These days, it feels almost like there's a new KBBQ buffet opening every month. I haven't made a serious count but there's at a handful of openings in the recent past. The most recent one as at the date of writing is Go-Jip, located at Underwood Marketplace. There are questions of what the relationship is, but it is allegedly affiliated with Mooink at Sunnybank which I had gone to once but never returned to. Anyway, perhaps it is very logistically difficult to get a KBBQ buffet started but the opening week was one filled with drama, reminiscent of Seoul Garden. Opening day comprised of a lot of invites to local foodie celebrities who provided complimentary promotion. Once it became open to the public, they commenced business with 50% off food for the first two days. On the first day, they decided to close for technical issues and on the second day there was a significant amount of confusion caused by the previous instruction that the discount was for walk-ins only, but allegedly became for people with bookings only. It caused a great deal of controversy online, which was then further fuelled by negative google reviews and comments on their instagram page which were subsequently deleted. There's probably a lesson to be learned there in how to handle PR disasters.
Anyway, despite the opening drama, my passion for KBBQ ensured that I was still compelled to make a booking and we went a week and a half after opening. With the radio silence on all social media platforms, I was genuinely worried they wouldn't even be operating on the day we attended, luckily this turned out not to be the case. Arriving at 6.25pm for our 6.30pm reservation, the restaurant wasn't full but there were two people still queuing outside. The empty tables weren't being cleared and we were told to wait 10 minutes.
It wasn't until 6.40pm that we were served, we paid ahead at the counter. Prices were $59.90pp as we went on a weeknight. It's an extra 10% on weekends. The time limit was 90 minutes as usual and there was a charge for wastage, although neither were really policed which made it a far more pleasant dining experience. Our group of 6 was also given two tables and therefore two grills, ensuring that we didn't have any bottlenecks throughout our meal.
Whilst my friends were waiting outside, I took the opportunity to scope out the food options so I wouldn't need to waste time once we got a seat. Starting off with their "premium" sushi bar that set themselves apart from the more recent kbbq buffet restaurants. It reminded me a bit of the offerings from Shabu House.
There was a moderate selection of meats. Definitely less than Seoul Garden of Hwaro but more than Yido. I noted a few cuts of meat were straight from the freezer with cuts like the ox tongue still served coated in ice.
Korean sides were plentiful and had all the mainstream offerings.
Seafood and veggies were available to go with BBQ and also hot pot.
Sauces were available but this was also fairly limited compared to places we've been to recently.
There was quite a variety of hot food on offer, mostly rice and noodle dishes, some stews and notably Korean Fried Chicken. I didn't get to try most of them but the KFC was a stand out for me, crispy with a batter that wasn't too thick and a meat that retained its level of juiciness. I wish I had room to enjoy more.
Other items on offer include hot pot, which was surprisingly low key and didn't get too much attention. Given the limited time and hot pot ingredients as well as the copious amount of veggies already in the pot, we gave it a miss.
Desserts included ice cream, a chocolate fountain, fruit, mochi/rice cakes and also a bingsoo machine.
Some fruity drinks were also available along with water. I did try some and found them to be too sweet for my liking so stuck with water for the rest of the evening.
We started off with the BBQ, with a selection of fresh meats and marinated meats. Some of the wagyu was quite well marbled whilst some weren't. I found the quality to be superior to what we've had at Seoul Garden but worse than Hwaro and Yido. As mentioned above, some of the meat came straight out of the freezer and lacked a meaty taste. I also found quite a few cuts of their wagyu to be very chewy. A highlight for me was their pork jowl, coming out very crispy and crunchy.
A letdown for me was the lack of service throughout the night. It didn't take long for our grill to become caked with burnt marinades. It did however take a long time for staff to come over and change our grill. For those who have been paying attention, as staff didn't clear tables until customers left, this also lead to a shortage in plates for us to go pick up food, both issues leading to unnecessary delays in our meal when we were on the clock.
We enjoyed a few of the seafood items like the mussels and scallops. These were probably intended for the hotpot but we put them on the BBQ instead. They were fine, not particularly fresh but not unpleasant either. Veggies were the same.
Onto the sushi, the main thing that sets Go-Jip apart from the other KBBQs. Originally, my position would have been that it wasn't worth the extra $10. When we started our meal, the sushi on offer was quite underwhelming. The vast majority of options being cooked, with a few higher value items such as salmon and unagi. Even picking them up we found that some pieces were served on ice cold rice (a serious dealbreaker) whilst some were on room temperature rice. The portion of rice per sushi was also a bit larger than I would have liked, no doubt a ploy to fill you up. The slices of fish were thin too, making them notably worse than what you'd get at say sushi edo.
It was only near the end of our meal when I was hovering over the dessert stations that I noticed some new sushi had been put out. I actually had to do a double take when I saw that they had actually put out chutoro i.e. medium fatty tuna belly, also my favourite cut of tuna. Although the fish slices were still thin and the pieces of rice were still big, the fact they had chutoro on offer made the sushi experience worthwhile for me. Having said that, I wouldn't recommend it on purely this basis as I don't think they would necessarily serve chutoro every night. Perhaps we just got lucky.
Their stand out dessert was bingsoo, it came in a generic milk flavour, we topped it with red bean, condensed milk, wafers and some sneaky chocolate from the fountain. I wasn't expecting it but the bingsoo was sweeter than I would have liked, all the other elements were fine.
Rounding off our meal with a scoop of cookies and cream ice cream again topped with melted chocolate and a couple wafers. The ice cream was basically supermarket tier, as expected but I enjoyed the dessert.
In conclusion, I'd say we had an alright time at Go-Jip. For the current KBBQ leaderboard in Brisbane, I'd rank it above Seoul Garden but below Yido or Hwaro. The overall meat quality isn't what the others offer and for the extra $10, the sushi (generally) wasn't worth it (as I have no confidence there will be chutoro next time I go). Although there wasn't the constant pressure you have in Seoul Garden, the disorganisation made the overall dining experience lacking. It would be another one that I'd probably not go back to unless a friend really wanted to, but I'd persuade them to reconsider.
Price Range: $59.90 - $66.00pp
Taste: 6.5/10
Value: 6/10
Service: 5/10
Environment: 7/10
