Belfield Charcoal BBQ House

Both Lynn and I had been having intense cravings for Korean BBQ all week. To remedy this, we went to Belfield Charcoal BBQ House (aka Seoul Hoikwan). Having "trained" all day for the all-you-can-eat pig out with shopping and regularly spaced meals and snacks, we were ready to eat ourselves silly by the time we arrived at the restaurant.

When we got there, the staff were fairly slow in seating us as a large group of diners were just leaving and another large group had just arrived. We probably would have been seated more quickly if we had known Korean but unfortunately neither of us speak the language (despite Lynn considering herself to be pratically Korean).

This was forgotten when we spied the dishes on offer for the buffet. Having been to several all you can eat Korean BBQ's, I must say that this one is the best hands down, mostly because of the selection of Korean sides, salads and noodles they have in addition to the BBQ meat.

Displayed on an L-shaped bench against the wall were big bowls of spicy red kimchi, pickled veggies, deep fried sweet and sour chicken wings, japchae noodles, Korean pancake, kimbup, Korean sausage, potato salad, mushroom salad and tempura. Around the corner were bowls of soba noodles, a big rice cooker filled with boiled rice and huge pot filled with miso soup.

Kimchi, picked radish, pickled veggies, fried chicken wings

Kimbup, Korean pancake, japchae

Potato salad, tomato, mushroom salad, fish and asparagus tempura

Soba noodles

In a largely overlooked corner was a bain-marie with a small selection of hot foods including noodles with blackbean sauce, tofu and a few other things that we didn't really take note of. This was because we were too distracted by the main event: the marinated meat that you cook at your own table. There was a variety of beef (bulgogi, galbi, chuck steak), spicy pork, marinated chicken, baby octopus and mussels.

Meat!

Sauces and condiments

Having amassed enough food to feed a small-medium sized country, we started on grilling our meats. Despite the slow start with the service, the staff were suprisingly diligent in changing the grill whenever it got too charred.

An hour and a half and 3 plates of meat, 3 plates of sides, 2 plates of salad, 2 bowls of rice, 1 miso soup and a plate of watermelon later, we emerged from the old Pizza Hut building smelling of smoke and bellies filled.