Kong BBQ

From the brains behind the ever so popular Chin Chin and Baby, now comes Kong BBQ. Positioned comfortably on Church Street, Kong joins a bustling street of crowd pleasers - Top Paddock and Pillar of Salt. Fitted out by designers Eades and Bergman, the 60-seat restaurant is casual - simple yet bold. The menu, inspired by Korean and Japanese flavours focuses strongly slow cooking, the oriental BBQ way. 

Teriyaki Roast Ora King Salmon Ssam Roti Roll

The flavour and texture of Ora King Salmon was full, rich and buttery together with lashings of teriyaki  sauce mingled with the sweet crunch of wok fried Chinese broccoli and tomato. The roti was tender on the inside, soaking up all the sauces, yet the outer layer still crisp and nicely charred. Not exactly a Korean or Japanese inspired dish, but no one’s complaining here. My friend and I fell in love with this dish and had us singing praises for the entire meal.

Kong  Bossam BBQ Tray

I'm a big fan of bossam, mixing and matching bold flavours that you create in your own individual morsel. The gochujang BBQ chicken was delightful, pulled pork a little lifeless, pork belly and crackling absolutely lip-smacking and the beef brisket slightly dry but saved by the coffee infused tomato relish. Together with the fresh lettuce, tangy pickles, wombok kimchi & walnut ssamjang, we had lots of fun playing with your food - in an acceptable way of course. 

At Kong, atmosphere is loud and lively, service fun and friendly, and food marvously mouth-watering. Would I come back you ask ? Puh-lease, that’s not even a question - I’ve already been back for seconds. Kong is King.

Kong BBQ

599 Church Street  

Richmond, VIC 3121

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Joe's Bar and Dining Hall

Who is Joe ? And where can I find him ? Located in the heart of St Kilda, Joe's Bar and Dining Hall celebrates the tastes and techniques of traditional Texas barbecue, and offers what I like to call 'dirty food' - the good kind of course. And who better to feast with, than with two of the hungriest boys I know. 

Joe’s Famous Fried Chicken (JFC)

A basket of Joe's Famous Fried Chicken was one of the first to arrive, piping hot from it's swim in the deep fryer. Juicy tenderloins soaked in buttermilk, deep fried to a crispy exterior and then tossed in addictive spices. Followed by a squeeze of lime and dunked in chipotle mayo, these were finger lickin' good. 

Texas BBQ Spare Ribs

Highly recommended, we also tried Joe's signature dish - the Texas BBQ Spare Ribs. With so many other dishes on the way, we decided to go with the half rack (which was still enormous).  Dry rubbed with creole, smoked over fragrant applewood and served with Texas mop sauce, these pork spare ribs looked amazing. We were excited to gnaw away on what seemed like delicious juicy ribs, however found it dry and quite underwhelming.

Buffalo Wings

We also ordered a basket of Buffalo Wings, half with buffalo hot sauce and half with Black Label BBQ sauce. Using our hands (of course), we dug straight into the tender chicken wings. Smoked over applewood and smothered in sauce, it was a messy and delicious affair. The buffalo hot sauce covered wings were the clear winner here.

Baja Fish Taco

Served on a soft six inch tortilla came a fillet of chilli beer battered fish, dressed with ranch fennel slaw and littered with crispy popped capers. A vibrant combination of zesty flavours that had me wanting the whole taco to myself.

Poutine

We also demolished a basket of Canadian's staple food - Poutine. Golden springs of curly fries, topped with cheese curd and doused in sausage milk gravy. Oh man, these were so good.

Bananas Foster

To finish off, we indulged in the Joe's decadent Bananas Foster. Drenched in dark rum, the bananas were flambéed to perfection and submerged in warm butterscotch sauce. This was accompanied by two scoops of vanilla bean ice-cream, and topped with walnut praline crumble. Amazing is an understatement here.

If you're in the area, do head on down to Joe's Bar and Dining Hall for a taste of the South. Among the hustle and bustle of St Kilda, it's a decent spot that will tame any junk food cravings. Do be prepared to use your hands !

confessions of a little piggy was invited to dine as a guest of 360 Immerse Agency and Joe's Bar and Dining Hall

Joe's Bar and Dining Hall

64-66 Acland Street 

St Kilda, VIC

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Dae Jang Geum Korean BBQ

I get a lot of cravings. But when I get so hungry to the point that I turn hangry (hungry + angry), Korean food is usually the best solution. And on this particular day, it was up to Dae Jang Geum Korean BBQ to rectify my hunger. 

Mo Dum Gue C (BBQ Set C)

Having a hard time choosing which cuts of meat to order, we went with BBQ Set C - a combination  of yang num galbi (marinated beef spare ribs), beef sirloin, soy chicken and spicy pork belly. Though a couple of cuts were quite average, the dish that was most enjoyed was the spicy pork belly. You can never go wrong with pork belly.

Cold Buckwheat Noodles with Spicy Sauce

As the meats sizzled away, the naengmyun arrived - a Korean style buckwheat noodles smothered with tangy spicy red chilli pepper sauce complete with various crunchy veggie toppings, tasty beef slices and half boiled egg. It was fun contrasting bites of these icy cold noodles with pieces of charred meats straight off the grill.

Seafood Pancake

Lastly, but definitely not the least, the Seafood pancake was absolutely delicious. Crispy on the outside, yet light and fluffy on the inside. So simple, yet so satisfying. 

Dae Jang Geum Korean BBQ has clearly positioned themselves as the spot where carnivorous students flock to for a good feed. The menu is broad, food is served promptly, and service is no fuss. Their biggest drawcard is certainly size - where when quality may not be the highest, they make up in quantity. 

Dae Jang Geum Korean BBQ

235 Little Bourke Street  

Melbourne, VIC

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Mrs Kim's Grill

​Mrs Kim's Korean BBQ is a family owned business that has been delivering delicious meats marinated in their well-kept secret recipe for over 15 years.  It was only natural that the next step was taken, which led to the opening of Mrs Kim's Grill. Located amongst the plethora of other Korean restaurants in Carnegie​, Mrs Kim's has come in with a bang and is sizzling hot.

​Moo, Oink Baa & Cluck Cluck are the sets to choose from. Designed to cater for two people​, these sets are a brilliant way to sample a variety of their food without having to think too much.  All sets come with your selected meat, spring onion salad, kimchi, pickled onions, a choice of salad, soup of the day, butter and garlic potatoes & corn, and steamed rice. 

​For a family of five, we decided to order three different sets to cover all bases - Moo, Oink and Baa.

Spring Onion Salad

 Smoked Salmon & Onion Salad

Tomato and Avocado Salsa

Soup of the Day

Whilst waiting for our meats to arrive, we dug into the side dishes to settle our rumbling stomachs. There was the mandatory kimchi, which was fresh and crunchy but lacking in flavour and spice. There were also the unexpected, Westernised salads - a smoked salmon, onion, rocket and caper salad & tomato and avocado salsa which were a refreshing change from the usual suspects. Alternating on the various salads, we also enjoyed mouthfuls of the soup of the day.

Baa Set 

Soy Lamb Ribs 700g

The soy lamb ribs were sweet and succulent. In between chatting with us, the owner, Joanne also did an excellent job in cooking and serving the lamb . It was perfectly charred on the outside, yet still had that slightly-pink centre. My brothers thoroughly enjoyed gnawing on the lamb ribs, with no signs of wastage anywhere ! 

Moo Set

Famous Marinated Galbi Beef Ribs 350g & Skirt Steak 150g

We greatly appreciated the meats coming out progressively. This forced us to pace ourselves and allowed us to enjoy the flavours of each cut separately. Galbi is obligatory when my brothers are around. There is just something so satisfying about beef ribs, and Mrs Kim's were top notch.

 

 Butter and Garlic Potatoes & Corn

Oink Set

Chilli Pork Belly 250g & Pork Skirt Fillet 150g

Dad was a little hesitant when we ordered the Oink Set, though was singing praise at the moment he sunk his teeth into a piece of crispy chilli pork belly. Who could say no to pork belly anyway ? The smell, the sight, the sounds of pork belly sizzling away was saliva-inducing. The tangles of spring onion were sharp, fresh and welcomed between mouthfuls of rice and pork belly. Fortunately for my brothers, the chilli was on the down-low, though not so fortunately for me. I would have enjoyed a bit more kick in the dishes, but you can't please everyone.

Coupled with great food, Joanne and her team were enthusiastic and friendly. Having only opened for a few weeks, they have already built a loyal following of customers who dine there at least three times a week, and I can easily see why. With three previous unsuccessful Korean BBQs in that exact spot, the curse has finally been broken. Mrs Kim's Grill, you're on fire. 

Mrs Kim's Grill

136 Koornang Road 
Carnegie, VIC

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Big Boy BBQ

Rain rain go away, come again some other day. Well that didn't work. What to do now ? Go to Big Boy BBQ for greasy, fatty, meat meat and more meat on this freezing winter night of course.

There is none of that dainty serviette/napkin nonsense here,  they offer manly paper towels here instead and buckets for bones - it's all about being a Big Boy. And if you weren't one already, no doubt you become by the time you finished up here.

Given so many choices of sauces, of course I had to sample them all ! You've got your regular tabasco, ketchup and four types of BBQ sauce - vinegar BBQ sauce, spicy BBQ sauce, Braai-BQ style sauce  and Kansas style BBQ sauce.

Big Boy Platter

It was without question which platter we were to order - The Big Boy Platter. It is actually captioned in the menu that this platter feeds 1-6 people. What kind of a range is that ?! Oh, Americans. Borderline, EpicMealTime style came out saucy beef brisket, pulled pork scotch fillet, pulled lamb shoulder, beef pastrami, ½ rack of Kansas Style dry rubbed pork ribs, ½ rack of saucy glazed lamb ribs, regular wings and pickles. Let's don't forget the pickles, we all know how important vegetables are. For our jumbo sides, we went for amazngly crunchy lightly spiced chips, onion strings and potato salad. Coupled with bottomless soft drinks, there was American feels all night.

No matter how hard the 5 of us tried tackling this ginormous dome of meat, we still had left overs. In the end, I guess we really went for the novelty - the American BBQ dining experience. For me, all the meats tasted pretty much the same, all doused in BBQ sauce. I found myself picking at the sides more than the mains, which really says something. Nonetheless, Big Boy BBQ was fun but not somewhere I will be returning any time soon.

Big Boy BBQ
764 Glenhuntly Road 
Caulfield South

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