Pink Candy closes Tuesdays, Joo Mak needs a dinner reservation.
The catch: the straightforward choice is for anyone planning a pork-heavy meal, while the friction appears when you need halal confirmation, a quiet table, or a spend under S$15.
Confirmed facts and what’s still unclear
Confirmed facts
- Joo Mak (Joomak) is operating in Beauty World Centre (District SixtyFive, Singapore food review site).
- Myung Ga is an established Korean restaurant in the area (SethLui.com, Singapore food site).
- Beauty World Food Centre is open daily 6:00 a.m.–10:00 p.m. per Eatbook’s guide.
What’s unclear
- Halal certification status for each Korean kitchen — not documented in the reviews we checked.
- Whether the food centre hosts Korean stalls beyond Pink Candy.
- Whether delivery prices stay higher than dine-in: Myung Ga’s samgyetang jumps from S$23 to S$29.90 on Foodpanda (Asia Voice SG, community food guide).
- Asia Voice SG’s Myung Ga menu prices — naengmyeon at S$20, bulgogi pajeon at S$28 — come from a community guide and aren’t confirmed by an established outlet.
- Pink Candy’s hours may shift without notice — the Tuesday closure is per Eatbook’s listing, not an official guarantee.
The pattern: confirmed facts cover the essentials, and every remaining unknown is answerable with a direct call to the restaurant or stall.
What reviewers actually said
Three voices keep coming up in Beauty World Korean food coverage: an anonymous TripAdvisor reviewer, a Middleclass.sg writer, and Eatbook’s editors.
“Quite authentic Korean cuisine with BBQ pork and beef.”
— Anonymous TripAdvisor reviewer, Joo Mak review
“The giant tonkatsu is a must-try.”
— Middleclass.sg food writer, on Myung Ga
“30 Beauty World Food Gems To Try.”
— Eatbook, Beauty World Food Centre guide
Why this matters: the first two voices are what push first-time diners toward Joo Mak and Myung Ga respectively; Eatbook’s guide shows the wider scene is active enough to fill 30 entries.
The verdict for your next Beauty World meal
Korean food in Beauty World is a split decision: Joo Mak for a sit-down BBQ built around braised pork and grilled meat, Myung Ga for the tonkatsu reviewers call a must-try, and Pink Candy for a kimbap at S$8.50. For a first-time visitor arriving at Beauty World MRT, the choice is clear: decide which craving wins before you leave the station — grilled meat at a booked table, or a fried pork cutlet that needs no reservation — because the two restaurants sit minutes apart yet deliver completely different nights out.
Frequently asked questions
Is there parking near Beauty World Korean restaurants?
The restaurants sit within a five-minute walk of Beauty World MRT (Downtown Line, DT5), which is the smoothest way to arrive. The reviews we checked don’t detail parking, so if you drive, allow time to find a lot around the commercial blocks near Upper Bukit Timah Road.
Are there vegetarian Korean options at Beauty World?
The published reviews focus on pork, beef and seafood, and no dedicated vegetarian menu is documented for Joo Mak, Myung Ga or Pink Candy. The safest approach is to ask the kitchen directly; the hawker stall’s kimbap and rice cake items are the most likely to be adaptable.
Can I pay by credit card at these restaurants?
Card acceptance isn’t documented in the reviews we checked. For the hawker stall, cash is the safest default; for the sit-down restaurants, ask when you book.
What time is the lunch rush at Beauty World Korean restaurants?
Pink Candy opens at 10:30 a.m. and pauses between 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m., which makes a just-after-opening visit the quietest window (Eatbook). The sit-down restaurants don’t publish rush times — booking ahead removes the guesswork.
Are there any Korean dessert places in Beauty World?
None of the guides we checked lists a dedicated Korean dessert spot in Beauty World. The food-centre coverage focuses on savoury stalls, so for sweets, ask at the restaurant table or plan dessert elsewhere.
Do they serve soju at these restaurants?
Alcohol service is not documented in the reviews we checked. The reliable move is to call ahead and confirm before you book.
Is the food very spicy?
Heat depends on the dish. Pink Candy’s spicy cold beef noodles (S$14.90) and spicy rice cake (S$12.90) are the menu items that advertise their heat (Eatbook). The BBQ mains and tonkatsu are the mild end of the menu.
What is the best time to visit to avoid crowds?
Go early. Pink Candy opens at 10:30 a.m., and the food centre’s daily hours start at 6 a.m. (Eatbook). An arrived-before-noon plan is the best way to beat both the lunch queue and the evening booking crowd at Joo Mak.
The practical takeaway from the FAQ: the details that change your visit are the ones the reviews can’t guarantee — stall hours, card acceptance and ingredient substitutions.