09 October 2010

Jonga Jip Korean BBQ ~ Eastwood



A feast of Korean 'Fusion Style BBQ' at Jonga Jip, Rowe Street Eastwood.



Evil genius Davatronics and his nubile accomplice Mata Hari, have sampled many of the Korean joints in Eastwood and take us to one of their favourites, Jonga Jip Korean BBQ. Jonga Jip is nicely decked out, modern and casual. It's a busy place and they don't take bookings, we are lucky to get a table for four with little wait. 



Mata Hari calls this place "The Button Restaurant". Press the evil genius secret button on the side of your table for service. Your table will be completely covered with side dishes before you can say 'bulgolgi.'



First to arrive are the bbq fixin's: rock salt and garlic in sesame oil, whole garlic and chilis, chili paste and lettuce for making wraps.



My favourite touch is the small plate of marinated onion which serves as your eating bowl. Bloody genius! The onions are raw and thinly sliced in a most interesting sweet sauce with a wasabi bass note. Delicious.



Jonga Jip is generous with the side dishes (free of course), and they seemed happy to give us refills. Above we have seaweed salad, lettuce with black sesame dressing, bean sprouts. There was also kimchi of course.



More side dishes: mashed pumpkin, pickled radish and fish cake in sweet sauce. All delicious. Plus a round of Korean Beer, Hite for girls and Cass for boys, a bargain at $5 each, imported too.



Mok Deungsin - Grilled Pork Neck Meat - $15. Delivered straight onto the bbq in the centre of the table. The meat is generously thick, almost like a steak. Dip it into the sauces and/or wrap it up with lettuce, though the meat was so good I liked to neck it straight off the plate.



Yangnyeom Bulgolgi - Marinated Beef - $17. Bulgolgi is always a winner. if you're new to Korean BBQ and not sure what to order, get the Bulgolgi. Here it is extra good, one of the best we have had, sweet and tender, wow. The bbq plate heats to a gentle sizzle so the bulgolgi cooks without burning the marinade, a nice touch. Served with enoki mushrooms which work amazingly well on the bbq.



Yangnyeom Dwaejigalbi - Wine Braised Pork Belly - $18. Also a winner. A passing waiter had a spare thirty seconds so he kindly cut it up for us. Which is impressive service, almost impressive as a bar we were at earlier where the waiter not only prepared a dish at the table, but then proceeded to spoon feed each diner,   who just so happened to be female, young and pretty, at the table one by one  :-)



Sundubu Jjiage - Spicy Tofu Stew - $13. The broth had a lovely potato flavour. It came with soft tofu,  veggies, rice cake and (vegetarians beware) pork.



Haemul Pajeon -Green Onion Pancake with Seafood - $15. For some reason we have never tried this Korean classic before, we'll never make that mistake again. A lovely alternative to rice as a stodge filler.



Our feast including a couple of beers each set us back only $30 each, it seemed such good value that we double checked the bill to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything. We left feeling better than we walked in, as good Korean food always does, it is mostly meat and veggies after all.

Jonga Jip Korean BBQ is at 87 Rowe Street Eastwood. Phone 9858 5160.



Jonga Jip Korean BBQ Eastwood Menu - Click to Enlarge



Jonga Jip Korean BBQ Eastwood Menu - Click to Enlarge



Jonga Jip Korean BBQ Eastwood Menu - Click to Enlarge



Jonga Jip Korean BBQ Eastwood Menu - Click to Enlarge



At 10pm the dessert options in Eastwood are limited, but you can get a late night bubble tea on the other side of the railway at K &J Takeaway (thanks Lil for correcting me on the name!). K &J is the wonderfuly, authentically dodgy looking joint right on the corner at Lakeside Rd Eastwood, note the big red chopsticks outside. We saw some great looking food being served while we were there, we have to come back.



Strawberry green tea and mango green tea bubble teas are incredibly sweet. Miss Chicken picks the winner: taro milk tea with pearl, it's divine.

 

K & J Bubble Tea Menu - Click to Enlarge.

Jonga Jip on Urbanspoon

11 comments:

  1. Our BBQ dinner isn't looking so good after seeing this...

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  2. I'd take the organic Bello wild goat and fresh-picked-from-the-garden-half-an-hour-ago herbs anyday Shanghai. Dig the new wheels :-)

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  3. K&J does really good food as well!

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  4. Ah - it's called K & J - thanks Lil!

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  5. OMG, I went to this restaurant last week and had amzing dishes. Like even though the place was crowded the service was great, like more thant it. And...food? SENSATIONAL!!!!
    CHEAP AND YUMMMMMY!!!!! I WANNA HAVE BULGOGI!!
    did I spell it right?

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  6. Korean food is sensational, so much flavor. Are you sure it was soft tofu stew in the picture? I didn't see any tofu and usually it comes full to the brim in it.

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  7. Korean food is sooo delicious I went to this exact restaurant yesterday for dinner haha...just wondering if anyone know the recipe for that black sesame dressing in the lettuce salad cos my mum loooooved it hahahaha :)

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    1. this is it

      http://www.myasiangrocer.com.au/chungjungone-black-sesame-dressing-300g/

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  8. Our friends are regulars and absolutely rave about this place. We hope to return sooner rather than later.

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  9. visiting this place tonight, that pancake looks really good

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Thanks for your comment joy - please keep your musings happy - if you want to complain about a restaurant please do it on a restaurant review site (or your own blog) - we're all about celebrating cultural diversity and the great eats that come along with it :-)

Our ethics: We pay for all our own meals and travel (though sometimes Mum shouts us).