Korean Garden Club Restaurant at Johor Bahru

A few months ago, I was introduced to the Korean Garden Club Restaurant which is situated en route to the Danga Bay area along the road parallel to the Johor Straits. The restaurant is on the right side of the road if you are travelling towards Danga Bay from City Square at Pusat Bandaraya/customs area so one has to look out for its large red signboard to turn in (across traffic in the opposite direction) and go up a small slope to a white bungalow where the restaurant is situated. Parking is free on the bungalow's premises and there is indoor (there is a tv and air-conditioning) and outdoor (one can see the waters of the straits) seating. The address is No. 20, Jalan Skudai, Straits View, Johor Bahru, Johor 80200 Tel: 07-2244733 and the restaurant is opened from 12noon to 11pm.

This time round when I went back, I opted for the set meal for 2-3person priced at RM110. As with most Korean meals, the complimentary side dishes came first. There were 9 side dishes ranging from kimchi, cockles, bean sprouts, mashed potato salad, mushrooms, seaweed, anchoives, green veg and boiled eggs in brown sauce. We could find absolutely no fault with any of the 9 simple side dishes.

There is a cooking area in the middle of each table where the meat is cooked in front of one's eyes by the servers in the restaurants (no, this is not a diy restaurant). And, the meat isn't cooked by the conventional gas flames but by the flames from a charcoal pot. The bottom of the steel pan can be removed and a pot of lit charcoal is placed in the hollow. The picture below is of the first main course we had which was sliced ox tongue. Each piece was so thin and delicate and the server cooking the meat for us cooked each slice to perfection despite the roaring flames from the charcoal pot below.

The second main course we had was the marinated short ribs beef. The steel pan with the ox tongue was removed and replaced with a steel pan containing the short ribs. There are no bones to this thing by the way - it's a large slab of absolutely mouth-wateringly orgasmic slab of beef meat. The server cooked the meat again to just the right tenderness and sliced it into bite-sized portions which he put on a vegetable leaf for us to eat at leisure from.

The next 2 items on the set meal which we ordered were stonepot rice and toufu soup. Another server brought over the two items which came in the black traditional korean stonepots and set it on a foldable table next to our table. Both items were sizzling hot and she mixed/stirred both items in front of us before distributing it evenly in the two bowls.

A close up picture of the toufu soup and stonepot rice in the picture below. The toufu soup was so good that we drained the bowl to the last drop. It was full of veg, mushrooms and soft fresh toufu. The soft toufu contrasted nicely with the heat of the spicy soup in one's mouth and it was a most satisfying soup which did not leave one feeling thirsty. The stonepot rice was so-so.

The Slog Reviews: 9/10. If you are in Johor and if you want to enjoy a good meal of bbq korean food, this should be the place to go. Good customer service, clean premises and a beef lover's delight. For all of the above and 2 cups of aloe vera juice (1 cup is RM4), the bill came to RM 130+ (SGD 50+) only.