It's been a little while since I've seen the opening of a restaurant and immediately felt the desire to go try them out as soon as I can. However when I heard that Queen's Gimbap at underwood opened a new restaurant in Toowong focusing on Korean meals (Bapsang), I knew I had to drop everything and head there as fast as I could. So there we were on a Saturday evening, having dinner with Mr J. As it was fairly newly opened, we didn't try to reserve a table and it was ultimately unnecessary but I can easily imagine that there would be a significant queue when busy.
Having perused the menu beforehand, I was happy to try all the items. There was a wide variety of set meals that came with rice, noodles as well as side dishes. Having made our mind up, we ordered and paid at the counter.
Our meals came out before long and our table was joyfully filled to the brim.
Mr J had the Spicy Pork Dolsot Bibimbap. The rice and other toppings came as expected in a hot clay pot, he mixed it in thoroughly to ensure that the ingredients were well mixed. He said it was really delicious and the clay pot was hot enough to ensure that some rice was crispy and caramelised at the bottom.
Dr L had the Bulgogi Bapsang, being one of their signature dishes and one of the pricier things on the menu at $35. Although it was more expensive, what he was served was definitely worth the price. It was a full course meal with bulgogi beef, seaweed, tamagoyaki, kimchi, japchae, lettuce, rice and also fruit as a side. He loved this meal and finished it off in its entirety. I tried some of the beef and found it to be tender and well seasoned.
It took me a while to decide, but I settled on Galbitang because I couldn't resist the giant beef rib. This was a wonderful meal, I was initially a little bit concerned that the beef may not be well seasoned through to the middle but this was unfounded, the beef was well marinated and flavoursome through and through. I also really liked the small dish of japchae we had and the soup was wholesome and warming, going well with the rice. I would have ordered this again next time but I need to try other things on the menu.
We had two sides to share, this was the kimchi jeon. It was probably the letdown that evening. Although it was flavoursome and packed full of kimchi, it was not particularly crispy but probably a little bit undercooked and moist. If it was fried a little bit longer, I'm sure it could have lived up to its potential.
Of course we couldn't go past a some Korean Fried Chicken, so we had a half serve of Garlic Soy to sample. At almost $20, this was somewhat steep for a half serve that yielded six boneless pieces, having said that, each piece was fairly large and there was a decent serve of chips on the side. The chicken was crispy on the outside without being too hard whilst juicy on the inside. Seasoning was on the lighter side but it was ultimately very enjoyable. We had an excellent time at Queens Bapsang and this store definitely lives up to the reputation of it's original, I'll definitely be back soon and bring more friends and family to dine here.
Taste: 9/10
Value: 7/10
Service: 8/10
Environment: 8/10
