It seems that the influx of new Korean BBQs in Brisbane still hasn't ceased and I'm not complaining. Recently Maru opened it's third store in the city with their specialised Grill House on Mary St, positioned right next to my long term favourite lunch spot, Kadoya. Recently, I made a booking to have lunch with a coworker and coincidentally, Brisvegustation also had an invitation which we arranged to have dinner on the same day, resulting in my having both of my meals that day at Maru Grill House.
With two levels of dining, I enjoyed my lunch on the ground floor whilst having my dinner on first floor. I love the light wooden aesthetic. Service was friendly. It was easier to get attention of staff downstairs during the lunch rush, but during dinner service, not having a bell on the table to get service made it more difficult, especially upstairs.
The menu contained quite a bit of variety, from set meals to bbqs, snacks and drinks.
On my first lunch there, I had the LA Galbi served with cold noodles. It came with some sauces and bottomless sides. The beef ribs were well seasoned and a sweet soy glaze and well caramelised, but I have to say that after taking the bones into account, there wasn't too much meat left. I did really enjoy the noodles though, these were served icy cold in a lightly sweet broth, the noodles were unbelievably chewy and it was useful to have scissors there to help cut it up. Although there wasn't much meat to accompany the noodles, the abundance of unlimited sides made up for this and for the price, it still represents good value for money.
I happened to go to Maru Grillhouse again the week after for another coworker's farewell. Wanting to try something different, I had the beef rib stew. It came served with purple rice. Compared to my earlier lunch, there was a lot more meat in the beef stew. This was soft, tender and wholesome. I really enjoyed the depth of the broth too. The rice was also cooked well and when added into the broth, made for a delicious and filling lunch.
Anyway, back to our dinner with Brisvegustation. I had originally been curious as to whether the ban chan came with set meals only or would still be available a la carte. This question was answered by our waitress when she showed up with the sides while we were still perusing the menu. There was a lot more sides than was available at lunchtime, our favourites were the kelp noodle, kimchi and salad. I also really enjoyed the fact that they had wasabi as a condiment for grilled meats.
It's hardly a KBBQ without drinks, we had two soju and a milkis to share. They had a good variety of flavours for soju, which I liked.
Our meat came out very quickly after and it was a sight to behold.
The top row from left to right is the marinated rib finger, tri tip and chuck flap. Bottom row from left to right was the pork jowl, oyster blade and tender. The meat quality was amazing. Tender and fresh, each cut was delicious, but of course we had our favourites. Of these six, I have to say I enjoyed the oyster blade the most for its smooth texture and fat that rendered off with the bbq. Pork jowl was of course, crunchy as usual. The tender was the most expensive cut on our table, this was less fatty than the others and thick cut, it was more like a mini steak than thinly sliced for KBBQ, it was however very soft and we enjoyed it thoroughly.
We also ordered a serve of flap meat as part of our first order. It came late but was still delicious. Beautifully marbled it was buttery soft and melted in our mouth. It wasn't as good as the oyster blade but definitely one of the better cuts.
We also had a serve of bulgogi which was on special for that day of the week. Despite having a fairly strong marinade, it was fresh and we could appreciate the taste of fresh meat under the sweet soy sauces. The portion was good to share between the three of us and for $20, represented good value for money.
We also had a serve of steamed egg to share, this was fluffy despite deflating a little bit. The egg was light and souffle-like with a light savoury taste to it, making for a good compliment to the heavy meat we enjoyed.
Overall, we had a wonderful time at Maru, I am very appreciative of their generosity and for Brisvegustation for bringing us along for his invite, no doubt we will be back later for some more food.
Taste: 8.5/10
Value: 7/10
Service: 7/10
Environment: 8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment