Korean Charcoal BBQ Restaurant

Upon arrival to Australia, I was immediately introduced to the infamous outdoor barbeque meal. It is almost traditional for my residential college to host a barbeque event annually to welcome freshers. Despite moving out of college for more than a year now, I can never forget how a fuss free cooking method could bring everyone together (over a couple of hot dogs, hamburgers and perhaps beer).

Moving fast forward, we were then introduced to a Korean variation of the traditional BBQ method where instead of the classic selection of patties, we utilize slices of fresh meat as the main source of protein. In this blogpost, we walk through my fond Korean BBQ memory lane but this time, to wish a dear friend farewell on his journey back home and hopefully, we would meet up again someday:)

The interior is quite spacious and accommodates one of the most comfortable wooden seats. We were too lazy to move around after settling our bottoms down and having button to ring for a waiter's attention made things all too easy.

The menu is quite extensive and there is so many types of food to choose from. One could opt for a hot pot, BBQ or individual main dishes such as soup noodles and rice dishes.

It is common to get served a few types of cold side dishes. We were served pickled beansprouts, tofu cubes, kimchi and a dollop of mashed potato.

A few minutes after being served with the cold dishes, we were provided with dipping sauces for the meat. This soup-y consistency sauce went perfectly well with most of our meat slices.

Fresh slices of pork belly (with a nice marbling of fat!)

Marinated chicken, ready to lick the grill's heat.

I like how the waitresses came around to help us cook our meat and because the ventilation's quite good, we didn't leave the place smelling like fried meat.

Beef and mushroom hot pot~ clear beef broth with enoki and button mushrooms, bulgogi slices, onions and some vegetables. A really healthy dish.

Our protein slices were so fresh that most of them didn't need to be marinated prior to hitting the grill and still turned out delicious. The fatty layers of the meat kept the meat succulent and juicy and you wouldn't need to add oil to cook them:)

Spicy seafood soup noodles~ I can down a few spicy dishes but this one pushed my limits a bit. I would rate it 7/10 spicy, mostly from the thick chilli broth used to cook the seafood. You have been warned to avoid this if spicy food is not your cuppa tea.

Overall, the stock made this dish really delicious and even my fussy brother agreed that it was worthy of a A- from him. Simplicity at it's best:)

I had a few bowls going around as we were sharing our food. Had so much to eat that day but I am quite certain that not much oil was used to bring out the lovely flavours of each ingredient.

And for the beer lovers out there, a Soju beer would not only warm you up but also break the ice among your friends (even if it's just one bottle!!)