One good Chinese BBQ calls for another. I was recently reminded of a fairly good experience I had at Beijing BBQ House when they had a store along Pinelands Road. That shop has long closed but they still have one along Hawken Drive near UQ. Apparently it is now very popular among uni students and that's always a good sign of delicious food at a value price. We went for a drive out after work on a weekday to check it out.
The shop was fairly small, the owner was very friendly and hospitable but also a bit overwhelmed by having to take orders and do the waitering for all tables.
The menu was fairly simple, one side consisted of largely bbq dishes. The other side was for main dishes such as rice and noodles. We ordered on the menu itself with a marker and taking it up to the counter.
First to arrive was the chilled pickled cucumber. This is a fairly standard dish that I make at home occasionally. The portion was generous but the taste was fairly mild, it wasn't as salty or sour as it could have been but I did like the fresh crunchy cucumber.
From left to right, we have lamb skewers, pork belly skewers and beef skewers. These were fairly pricey at $2.50 each. My favourite was again the lamb, because the flavours complimented the peppers and cumin most. The beef was a bit dry and chewy but the pork was moist and tender. Overall I still really enjoyed these skewers, they were notably less salty than Mr 7, and Dr L who had spent a few years in Beijing noted that the saltier versions were more authentic.
We had two garlic chicken wing skewers also. These were grilled really well and deliciously charred, however they were a bit lacking in garlic, which was a bit of a letdown.
I couldn't go past a serve of intestines. These were served perfectly crispy without a hint of bad smell. Again the spices were a bit weak, for Chinese BBQ, but it was by no means bland. I would have liked to have a bit more intestines on the skewer also, given the price.
Like at Mr 7, I also had a serve of scallops. The one on the right was done well, retaining its juices and was topped with vermicelli and garlic. The one on the right was unfortunately overdone so that the scallop had been quite dried out and the vermicelli stuck to the shell.
I remember having a really delicious serve of enoki wrapped in foil back in their Pinelands store. This was no longer available, but Dr L loves enoki so we had some grilled enoki to share. This was lightly charred and seasoned. I would have preferred the wrapped ones with more garlic.
Overall, we enjoyed our experience at Beijing BBQ House. I'm in no rush to return but would also not hesitate to come back too but would be keen on trying more different BBQ in the area.
Price Range: $25 - $35pp
Taste: 7.5/10
Value: 8/10
Service: 8/10
Environment: 6/10
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