TGIF brunch with BB — went for the substantial Korean BBQ brunch at $98.75. The kind of meal you commit to when you’ve got the morning open and the budget for it.

We ordered (Korean BBQ spread):

Samgyeopsal (marinated pork belly)
Beef bulgogi
Spicy pork bulgogi
Banchan (side dishes — kimchi, pickled vegetables, sprouts, fishcake)
Jjigae (kimchi or soft tofu stew)
Steamed rice
Drinks

Total: $98.75 for the table.

Korean BBQ brunch is a specific kind of meal. It’s not lunch (you start at 10-11am), it’s not breakfast (it’s grilled meat at the table). It’s the format that turns a Friday morning into a small celebration before the work day resumes.

Samgyeopsal was the headline. Thick pork belly slices, marinated in soy-garlic-sweet glaze, grilled at the table over the gas burner. The fat rendered into the grill pan, the meat went golden-brown, and the smell was the kind that fills the whole restaurant.

The proper way to eat samgyeopsal is the lettuce-leaf wrap: a piece of fresh green lettuce, a slice of grilled pork on top, a smear of ssamjang (the fermented bean-and-chilli paste), a slice of raw garlic, maybe a strand of perilla leaf, fold and eat in one bite.

Beef bulgogi was the marinated thin-slice variant — soy-mirin-sugar-pear glaze, sweetly savoury, grilled with sliced onions and scallions.

Spicy pork bulgogi was the gochujang-heavy version — fiery red glaze, slow-build chilli heat, addictive once you start eating it.

Banchan was the underrated component. Six or seven small dishes refilled when we ran low — kimchi (proper sour-spicy fermented), pickled radish, seasoned spinach, sprouts, anchovies. Each one a small flavour reset.

Jjigae arrived bubbling in its stone pot. Spicy, complex, eat with rice on the side.

$98.75 for the spread is fair Korean BBQ pricing — same range we’d have paid pre-pandemic. Phase 2 reopening meant we could finally do this format again.

Overall: 4.4 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Excellent TGIF Korean BBQ brunch — would absolutely revisit.

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