Gu On Korean BBQ in Bandar Baru Sri Petaling
[Non-halal] Gu On, make my day! Gu On Korean BBQ is a newly-opened Korean restaurant located in Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur.
What sets Gu On Korean BBQ apart from other KBBQ joints is its special offering of straw-smoked meat and pork collagen soup.
Gu On Korean BBQ in Sri Petaling
The devil is in the details here at Gu On.
For one, we liked the contemporary design of the restaurant, which would not feel out of place in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam.
But the more important factor here at Gu On is its breadth of offering and attention to detail in the menu.
The menu here is designed by South Korean YouTuber – Gerrard Park Min Hyuk (aka Striker Chef), who has 231k followers on his Youtube channel – for a “modern Korean” offering.
Gu On sources only high-quality meat for the grill – from grain-fed beef to Iberico black pork collar to lamb ribs sourced from NZ.
The beef goes through a wet ageing process before it is smoked with straw (a first for KBBQ in KL, we believe) twice to yield a subtle smoky aroma.
The meat is then finished on cast iron grilled plates on the table, for a truly flavourful grub.
Gu On offers sets and more
Gu On offers a few BBQ sets to tantalize first-timers (and satisfy regulars).
There’s the Beef Intro set for 2 (RM208) which comprises smoked beef short ribs (280g), beef boneless short ribs (160g), pork collagen bone soup, and volcano steam egg.
Those who prefer a bit more variety can opt for the Beef and Pork (RM178) which replaces the beef short ribs for smoked pork belly bone-in. There’s also the Farm & Sea set (RM138) which offers scallops and chicken thighs.
As we were feeling adventurous (and didn’t feel like having the Volcano Steam Egg), we opted for the ala-carte items.
Come early and be prepared to wait
If you do not have reservations, be prepared to wait for a table during peak hours.
We arrived at 6.10 pm on a Saturday evening and were only seated an hour later.
To put yourself in the queue system, just scan the QR code at the front counter. When the table is ready, the restaurant would contact you via phone.
Excellent service and recommendations
We truly commend the hospitality of the staff.
Despite operating at full capacity, the hosts remained calm and amicably throughout our dinner. As we opted for ala-carte items, the manager was able to make recommendations based on the flavour and texture profile of each cut.
We also appreciate that they did not choose to up-sell; when we were contemplating to order the sot bap, the manager advised us to just get the white rice to truly savour with the banchan and grilled meat.
On his recommendation, we opted for the Smoked Beef Short Ribs (RM98 for 280g) and Special Pork Hidden Back (RM42 for 160g), the latter being a limited serving daily.
Truly delicious banchan
While waiting for the griddle to heat up, we helped ourselves to the banchan.
We liked that the kimchi was not overtly fermented but the highlights were definitely the salted octopus ssamjang and cold radish salad sherbet.
The barley ssamjang and salted garlic were also amazing dips for the grilled meat.
Cooked just perfect
As the beef is already smoked and wet-aged, the beef ribs arrive on the table in a lovely charcoal-brown colour, with the bone attached.
Hence, it didn’t really take that long for the server to cook it on the cast iron. The cut is everything we imagined it to be – cooked just nice to a tender pink in the middle, with lovely lines of fat flavouring the protein.
Smoked with straw do give it a more subtle smoky aroma, and we enjoyed the meat best with the barley ssamjang and salted garlic dip.
Special pork hidden back
The pork hidden back also comes in a creamy hue – having been aged before it hits the griddle on our table.
Sweet, tender and fresh-tasting – this pork is served with an anchovies dip that’s bursting with umami.
20-hour simmered pork collagen soup
Simmered for 20 hours, the Pork Collagen Soup (RM30) has a milky and creamy texture that one might confuse for tonkotsu.
While we could taste the “collagen” in the soup, the chef was definitely light on the salt but this was easily remedied with the addition of fermented shrimp (saeu-jeot 새우젓) and gochujang paste on the side. The soup also contains a generous portion of sliced pork belly.
Summary
We were really pleased with the meal here, and would love to return to try the other cuts and sot bap.
Gu On also serves cold perilla noodles and pajeon here, and the dessert menu will get more attention for our next round with interesting items such as Cream Cheese Hotteok, and Kimchi Ice-Cream.
Gu On Korean BBQ Restaurant
Address: 22, Jln Radin Bagus 8, Bandar Baru Sri Petaling, 57000 Kuala Lumpur
Hours: 11am-11pm Daily
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