Dae Jang Kum Korean BBQ Restaurant, Chinatown

Well, the night before I visited my beloved Urbanspoon app and was intrigued by a restaurant, Dae Jang Jum Korean BBQ Restaurant with an 86% rating and over 117 people having voted for it. Immediately, I noted the address down and my friends and I trekked the streets of Chinatown to hunt down this popular restaurant. Finally, we found the restaurant near a busy intersection with bright neon blue and red signs that provided interesting welcome.

As we entered the restaurant itself, a waiter immediately welcomed us and pointed us to a comfy, deserted corner of the restaurant. The restaurant appeared to have a rusty, wooden feel to it, and the Korean music in the background was both soothing and relaxing. It wasn't overly busy, but perhaps it was because we came at around 3:00pm for a late lunch.

Lined with leather, he produced the menus and the menu was full of traditional meals like Bibimbap, Kimchi soup and then further down the menu was a list of different meats you could order for the Korean BBQ portion. I liked the layout of their menu, because the restaurant did provide set menus for the Korean BBQ newbies while there was another section with separate meats you could order giving you control of what items suited your palette.

For those of you unfamiliar with how Korean BBQ works, it is basically a system where the restaurant will provide you with raw meat and it would be your responsibility to cook the meat over a fire. Be careful, you have to cook the meat until there are no red patches remaining to avoid eating raw, uncooked meat! Note: always invite a friend with a good eye for when the meat has been cooked thoroughly enough.

The service was quite efficient and speedy, and a tray of over 15 side dishes arrived at our table. Oh, it is important to note that you have to order at least 2 meats in order to have this full set of side dishes being provided. Therefore, you have to spend a minimum of $32 (Meats = $16 each) to enjoy this broad selection of side dishes ranging from kimchi, pickled onion, flavoured bean sprouts and many many more. The waiter then produced the utensils (tongs, scissors) needed for the BBQ and a plate of wagyu beef, bulgogi beef and pork belly. The meats were already marinated and oiled so it was only a matter of putting the meat over the hot plate. It sizzled furiously and the raw meat immediately turned a delicious, savoury brown. I highly recommend visiting this restaurant for the Korean BBQ as their sauce was truly stellar. Their meats were fresh and not too tough or chewy and the two sauces they provided complemented the meats nicely. The first sauce was a tomato-chilli paste while the other was an interesting sugar, salt and sesame seed combination. I apologise for not noting the specific names for these sauces. As for the side dishes, there was such a huge selection that it would nearly be impossible to be disappointed! They have dishes for all palettes, some extremely chilli while others more mild.

All the side dishes and beef brisket

Cooking wagyu and bulgogi beef - $16 for each plate of raw meat

Lettuce and Garlic (recommended to wrap the cooked meat and 
garlic with the lettuce - makes for a tasty  meal) 

Apart from the Korean BBQ portion of the meal,  my friend also recommended the Dukboki (Spicy rice cakes) and Bibimpap with Kimchi and cheese (Korean Fried Rice). Both these dishes were quite spicy so it is generally recommended to have a glass of water handy when wolfing down these two dishes. But then again, my tastebuds are quite sensitive so the slightest chilli may set me off (big time). Nonetheless, I powered through and found myself enjoying these dishes more and more with each bite I had. Well, you might be puzzled why we would have enjoyed kimchi with cheese(?!) but it was actually a very interesting and tasty combination. If you ever decide to try this restaurant, I would highly recommend trying this meal b/c I can guarantee you will be pleasantly surprised. The cheese is so hot that it turns stringy and literally melts in your mouth.

Very spicy Dukboki $9.00

Overall, our meal was around $25 each and I was so full by the end of it. If you are looking for a good quality restaurant with an awesome atmosphere, this is definitely the place for you. So get ready to salivate, Sydney!

Dae Jang Kum Korean BBQ Restaurant
35 Goulburn Street
Sydney, 2000

Tel: (02) 92110890

Visit below for more information
www.daejangkum.com.au