Review: Melbourne, it’s time to hit the BBQueue

WITH lots of meat and a splash of pop-whimsy, Kong has been a magnet for cool Melbourne diners since opening six weeks ago.

Taste restaurant review: Kong korean BBQ

I walked past Chin Chin recently and there was not an empty seat in the house. Never mind the arctic temperatures keeping saner souls inside, neve rmind that it was a Tuesday. At lunch. A full house for an early week lunch service at a three-year-old restaurant? In Melbourne? In the annals of our post millennial city, Chris Lucas’s Chin Chin on Flinders Lane will go down as the restaurant that most perfectly captured the Zeitgeist that social media, rising disposable income and food as entertainment created. And it’s still pumping.

That probably has much to do with the substance that backs up that style created through the prism of Gen-Y attitude. People love Chin Chin, but wouldn’t queue (or come back) if it wasn’t any good. The fact much of Melbourne has been through its doors is testament to how right chef Benjamin Cooper nails those Thai dishes.

And that explains why Kong has been rammed full since opening its doors six weeks ago. The buzz prior was palpable — Korean BBQ with a dash of pop-whimsy and knowing cool by the same team that obviously knows the drill. I was excited. A pop-up at Rue and Co in the city cemented the hype; the 16hr-smoked brisket bossam boxes and rocking roti rolls backed it up.

Like Chin Chin, Kong is walk ins only so expect to queue. Like Chin Chin, it’s bursting at the seams. Unlike Chin Chin, it’s a small space, surprisingly so, seating about 60 on long communal tables, benches with tables of two, and stools around the open kitchen (like Chin Chin and headed by Cooper) at which an army of funky red-capped chefs busily assemble dishes.

That food, billed as Korean, is painted with a broad brush and takes in more than a touch of Japan.

There’s bao and roti rolls, kimchi fried rice and lots of smoked and wood-roasted meats on the extensive menu that needs some explaining for those who don’t speak fluent Asian spice.

Those little bao are a good place to start ($6 each). The smoked brisket (very much the hero of the whole place, smoked for hours to give it power and punch) comes topped with a mid-heat kimchi and slathered with spicy-sweet ssamjang (a Korean dipping sauce). It’s a beaut little couple of personality filled bites that put the soft shell crab version — which sounded alluring with its salted duck egg relish — to forgettable shame.

Even if you’re on a first date (and this place teems with Tinder twos) you need to get your hands dirty with some wings and ribs. A half dozen wings ($12) come in a few flavours; the Korean fried wings stupendously sticky with honey and garlic are super sweet but the crunchy-soft meat makes for a mean match.

And before you wipe your hands clean it makes sense to get stuck into some ribs ($22 half, $36 full) — the baby back pork ribs, all charry meat and sesame soy sauce, are a hit. The BBQ lamb ribs also have good smoky flavour from the grill, and come in a lovely curry sauce that also errs to the sweet. They are rich, sure, but also rewarding.

BBQ is the headline act and the Kong bossam BBQ tray ($28) is hard to go past for a meal of meat — pulled pork, pork belly and crackling, chicken, and beef, which you DIY into lettuce parcels adding kimchi and walnut ssamjang to taste.

All this meat needs some veg to freshen things up but unfortunately it, too, is heavily skewed to the sweet or the sauced. Cucumber salad ($8) sounds bright but comes in a heavy sticky spice sauce; the BBQ zucchini salad ($16) was less veg, more crunchy spiced cubes of silken tofu that, while admittedly good, were deep fried.

Not that that seems to bother the crowd, which quickly builds post noon or 6pm. The staff, which is expectedly (impossibly) good-looking for such a cool restaurant, handle the queue and the floor with surprising skill and there’s no faulting the Goldilocks speed at which the kitchen sent out our dishes (not too fast, not too slow).

The short, sharp, list of drinks ticks on-theme cocktails and beers and a good selection of wines by the glass (which are poured at the table).

Come early, come late but don’t come at peak times, unless you’re happy to wait or take one of the worst seats in town (along the entrance, facing the wall, by the queue). Kong is fun, buzzy and gets much of the package right, but I’m not convinced it will be the long-lived success of its sibling. But that would be a rare feat indeed.

 

KONG

Where: 599 Church St, Richmond.

Phone: [phone].

Web:kongbbq.com.au

Open: Daily lunch til late.

Highlight: The BBQ

Lowlight: The queue.