Annyeonghaseyo! Sibyullee at Ayala Malls The 30th

Next to Chinese and Japanese cuisines, my family also has a growing fondness for Korean food. For instance, we all love adding kimchi to our barbecued meats, the wide array of banchan never fails to excite us and pajeon, bibimbap and galbi jim will always be part of our order line-up.

So, when I heard that a new Korean restaurant named Sibyullee recently opened at the relatively new Ayala Malls The 30th in Pasig, I took the opportunity to invite my parents out for lunch one day. It was all our first time to check out the mall and I got to say that I love the very relaxed, neighborhood vibe that it gives. The selection of restaurants and retail shops were quite impressive too not to mention that they even have a Rustans Supermarket available at the Ground Floor and a row of cinema at the top floor to complete the mix.



Sibyullee is being operated by the same group who owns Sariwon so expect to enjoy good quality cuts of meat at reasonable prices. True enough, the first few pages of their menu shows a couple of group set menu which we feel are reasonably priced. We got the Signature BBQ Combo Set A for Php. 1680 which comes with 200g Fresh USDA Choice Beef Belly, 200g Pork Belly, 200g Marinated Chicken, 1 Japchae, your choice of 2 Dolsot Bibimbap or 1 Volcano Kimchi Fried Rice, 2 bowls of plain rice, 4 bowls of soup and unlimited servings of banchan (appetizer). That's a lot and is definitely good for 4-6 pax in my opinion.

Service was really fast as our table was immediately filled with a pitcher of iced water and tea as well as our first round of banchan. We all had our favorites such as Mommy loved the pickled radish, Papa adored the kimchi, I loved the macaroni salad and kangkong while Paul couldn't have enough of the peanuts with anchovies. We enjoyed the banchan so much that we lost count of the number of times our server came back to refill them for us. It was that yummy!

Our meats came shortly after and not wanting to deal with oil splatters, we gladly said yes when our server offered to cook our meat by our table side for us. I love the delicious USDA Choice Beef Belly which literally melted in my mouth. It was so flavorful that it went so well even with the plain white rice. They have also provided us with a basket of fresh lettuce and garlic to complete the Korean experience which Paul loved so much.

The Pork Belly was also pretty good albeit a bit on the dry side and definitely much tougher compared to the beef. The serving was pretty generous though which is why I felt that choosing the set was a wise decision.

We also loved the Marinated Chicken which was slightly spicy but it was really good! I love how tender it was and it sure didn't require any dipping sauce as it was delicious on it's own.

To go with our barbecued meat, we had a bowl of Japchae which was good. Make sure not to miss this as I felt that it's definitely a must-try at Sibyullee. Noodles were perfectly springy and they didn't scrimp on the toppings so you get a good mouthful of veggies and meat in every bite. Flavor-wise, it had a good salty-sweet balance too.

A quick glance around the restaurant will tell you that Sibyullee seems to be popular with the cheesy dishes. There's the Volcano Kimchi Fried Rice as well as the Galbi Cheese BBQ. We went with the former and sadly were not quite so impressed by it. Perhaps we're also too full with all the other dishes that we had prior to this but one spoonful was just too rich and too much to be fully enjoyed. Perhaps if you're a big fan of melted cheese then you'll love this otherwise, I would recommend you go with the Dolsot Bibimbap instead which I felt would make a better balance together with all the other dishes included in the set.

In addition to our set, we just have to try their Haemul Pajeon (Php. 380) which is one of our family's favorites. Signature Korean-style pancakes made with shrimps, squid, mussels and green onions, Sibyullee's version was pretty good as it was light and very crispy. The serving was once again very generous too!

Over-all, we had a superb lunch at Sibyullee. So good that we had to call Pan to tell her about it (and to slightly make her jealous for not joining us too hehe). Kidding aside, everyone had a great lunch and we're already planning our next return.

Check out Sibyullee at the Ground Floor, Ayala Malls The 30th, Meralco Avenue, Brgy Ugong, Pasig City. Call them at +63-927-8963887.