BBQ-K, Doncaster East by Obelix

I have recently discovered KPop, and now identify myself as an official Blink (KPop terminology for a BlackPink fan). As a result of the endless hours of watching their MVs and reality show episodes on YouTube, the thoughtful YouTube algorithm thingamajig has been recommending all manner of videos related to Korean culture to my feed. Which brings me to my recent fascination with Korean food... which brought me to BBQ-K, Korean BBQ restaurant.

Burn, baby, burn!

P was not resisting when I dragged him along for a cook-right-in-front of you BBQ-on-the-tabletop meal featuring all (well, at least the common) domesticated farm animals. Not being able to decide on whether to order the pork, chicken or beef set menu, we went with the combination set of scotch fillet, pork belly and chicken thighs.

The cooking is all done for you, with assistants flipping over the meat every time they saunter pass. The scotch fillet was meltingly tender.

BBQ-K, Doncaster East, banchan and purple rice

Banchan and purple rice

And like with many Korean restaurants, we had banchan, or side dishes to along with the meal. This consisted of pickled onions, coleslaw, bean sprout salad and of course, the kimchi. The banchan at BBQ-K are complementary and all you can eat, that is, they will keep replenishing it as you exhaust what's in your dish. Nice.

BBQ-K, Doncaster East, pork belly, chicken thighs

Pork belly and chicken thighs

BBQ-K, Doncaster East, scotch fillet, chicken thighs

The chicken came with a option of spicy or soy marinade. We picked soy. It had a lovely sweet and charred flavour from the charcoal reminiscent of childhood BBQs in Asia.

Last but not least on the brazier, was the pork belly. This was the best. The grilling had rendered the fat off and what was left was a crispy porkiness.

The combination set came with purple rice (see earlier pic) and a choice of a Korean soup.

We chose the kimchi soup as I had read good reviews about it. The soup was good ole fashion comfort food, served bubbling in a stone pot with bits of kimchi and tofu bobbing around. It had a slightly tangy taste which I'm guessing is from some sort of tomato base(?)...

But one of my picks of the night, aside from the BBQ pork belly was the seafood pancake, pajeon. It satisfyingly reached the borders of the plate; crispy, and came with a soy based dipping sauce. It was thinner than the Japanese styled pancakes but more loaded with julienne vegetables and nuggets of seafood. Whilst technically an entree, I could eat one or two, as a main.

The service was attentive without being intrusive. The cuts of meat was excellent. The only qualm I have is the cost of the beverages. We paid for two pots of tea (corn and green tea) for $6 per pot which was quite steep (pun unintended). The green tea in particular was just a tea bag for that price. Other than that, I loved the place.