Kaizen BBQ - Maquarie

Hello everyone!

Today my review will be about my dining experience at Kaizen BBQ, located inside Macquarie Centre.

I decided to try Kaizen BBQ because I was craving for Korean BBQ that day after uni, and because I was at the point of starving, I decided eat there because it was the only BBQ available nearby.

I wasn't sure at first whether it was a Japanese or Korean restaurant, even though it was run by Korean people, the name of the restaurant was in Japanese, and the food they served was both Japanese and Korean cuisines.

When we went in, we were served by a man who I suspect was the owner of the restaurant. He was extremely attentive compared to the other people working at the restaurant, who seemed to work in a slow pace and hiding away from customers.


After we ordered our food, a waitress served us our complimentary side dishes.
seaweed, assorted kimchi, miso soup and the rice we ordered separately.

Then came our Gyoza. I wasn't sure if they were going to serve us traditional Japanese style gyoza, but I was really disappointed when our gyozas turned out like Chinese steamed dumplings. What's worse was that the skin was thick, and the fillings were tiny that you can only taste the skin. It wasn't gyoza at all because it wasn't pan fried, it was steamed. A big disappointment. :(

This was the Bulgogi (Korean marinated beef) we ordered.
The beef portions were disappointingly small.

This was our wagyu rib meat, again the portion was very small.

Here's how we cooked the bulgogi. I was disappointed that they provide a flat grill pan to cook the meat, a big disadvantage about it was that it would leak the beef juices on our table, as seen on the picture below. We had to inform the waiter and then they just gave us a small bowl to let the juice drip in.

Here's how the bulgogi looked like when cooked. The taste was like an other bulgogi, nothing special, the only minus point was the excess juice on the beef that made it a bit soggy.

Next we cooked our wagyu beef rib.

And here's how it looked medium rare. My partner said the quality of the wagyu was very good, which I don't doubt, but I could taste that the meat was not that fresh.

Overall I would give this place 4 out of 10.

It was a huge disappointment for me and my partner.

All the waiters and waitresses ignored us except for the owner who was trying his best to recommend dishes to us.

Also, you're meant to get free refills for the complimentary dishes, we asked the waitress to refill it but then she never came back.

The prices are expensive for the portions they serve.

And that's another Korean/Japanese restaurant in my uneatable list at Macquarie Centre.


I will not recommend this place for Korean BBQ, it's better to catch a bus down to Eastwood and eat at the quality Korean restaurants there.


That's all for now.

Thanks for reading! :)


-Kumi.

Jo Ja Ryong Korean BBQ - Strathfield

Last week we went for a dinner at a not so popular Korean BBQ Restaurant in Strathfield (only cause other Korean BBQs in the area seem to have alot more customers...), I am kind of a regular customer of theirs as I have been there a few times already previously (within a few months) due to their amazing customer service and quality of food. The restaurant, called Jo Ja Ryong is located in Strathfield Square where there is a huge concentration of Korean BBQ Restaurants and Frozen Yoghurt shops. All the waiters there are very friendly and superbly attentive and to top that off, they have The Best (I dare say, easily the best if price, service and quality is all involved) Korean BBQ Beef Sydney-wide.

By attentive, I mean literally, if your table is missing something, or you finished a dish off, they would bring it to you, no questions asked, you don't even have to tell them and they refill it for you.

For two people, I would recommend around three dishes

For three people, around four to five

For four people, maybe six to seven. Anyway on to the food...

As per most Korean BBQ Restaurants, upon ordering your food, they will flood your table with side dishes

The most outstanding of these must be the coleslaw they give, some sort of sweet soy, garlic, wasabi sauce. It is by-far the best salad sauce I have ever tasted. On average everytime we come, we would have it refilled three to four times per person (everyone gets a plate of their own).

Then there is the common must-have kim-chi.

Some seasoned and soaked Onion and cabbage.

A sweet sauce lettuce.

And the most important, the plate of additions for the beef (has cucumber, garlic, chilli, carrot and lettuce).

The sauce they provide is a sesame oil in salt?, a sweet soysauce with little touch of chilli and the common miso paste.

For those that don't know, traditional korean BBQ beef is supposed to be eaten by being wrapped inside lettuce with miso paste and you have the option of putting other adds (such as garlic, chilli, carrot, cucumber etc.) to put inside it. This is part where this restaurant excels in, the service on refill rate on the lettuce, miso paste, carrot cucumber etc.

Another thing I want to point out is, the Cos Lettuce they provide rather then the usual Iceberg lettuce. Price aside, their Cos Lettuce is of top-grade as there is no bitterness in them at all making your korean BBQ experience just exceptional.

We started with the beef tongue ($12 one serving), the juice in the beef tongue just pours out even when your grilling. The beef tongue here is yet also exceptional, juicy, easy to bite through just top-notch.

Following we have the marinated beef rib ($20 per serving). Marinated sauce really good, not to sweet, not to salty, just the best I've ever had and the beef is easy to bite, and more importantly Fresh!

And then I think this is their restaurants specialty, the cube roll ($24, most expensive on their price list). Top-notch scotch fillet? (I'm assuming, looks like Snow-flake Wagyu though... but price-wise I don't think they will be offering you that) that practically melts in your mouth. This piece of meat is unreal, it is the most amazing beef I have ever eaten in my life (I love beef! and I've eaten beef at ALOT of places) and yeah, let me just simplify this, it is THE BEST :)

And yeah, that concludes this short dinner at Jo Ja Ryong. I have been to many Korean BBQ places, maybe more than 30 around Sydney, and by no margin has any other restaurant come close to the service (did I ever mention they practically cook everything for you), the quality of food and attentiveness of the waiters here.

In conclusion I would like to give this restaurant a rating of 11/10.

-Samuel