Daorae Korean BBQ Restaurant

With the mushrooming trend of KPop and Korean dramas, Korean food seems to be on popular demand as well. No doubt idolisation would lead to fans wanting to live and eat like their idols. So, here’s a review on Daorae Korean BBQ Restaurant! And NO I AM NOT A KPOP FAN!

Barbecue pit and a pot of burning charcoal

Korean BBQ mainly revolves around using thin slices of meat either beef or pork as well as seafood. In Daorae, diners are spoilt for choices. There is a wide variety of beef and pork available, from the extremely fattening pork belly (sam-kyub-sal) to lean pork meat marinated in a variety of sauce and spices.

A variety of side dishes including seasoned spinach, kimchi, beansprouts, pumpkin etc.

Upon ordering, complimentary seaweed soup and a variety of refillable side dishes will be served. There is nothing much special about the side dishes except the fact that there is an unlimited refill. Personally, I find the beansprouts different from other Korean restaurants that I have tried in the UK; there is a lack of sesame oil in the beansprouts served in Daorae.

Pork Ju-muk-luk @ RM35.00

As I simply detest the layers of fat on the pork belly, my friends and I ordered the Pork Ju-muk-luk which are cutlets of soft pork marinated in Daorae’s special sauce. Barbecued by the waiter, the pork cutlets were cooked to perfection and the best part is that it was not burnt. The meat was lean, soft and well marinated.

Yang-nyum O-jing-er Goo-e @ RM28.00

Fresh squid marinated in spicy Korean chilli sauce and barbecued using charcoal fire. The squid was well marinated and every piece had a strong taste of the spicy hot sauce. However, it was quite burnt. Initially, the squid came in extremely large slices but the owner was detailed enough to come to our table and personally cut them into smaller pieces and telling the waiter to make sure it was thoroughly cooked. Definitely a thumbs up for such service.

Above: Salad leaves, Bottom: Marinated spring onion

The barbecue dishes came with fresh salad leaves, chilli paste and marinated spring onion which are excellent accompaniment to the barbecued pork and squid.

Dderk-bokgi @ RM30.00

Korean rice cake stir fried in spicy chilli sauce together with onions, carrot, cabbage; garnished with a hard boiled egg. The rice cake is well cooked but may seem rather bland as the inside of the rice cake was not mixed with the spicy chilli sauce. This dish is extremely spicy and sends a fire sensation down the throat; numbing the tongue as well. Definitely not suitable for those who can’t take the heat.

Dweji Bulgogi @ RM25.00

Served in a hot pot, Dweji Bulgogi consist of fine slices of pork, an assortment of mushrooms, carrot and glass noodles and comes with a bowl of rice. The pork slices in the bulgogi was well marinated and had a strong taste of the sauce. While some slices had a thin layer of fat, others are soft lean pork slices. Overall, the bulgogi taste delicious with the sauce well seasoned in the pork, mushrooms and glass noodles and it goes extremely well with white rice.

Kimchi-Jeon @ RM25.00

A pan fried pancake of kimchi with batter. While the amount of kimchi is extremely generous, it was literally impossible to lift a slice of the pancake without breaking it into pieces. Kimchi jeon was rather ordinary tasting with a strong hint of kimchi.The batter was bland despite the large amount of kimchi used. Definitely not something worth the price.

Interior of Daorae BBQ Restaurant

Overall, Daorae serves pretty decent Korean food and the barbecue is exceptionally delicious although they fall short in some dishes. Managed by a Korean, it is quite interesting to watch the boss/manager and his staff which is made up of Nepalese or Bangladeshi communicate in Korean. The restaurant has a relaxing ambience and is well decorated. With all the barbecue, no doubt you will smell like a piece of barbecue pork after dining here.

Daorae is located in Bayan Point on the same row as Hong Leong Bank (15-2-G, 2-1 & 2-2 Bayan Point, Medan Kg. Relau, 11900 Penang) and is easily accessible by road. Off road parking available but spaces are rather limited. Daorae also has another branch in Tanjung Tokong.

Daorae is noted in blue

Food rating: 8.5/10

Service rating: 9/10
Ambience rating: 9/10
Overall rating: 8.5/10