Well we tried BBQ about a year ago and it is now one of our favourite meals to have out.
A Korean work friend of mine recently organised a lunch at Korean Charcoal BBQ Restaurant in Mermaid Beach. It was good to go with someone who knew what they were doing! Mr Epi and I have received a few laughs in our cooking attempts with hotpot and BBQ. The best was when we were having hotpot. The hotpot comes with two whole raw eggs that are intended to dip the hotpot meat in before eating. We were oblivious to the intended purpose for the eggs and got a little creative. We decided to crack the eggs into the hotpot and have hotpot poached eggs. The waitresses were in stitches.
I liked Korean Charcoal BBQ Restaurant so much that I decided to take Mr Epi and Mama Epi. It is located next to Lone Star at Pacific Square along the highway and is easy to find. It doesn't look much from the outside but the interior is warm and very comfortable. The smell of the place is fantastic and despite not feeling too hungry on arrival, it didn't take long for the aroma to get my appetite going.
We started with a serve of the mandu ($10).
These delicious pork and vegetable dumplings were lightly panfried and served with a chilli, garlic, vinegar and soy dipping sauce.
Starter salad and dipping sauces. Left to right: spicy fermented soy bean paste, sesame oil with pepper and a light vinegar.
For our main we chose the Armso-set of BBQ meats. It was $62 and worth every cent. It is intended to share between three people but could easily cater to four. It comes with three dipping sauces, starter salad, lettuce leaves to wrap some of the meat in and a small plate of fruit at the end of the meal. We ordered two rice to share between the three of us.
Starting from the giant pile of cabbage - clockwise: marinated beef, short beef ribs, scotch fillet, ox tongue and brisket in the centre.
I love the side dishes (think they are called banchu) that come with the BBQ. We had traditional kimchi, white kimchi (both pictured), light pasta salad and a seaweed and white onion salad. All four were delicious but my pick is always the traditional and white kimchi. I love that spicy kick!
The ox tongue sizzling away
The tongue was sliced in thin bite-size pieces that were delicious with the soy bean paste. I remember being repulsed by tongue as a little girl. Dad would buy a tongue and my sister and I would poke at the taste buds and declare that we wouldn't eat it if he tried to serve it to us. I have a feeling he disguised it and served it up to his unsuspecting daughters despite the protests. I've now relaxed a little bit about offal and will eat tongue if I can't see the taste buds!
The service here is very good and there is always someone waiting at the periphery of the restaurant, ready to swoop in if they see you looking a bit perplexed about how to tackle the BBQ.
T) 5572 5733
Mermaid Beach, QLD
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wow- looks great. I have not eaten much Korean food and I would have NO idea about the purpose for the eggs either- I'm glad I read about it actually!! Were the eggs good eaten by themselves?
ReplyDeleteHi GG! Korean food is so good. Have you heard of any good Korean in Brisbane?
ReplyDeleteThe eggs were delicious with the soup. I might need to be a little more adventurous in future and try the eggs as a dipping sauce.
I adore Korean food too! Glad that you ordered teh ox tongue, it's so good when it's bbq'd!
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