With more and more K-BBQ spots opening across the city, grill-your-own meat restaurants have never been so popular.
Kevin Cheng
When Korea House opened in Darlinghurst 50 years ago, it was the first Korean restaurant in Australia. Now, there are hundreds across the city – in Strathfield, Lidcombe and Eastwood especially – and Korean barbecue has become a wildly popular sub-genre. There has never been a better time to throw a bit of garlicky marinated meat on the barbie.
Korean barbecue is a style of eating that is more than 2000 years old. It is a deeply communal sensory experience of sound, smell and taste. Diners sit around a grill (usually fuelled by glowing charcoal) that’s positioned at the centre of the table, and cook their own meat. You’re up close with the pulsing heat and, in some respect, it’s an extension of the grill-your-own steak restaurants that were at Sydney pubs everywhere in the 1990s.
There are always side dishes (banchan), including different types of kimchi, usually cabbage and radish. But the meat – beef and pork being the more popular proteins – is the star of the show. And it’s the diversity of the meat, with different cuts, marination, slicing and grilling techniques, that highlights the level of sophistication and care in Korean barbecue.
For Koreans, this is not just about slapping some meat down over coals. The process is firmly rooted in Korean culture, and the communal experience – the ritual of sharing a meal – is often tied to family outings and important life milestones.
Illa Kim, one half of the husband-and-wife team behind one-hatted Soul Dining in the CBD, says her family have been eating at the same Seoul barbecue restaurant, Budnamujip, since the early 1980s. It’s also where she introduced her husband Daero to her parents for the first time.
“He was quite nervous … but with Daero being a chef, it gave him the comfort of being in his element,” she says.
For Min Jeong, sous chef at Castlereagh Street’s new modern Chinese restaurant Lee Ho Fook, Korean barbecue represents family and cherished memories, including visiting his motherland.
“My family were so excited to celebrate their first Korean barbecue together with my wife and me,” he says. “They love Korean barbecue, especially the ones that serve spicy marinated crab [yangnyeom gejang] as a side dish.
“My wife wanted to try marinated crab for the first time … she ended up not liking it, but it was fun, and we all laughed together.”
While the beauty of Korean barbecue lies in the customisation of meat, side dishes and combining them all together in lettuce or perilla wraps (ssam), there are some tips and tricks that will make for a better time.
Jeong recommends ordering different cuts of meat – such as beef tongue, loin, fresh ribs and pork belly – which he says is like “wine tasting”. Eventually you’ll find your favourite slice. The same goes with trying a range of restaurants, which each have their own marinade recipes and unique selection of sides.
Kim says it’s best to start grilling the unseasoned and unmarinated meat first, with beef cooked before pork. This is for a couple of reasons, says Jeong. Diners can enjoy the natural flavour of the unmarinated meat first, and it reduces “grill wastage”.
“I used to work at a Korean barbecue as a kitchen hand and cleaning the grill was my most-hated task,” he says. “Marinated meat can burn easily. You always have the right to ask the staff to change the grill but I always try to cook in the right order so that there is less labour for kitchen hands.”
After the table has eaten all the unmarinated meats, switch up the grill plate and cook the marinated ones. Kim says a sign of a great Korean barbecue restaurant is one that offers different grills for specific types of meat. Poultry and seafood are not usually cooked on the grill at traditional Korean barbecue restaurants.
With many of Sydney’s Korean barbecue restaurants focused on limited dining times for the all-you-can-eat crowd, Jeong stresses that the experience is meant to be leisurely.
“It’s best to take your time cooking, eating, and enjoying the company of others. The meal often lasts for a couple of hours, so relax, savour each bite, and wear stretchy pants.”
Kim says it’s also important to have some spicy cold noodles to finish the meal, which will aid digestion after all that marbled beef and pork.
11 of the best Korean barbecues in Sydney
Bornga, Haymarket (also Rhodes)
One of the busiest K-BBQs in town, Bornga’s flagship Sydney outpost specialises in woosamgyeop – thinly sliced marinated beef. Big thumbs-up for the self-serve salad and banchan bar.
Yan Sang Park, Haymarket
A Haymarket institution, Yan Sang Park, with its open-air seating and efficient service, always draws crowds (and queues). Prices are some of the most competitive in Sydney, let alone the CBD.
Jongro Hwaro, North Strathfield
Service is brisk and attentive at this spot, located in North Strathfield’s Bakehouse Quarter. Part of the growing contingent of K-BBQ restaurants offering halal meat options.
Hongdae Pocha, Chippendale
The new kid on the block offers traditional Korean barbecue cuts such as wagyu oyster blade and short rib. The menu also highlights dishes best enjoyed with the grill, including steamed egg and spicy cold noodles.
6SIM, Strathfield
This might be the only Korean barbecue restaurant in Sydney to offer hay-smoked meats using traditional techniques. Their signature “dinosaur” beef rib is dry-aged in house.
Dae Jang Kum, Eastwood (also CBD)
Buzzing during most nights of the week, DJK even has its own dedicated parking lot at the front of its restaurant – worth its weight in gold in Eastwood. The signature platter includes wagyu, marinated beef and pork.
Yori, Epping
Korean pop star G-Dragon, of BigBang fame, dined here with his entire crew after a Sydney show. Apparently he also ordered a spicy pork bone soup takeaway to his hotel.
Myung Jang, Chatswood (also St Leonards, CBD)
Overlooking trains pulling in and out of Chatswood Station, Myung Jang offers a more relaxed grilling experience, with excellent fried chicken to complement the barbecue spread.
Kang-Chon, Lidcombe
Some of the freshest lettuce and perilla leaves in town are used to build ssam bundles at this family-owned spot.
The Zungle, Parramatta
In the middle of Parramatta’s Eat Street, The Zungle’s expertise lies in marinated meat. The beef ribs are a showstopper.
Sogogi, Merrylands
A halal K-BBQ spot in the new Mason & Main development in Merrylands that offers premium marbled wagyu and a cheese corn served on a cast iron pan.
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