These days with the prevalence of all you can eat restaurants, it is becoming easier and easier for me to gauge value for money. I find that as a general point, once you pass the $40 point, you can have a reasonable expectations of a meal that doesn't require you to eat carbs. It was with this in mind which made me pretty keen to try it out and test the value proposition.
For those who are keen to go, Top Up doesn't take reservations so people are served on a walk in basis. Arriving at 6.30pm on a weekday, we grabbed the last open table and a few people who came after us had to queue outside (but the wait wasn't too long).
Taking a walk around to scope out what was on offer for dinner, the first bain marie contained an assortment of bancha.
There was also an assortment of other hot food such as chips, spring rolls, fried prawns, japchae and toppoki.
A main focus for us was the Korean fried chicken. There were five varieties on offer. Notably these were boneless pieces not chicken wings.
Four types of soup were also available. I was very excited about this and made a point to try all of them.
What drew my attention also was the bibimbap station with a wide assortment of bases and toppings.
Starting off with two soups, the left hand side is the Pork Offal Soup, it was light with a touch of pepperiness and a generous amount of pork offal. It wasn't to everyone's taste but I enjoyed the light chewiness of the pork stomach. To the right was the Beef Seaweed Soup, rich in umami, beef and seaweed was an unusual combination which I enjoyed quite a bit. In fact it was probably my favourite of the soups of the night.
We also had a bowl of ox bone soup. I've had a number of variations of this from a few Korean restaurants in Brisbane. Some of them are very bland in taste whereas others are very deep and rich. I found this iteration to be right in the middle, neither standing out as particularly good, nor bad.
This was the kimchi tofu soup. Having recently enjoyed the Yido variant, I can definitely say I enjoy the meaty version at yido more. This one was far lighter version. I couldn't say for sure if it was vegetarian but I was unable to locate any meat in the bowl.
Turning my mind to more substantive elements of the meal, we had a Bibimbap (or in my case Bibim) as I had intentionally removed the Bap. We liked it so much we made a second bowl. With a base of shredded cabbage, topped with a few sides of sprouts, cucumbers and carrots, we topped the first bowl with the designated ground beef but the second bowl with bulgogi from the other bain maries. This was a refreshing, wholesome and nutritious meal that I would love to have on a regular basis if it was open in the city.
Between the two of us, we also had a couple dishes of assorted fried items and sides to share. First up the chicken pieces were definitely not as enjoyable as designated korean wing stores, but it was excellent quality when you consider all the other food items on offer for the price of a wing buffet. A caveat on the chicken is that it was far better when fresh out of the fryer than if it was sitting out in the open for a while. I have to give special mention for the crumbed prawns, it's nothing special per se but I found it to be a relatively high value item at an inexpensive buffet. The taste was identical to the ones I get from ichiba junction to fry up at home though. I don't have much to add about the kimchi, japchae or bulgogi. All were fairly standard quality and nothing to write home about.
Although I would say the quality of the food on its own was fairly average, when you consider the value proposition at $26.90 and the fact that you could eat an unlimited meal comprising of pure protein for that price, it makes Top Up a very attractive proposition and one that I would gladly return to in the near future. If they open one of these in the city, I would most definitely be a regular.
Taste: 7.5/10
Value: 9/10
Service: 7/10
Environment: 8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment