Restoran Korean Kim Chi & BBQ @ Johor Bahru

We are off hunting down good Korean Food in JB again! The traffic into and out of Malaysia is really mad this week as it is the school holidays! Although the restaurant that we are going to is very near to the Woodlands custom, we decided to make a loop as we did not want to be caught in the bad traffic and decided to choose the longer but smoother way from Tuas Checkpoint.

The restaurant is very near to Plaza Pelangi and our WAZE app had no problem directing us to the place. As we arrived way earlier than dinner time, there was no problem getting a parking space.

The exterior of the Restaurant. There are a total of 3 levels and you cannot missed it with such a big signage. ;p

Upon entering the restaurant, we were greeted by the Korean Boss and were allowed to choose our seat from the 90% full 1st level seating area. We choose a cosy area partitioned from the rest of the busy area. Look at the pretty partition.

View of the Busy Area from my cosy area. 😛 You can see many pipes hanging from the ceiling. They are actually hoods which are used to extract the air from the BBQ Stove to prevent you from smelling of BBQ food after you dine there.

Close up of the hood at our table

The heavy and medieval looking menu booklet. 😛

There are a lot to choose from. They have non-BBQ lunch sets available at very affordable prices too. You can have the option of ala carte BBQ food or cooked food or you can opt for their sets. As I do not want to rack my brain too much (and partly because PB was not very hungry),  I decided to order the Set A which is suitable for 2-3 persons and it consisted of  Pork Spare Ribs with bone 烧烤密汁排骨肉 + Thick Sliced Pork Belly Special烧烤原味厚三层肉 + Roasted Saury 烤秋刀鱼+ Ginseng Chicken Soup 人参鸡汤 +Kimchi Pancakes 泡菜煎饼 – all for RM100 instead of RM110. (Actually if you factor in the service charge, the meal will cost you RM110 if you do not order any drinks. 😉 )

After we had placed our orders, we were requested very politely to change to another table at the back of the restaurant as we were told the stove at the current table was not that good.

We shifted to the platform where everyone else was seated. This is my first time sitting at a platform area where you are almost sitting  on the floor but not exactly on it. There is an area beneath the table that is dug out so that you can sit comfortably and not have to kneel like the Japanese nor sit cross-legged. Sounds complicated? LOL. The picture should say it all. Basically your bottom is on the platform but your legs are still free to dangle and you can enjoy your food without having numbed legs.. ;P

There is even a “chair” to provide back rest during the meal. Quite comfortable to sit on and definitely provided the necessary support during the meal. 😉

There is also a button on every table for you to call for service which we did not have to use at all.

Tissue paper and cutlery are provided on the table.

Service was very prompt and polite. Every time the waiter appears either to prepare the stove or put food on the table , you will definitely hear ‘excuse me’ before they proceed with what they need to do. Great service! That is our stove with the charcoal being prepared to BBQ our food! 🙂

PB’s order of Cold Korean Citron Juice, RM6

My order of a Hot Korean Citorn Tea, RM3. The real stuff ! Very nice and yummy and you get bits of the fruit/skin at the bottom. I wished that it could be a bigger cup though.

The plate of vegetables that is provided for you to wrap the meat and eat the Korean way. Somehow most of the vegetables does not seem to be very fresh. Not sure if it is mean to be so or it is just a supplier problem. Both Korean restaurants in JB that I visited seem to have the same issue.

The Korean Fermented Bean Paste (Doenjang) here is lighter in colour and not very salty, and I like to add it when I wrap the meat in the vegetable as it gives it additional flavour.

Garlic and Cut Green Chilli to be wrapped with the meat.

The waiter told me that this is for dipping after you wrap the meat in the veg. It is a little salty, probably just a simple combination of soya sauce and onions sprinkled with sesame.  The onions are actually raw so if you do not mind the breath after eating it, feel free to try 🙂

This is something to new to me. The waiter told me that it is Salad. LOL… I like the taste of this salad. The vegetables are nicely shredded and combined with some chilli and sesame and some seasoning which gave it a fragrance and flavour. I can finish the entire plate on its own as it is very refreshing and taste good in contrast to the pickled side dishes. I also wrapped it together with my meat. 🙂

The dishes that appeared so quickly , almost filling the entire table!

Side Dish #1: Pickled Radish. Crunchy and refreshing pickled white radish.

Side Dish #2: Pickled Cucumber. Again, crunchy and nice.

Side Dish #3: Preserved cucumber.

Side Dish #4: Ikan Bilis. It is a little hard but the more you chew, the more tasty it is.

Side Dish #5: Another dish of Pickled Cucumber.  Probably a duplicate and served as they need to serve an odd number of side dish.

Side Dish #6: This is one very interesting side dish that I do not know how to call it. It is Jello-y and tasted like jelly fish. The oil gave it a nice fragrant. You either love it or hate it.

Side Dish #7: This side dish is not spicy although there is cut chilli in it. It is fragrant and the vegetables are cut into bite size portion that can be easily eaten.

Side Dish #8: I call this the Potato Salad. The potato is cooked just right such that it is still firm and yet breaks easily when you bit into it. The cucumber gives it a lovely crunch.

I like this side dish so much that I decided that I should have a second serving right there and then in case they do not offer it at my next visit. LOL..  The second portion came with bits of banana and apples on top of the potatoes and cucumber. NICE!

Side Dish #9: The must-have side dish in every Korean restaurant- Kim Chi! The kim chi here lacks a bit of oomph factor..

This is the Roasted Saury 烤秋刀鱼 that is part of Set A. I think there are some translation problem in the menu and this should be a grilled mackerel? This fish has a lot of bones and you have to eat with care. It is a little hard but the more you chew, the better the flavour of the fish!

The Kimchi Pancake 泡菜煎饼 that got the both of us looking at each other! LOL.. this is quite big but thank goodness it is thin and not thick like those you get in Singapore!

This is the my first time eating a Kim Chi Pancake. We usually get seafood pancake in Singapore and they are the thick version. This pancake looks ghostly red but it is not spicy. Every bite is full of cabbage and some other vegetable that was added. I even tasted some squid in it. If you cannot finish it, bring it home and heat it up the next day for breakfast. I heated it up for lunch and it tasted great too! ;P

Our Thick Sliced Pork Belly Special烧烤原味厚三层肉  that was sent to the stove way too quickly!

BBQ in progress…

All cooked and ready to be eaten!

It is nicely BBQ-ed and cut into bite size portion for eating.  If you prefer it a little more charred, do tell the waiter and he will do as instructed.

Our  plate of raw Pork Spare Ribs with bone 烧烤密汁排骨肉 which I quickly snapped before it gets onto the stove.

Our friendly waiter carefully BBQ-ing our meats and taking away the smoke with hood.

The spare ribs cooking in progress… I find the portion to be a little fatty and small..

Too eager to eat, I did not take any photo of the cooked pork ribs . Instead I took a photo of my attempt to eat it the Korean way – Yes! It means having the raw garlic and cut chilli added into the wrap. My very first attempt and it was delicious! The chilli is not spicy, the garlic does not taste raw. Instead it brings out the flavour of the meat and the bean paste. Yumz!

My meat wrapped with cut green chilli, garlic, salad and bean paste – YUMZ! One nice mouthful of flavours!

The pot Ginseng Chicken Soup 人参鸡汤  which was part of the set after dishing out 2 bowls.

I went WOW when I saw the chicken part served to me. Definitely impressed and happy at being given a drumstick! PB got one too!  The waiters are well-trained ! LOL.. I have also come to the conclusion that when drinking the Korean Ginseng Soup, you will not get a strong ginseng taste. Instead, you will get a semi-milky soup base (due to the glutinous rice)  so smooth and filled with goodness that you will slurp it all up.

Overall, a good spread of nice korean food which cost us RM119.90 (abt SGD 49.80). This is a great place for gatherings with big groups of people. Do remember to make a reservation in advance as this is one busy place. 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kim Chi & BBQ Korean Restaurant
No. 24 Jalan Perang,
Taman Pelangi,
80400 Johor Bahru, Johor
Malaysia
Tel: +60 7333 1700/6700
Hp: +60 17 724 4903 (Park Sang Jun)

Photos taken with Iphone4S