Having read some good reviews about Go Bull at Sunnybank Hills, situated at Shauna Downs Shopping Centre, just off Beenleigh Road, I decided to give it a try as I was in the mood for some authentic Korean food one evening. Arriving just past 6.30, we grabbed the last table inside. Apart from our table, it appeared that all other customers were Korean, which meant that I was in just the right place.
After sitting down, we were immediately provided with a serve of iced barley tea, which I quite appreciated and which set it apart from the other Korean places which offer only water by default.
Menus were provided, and I could see from the various other table that hot pot and DIY barbecue were the main features of the menu, so of course we ordered one in addition to some other a la carte dishes.
First to arrive were the DIY seaweed rice balls that were an accompaniment to the grill that we ordered. It came as a very large bowl of hot rice, topped with shredded seaweed, sesame and shallots. It also came with a couple of gloves for us to get to make our own rice balls. Mine weren't very aesthetically pleasing, but were definitely very tasty. The rice was really fluffy and contrasted well with the crispy salty seaweed.
We only had two complimentary sides that evening. The kimchi was quite refreshing and lightly spicy with a strong garlic fragrance. As for the preserved onion, it was sweet and crunchy which was also well received around the table.
Our main attraction came soon after. Not in the mood for offal that night (despite it being one of their signature dishes) I opted for pork ribs grilled with cheese. The cheese melted into a bubbling stringy sauce that complimented the sweet and spicy pork ribs quite well. As for the portion size, it was really large and it alone could feed at least 2-3 people when ordered with the side of rice balls and egg.
This was the egg which came with the ribs. It didnt look particularly appetising but the taste was astounding! It was lightly seasoned with chicken broth, sesame and shallots, but had a souffle like texture. I have never had anything quite like it before.
Another dish we shared that night was the Ginseng Chicken Soup. It came down still boiling angrily in a heavy iron bowl. The serve contained a whole young chicken in addition to copious amounts of ginseng. The soup was really warming and hearty with the anticipated bitter earthy tastes of Ginseng. The chicken was fresh and tasty, and didn't have an overly dry texture as chicken would normally have when being boiled in soup
Next up we had the beef soup with rice cake and dumplings. It was very similar to the one I had at Madtongsan, with its light beef broth, tender rice cake and large Korean dumplings with beef and veges inside. I liked the addition of tasty seaweed and egg on top.
This was the seafood pancake, which was served with a side of dipping sauce. It didn't contain too much seafood, but had considerable amounts of shallot and onions. I would have liked the pancake to be a little more crispy too.
Another companion ordered the Seafood Ramen. It came with noodles akin to Shin, which were slightly undercooked for my taste, and the seafood was also a bit less than had been expected, making for a somewhat disappointing dish.
Sadly, the boneless fried chicken was even more disappointing than the seafood ramen. As you can see, the batter on the chicken was completely different to what would be expected from other Korean places like Momo, Nene or Kaikai. The batter here was more akin to what you would expect from takeaway sweet and sour chicken without the sauce. It was dense, thick and floury, with not too much chicken inside of it, very disappointing. Price Range: $10 - $20pp
Taste: 7/10 (taste was really mixed with some amazing dishes and some really poor dishes)
Value: 7/10
Service: 8/10
Environment: 8/10
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