Seoulia

Giraffe and I thoroughly enjoy eating in Box Hill because it is a central location to meet between our suburbs.  Seoulia happened to be one of the places we dined at often. The restaurant recently had MAJOR renovations and was closed for almost a month! They now have installed booths, the space is cleaner and IT IS NO LONGER ALL YOU CAN EAT *cries*. For $29.50 per person, I had the luxury of choosing my own food amount from the vast choices in the buffet, with complimentary tea and ice cream to look forward to when I had finished eating. I'm assuming it is under new management because Seoulia was the best All You Can Eat KBBQ place, ever. If anyone can recommend a new place to try then please let me know!

I took the liberty of taking photos of the new menus items that are reasonably priced with good portions. There is also a separate sheet with set menu combinations, all under $40 from memory. Giraffe and I ordered C1 - for $25.00 per person. It included jasmine rice, bean sprout soup, pork bulgogi, beef bulgogi, pork belly and the various other side dishes such as kimchi, green salad and bean sprouts. The two sauces were sesame oil (my favourite) and bean paste. If you're intending to go to Seoulia sometime soon, then don't forget to remind the waitress of the FREE "SOFT DRINK" that you are entitled to with their new re-opening promotion. Don't be fooled as the soft drink consists of their rice drink, grape drink or aloe vera. They didn't have grape drink which is what I wanted so I had to make do with the aloe vera... 

Open space and more organised! Love the layout.

'Excellence in Taste' - Clean and professional packaging, similar to White Tomato on Bourke Street. I didn't get to use the wet towel though which was a shame.

The basic side dishes. Kimchi, green salad and bean sprouts. 

THANKFULLY this is refillable for FREE so don't be afraid to ask for more ;) The kim chi wasn't cut properly but was flavoursome, better than the old kim chi that was provided in the buffet. 

Pork belly angle of the meat platter. Organised very nicely but there was WAYYYYY too much fat on the pork belly which gave it an elastic taste. Giraffe loves pork belly but we couldn't even finish it at the end. 

The bulgogi angle of the meat platter. Pork bulgogi was surprising tender. I love beef bulgogi but the pork bulgogi was the winner for me tonight. 

INTRODUCING THE NEW NON STICK GRILL. There is less charring and smoke that comes out of this new grill which is excellent, but you still walk out smelling like bbq. The old system had inbuilt grills and rooftop ventilation which made the place dark and smokey. The waitress had a super cool gadget that allowed her to grab onto the tray to replace it without actually touching it. 

My attempt at a birds eye view photo. Still need a lot more practice and have better food styling techniques. I had to stand up to take these photos and the old couple on table next to me kept looking! Mind your own business man! 

Maybe I should stick to the normal angles instead?? :(

Elastic pork belly. LOOK AT DAT FAT CONTENT BUT WHY ARE U SO YUMMEH

The new booths. The waitresses cleaned the table next to us three times after the guests had left. The manager must be really anal on cleanliness since it's so new! Feel so sorry for the waitresses - from standing there cleaning at the buffet to having to serve guests and help them cut stuff up... I would be so annoyed if I was a worker there but now I guess it's like any other restaurant. 

There is a projector screen that is against the wall playing non stop korean music with their quirky film clips. I didn't have a problem with this as it wasn't played at a loud volume. I've never seen any other Korean restaurant with it so it was something new and refreshing. 

"Our dinners are a real eye opener in the neighborhood. Dine here once and you'll come again." 

I haven't been to SUT and Wine yet (located next door) as it looks expensive and Seoulia seemed to be the better option in terms of 'bang for your buck'. I can confirm that it is a 'real eye opener' despite the new (and upsetting) changes. The portions of food are excellent for the price that you pay. I do wish that they had fruit soju instead of plain soju for $12. 

Seoulia

Address: 980 Whitehorse Road Box Hill 3128

Contact: 98992696

Hours: Mon-Sun 5pm - 10:30pm, Saturday is open for Lunch

Price: $$ - $$$

Website: http://www.seoulia.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Seoulia

Yeonga

This place has opened across from the Queen Victoria Market for quite some time now, but I finally paid a visit last night!!! Victoria Street already has many other Korean BBQ occupants such as Toodouri, Wooga andddd Hallah so Yeonga definitely A LOT OF PRESSURE TO SUCCEED. 

• We were seated upstairs, a level of smoke and darkness. 
• The waiters were cute but fobby as. One of them had long coloured hair that was so silky and healthy (jealous!!). 
• There were many booth seats to cater for 2-4 people or group bookings. There was even a private room in the back for small functions.
• The menu was actually HILARIOUS. The set menus were called THE LORD OF THE COWS ($39 pp), WHAT THE PORK ($39pp), THE BEEF WEAR PRADA ($49 pp), THE KOREAN LAST SUPPER ($49 pp). HILARITY!!!!!!!!!!!

The soju names were equally as funny -

After I checked in on Foursquare, there was a tip which stated "Bad communication skills. Does not do free refills of Kim chi - terrible!!! Dishes were quite small." 

Although the waiters are Korean, they are not completely illiterate and they are defs not as rude as Chinese waiters. I'm not being racist, it's just truth. I went to yumcha on Wednesday at Dragon Boat Palace on Londsdale Street and that was a pain in the bum communicating with them. 

Secondly, the girl who left that memo was probably rude herself because we got free refills for the pasta and he even gave us a mountain of kimchi!!! Nomnomnom. 

SET MENU: GONE WITH BEEF

$56 for the entire set which includes

1. Beef salad with Citron Sauce

2. YG Angus Scotch Rib Eye

3. Premium Schort Rib Filet

4. Marinated Sweet Chilli Chicken

5. Spicy Seafood Soft Tofu Stew

6. Two bowls of steamed rice

1. Beef salad with Citron Sauce

The beef that was used in this salad looked raw but with the citron sauce it really worked out great. There was A LOT OF SALAD which disguised the amount of beef that was actually in there... we found a total of 6 pieces in there which is rather disappointing. At least the salad gave us a break from all the other meat dishes. 

Hong and I are so used to going to All You Can Eat kkbq places were we have to everything ourselves. The service from the waiters at Yeonga were very prompt and helpful in putting meat on the grill, cutting it up and changing the metal tray. 

3. Premium Short Rib Filet

4. Marinated Sweet Chilli Chicken

Unfortunately I didn't manage to take a photo of the Angus Scotch rib eye because the waiter put it on the grill before I could pick up my camera. The portion of the rib eye was really small, but GODDAMMMN it was so tender and soft. Although the meat itself was juicy, I still needed the sesame oil and fermented soybean paste for extra extra flavour. 

Number 3 was awesome!!! I managed to save some pieces until the end just to savour it because there was NOT ENOUGH. Portions are too small but you get what you pay for, considering the set was only $56. This was definitely my favourite out of all of the meat dishes.

Number 4 was average. I don't like eating chicken at kbbq anyway, because not only does it take too long to cook but beef is just so much better. It was a shame the set didn't have bulgogi because it's the bombbbb. 

5. Spicy Seafood Soft Tofu Stew

Hong's mum is Korean and obviously knows how to make this stew, something I will endeavour to learn and perfect. It had egg, tofu, one mussel, one tiny ass pippie, mixed vegetables and more tofu. It wasn't too spicy which I enjoyed, and it was the best thing to eat (or drink) on a cold Autumn night. 

Scallops on da grrriiilll ermagherd it tasted so amazing!!! 

I don't think I've ever eaten it off the grill before, and I am super glad I did. 

Scallops (6 pieces) - $15.00

Hong had most of the scallops because it's his favourite. The best ones I've eaten in a restaurant has got to be at MoVida Aqui (haha reading through that old post again was so funny... to think that was a year ago!!!) They were well proportioned (meaning that they weren't too small) and the sauce was delish to slurp on after being on the grill!

PORRRRKKK BELLY - $14.00

I was very unimpressed when this pork belly serving came out. LOOK HOW SLIM AND FATTENING THE PIECES ARE. There is practically NO meat on there. And I know, I know, this is probably expected considering it is the belly of a pig... but I've been to Hwaro and Guhng where the pork belly was nothing like that. How annoying! After being on the grill it shrunk even more and there was nothing left to enjoy.

Black sesame ice cream - $8.00

The hardest part of the night is choosing which dessert to order which will satisfy your tastebuds before you leave the restaurant. It was drawn down to green tea or black sesame icecream... and I chose the latter because I always get green tea. The ice cream came out FROSTED, and you can even see the frozen fruits were too! We put it under the smoke ventilator so that the lights / heat would help melt it. The ice cream wasn't anything special to be honest. The presentation itself made it looks so amazing and worthy of being eaten. Next time I'll probably try the passionfruit mousse or the cheesecake.

This is a broken piece of the chocolate ring around the ice cream. It didn't taste like anything special but the look of it makes the presentation so much better (and hence why it costs 8 bucks for icecream...).

View of the CBD behind the glass, I like that a lot. The place itself is very dark, and the toilets are so creepy!!! I hate bathrooms that have lights at the entrance, not inside the toilet itself. WHAT IF SOMEONE TURNED OFF THE LIGHT WHILE YOU WERE IN THERE omg I would shit my pants, literally!!! 

ALTOGETHER the experience was very enjoyable. It added up to be $99 altogether, which included an extra bowl of rice for $2.50 and a coke zero for $3.50. That's a pretty reasonable price for premium Korean BBQ. I wouldn't have expected anything less from them, but if the portions were increased by a fraction then this place would be cool beans. 

Cute graffiti art around the area. Where are ma legs??/11!!!!

Yeonga
Address: 1 Cobden St  North Melbourne Victoria 3051
Contact: 9326 8834
Hours: 5:30pm - 11pm ERRRDAY
Price: $$$ $
Website: They don't have one yet but their Facebook will do

ChangGo

Whatchu know about Korean BBQ?

Mondays are the worst days at work. Fortunately we were let off early tonight, so the work girls and I headed to ChangGo, a Korean BBQ restaurant, open until 1am! It is seriously Melbourne's hidden gem. The waitresses/waiters were EXTREMELY SWEET and very good looking. The girl who served us was such a babe! You definitely have to visit ;)

I did not realise that I have been there before for my best friend's birthday last year (until I saw the massive castle-like gates), but the menu has definitely improved since! They didn't have the eight flavours of pork belly when we went... unless they did but we never noticed it.

^ fried goodies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yum yum yum

Something unusual to order at KBBQ, but delicious nonetheless.

^ pork belly and mushrooms. 

^ the chef / owner that gave us free soju because we were some of the first to come in his new store in October 2011! I love a good freebie :)

^ strawberry tarts from Bread Top! They were amazing.

***********************************************************************************

One year later, the menu is more and more exquisite.
We ordered "Palsaik Set" which was a pork set for a small price of $58.80.
The set came with two bowls of rice, a bowl of soup (we had the choice of changing the soup, usually kbbq places are not flexible with the set menu) and kimchi, bean shoots and the other veggie bits and pieces you need. The menu states that this set serves 2-3 people, but we managed to finish it between four, whilst ordering a massive pot of Topokki. We were even able to take some of the leftover topokki home! Talk about fantastic service!

^ I was wayyyy too excited and took a blurry picture. Poor effort, Lisa. 

You get the idea... a stone gril with lots of veggies on it. 

This place didn't give us a lot of kimchi though... I LOVE KIMCHI SO MUCH.

^ Whatchu know about Korean BBQ?

This is EIGHT TYPES OF PORK BERRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, eight epic flavours. I thoroughly enjoyed them all, but the one that stood out the most was wine and herb. Just looking at these photos makes me want to go back and eat!

^ Topokki (rice cake with assorted veggies)

WARNING WARNING WARNING! IT IS SPICY!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was only $24 - and we were even able to take away! 

Of all the times that I have been to kbbq, I have never taken food away before... so this was a pretty big deal. Rice cake is so damn delicious! I can't handle spicy food though :(

I took the liberty of uploading a photo of the location. It's a weird little place. You can find parking on Elizabeth Street on a quiet night. 

ChangGo

70 Little LaTrobe Street 

(in between LaTrobe and A'Beckett St)

Opens 5:30pm to 1:00am! YES, AM!!!

0433 379 100

Wooga Korean Restaurant

For the first time in four weeks, I had a quiet Friday night with two work colleagues/friends/lovers/partners in crime. It felt nice giving my liver a break this weekend, and it felt even nicer waking up in a normal state.... not having to nurse a raging hangover.

We went to Wooga, located near Queen Victoria Market, conveniently situated near our work. Even though we made a booking we still had to wait quite a fair bit to be seated. The boring wait was overturned as our food came out one after the other. It was like heaven in food form.

Combo A was $39 but being as hungry as we were, we opted for Combo B, which was fit for 3-4 people. At a good price of $65, you received four bowls of rice, a biggggg bowl of spicy spicy soup, and various types of meat that left us smelling prrrrretty delectable when we walked out. We also had side plates of delicious kimchi, onion, dry coleslaw and bean sprouts.

Compared to other Korean BBQ places I have been to, this had high quality service and the waiters were always attentive to us. I guess it was because we arrived an hour before their closing time, so it wasn't as busy as it would be if we had arrived at the traditional dinner time. I would definitely give this restaurant an 8/10 because the food was impeccable and so were the waiters and their hospitality. KOREAN BBQ IS SO FUN, SO ADD IT TO YOUR BUCKET LIST IF YOU ARE YET TO GO!!!

Wooga Korean Restaurant

270 Victoria Street

North Melbourne VIC 3051

(03)9328 1221

Korean BBQ Restaurant Box Hill

FINISHED. Beyond ecstatic. Many drunken antics. Probably more boisterous than I already am in my current state. This is me, having finished exams which ultimately means having reached a milestone of 'half way through my commerce degreeeeeeeee'. Can you not see the smile and joy on my face?? (And can you also see the high quality photos compared to my damn iPhone!!!)

It really isn't a celebration unless there is food - and plenty of it. We went to celebrate like korean kings with korean BBQ... the name "KOREAN BBQ RESTAURANT BOX HILL" is really unique as you can tell. The food was really sub par but Seoulia was closed at the time, so we had no other choice. The images below display all the FAT on the meat which I was really disappointed about. The service was relatively fast and the waiters were really sweet. $29.50 per person for all these dishes AND ON THE MENU WE WERE MEANT TO GET ICE CREAM BUT DIDN'T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I actually didn't realise this until I was driving away thinking to myself WE COULD HAVE HAD IT ALL, ROLLING IN ICE CREAM. I guess on a good note, we did have an option of ordering rice with beef/seafood or soup. That's a different aspect compared to other higher end Korean restaurants that I have been to. AND if you check in on the book of face, you get fwee soju or beer but we were both driving so this was not happening :-(