Address: Shop8C 2/F Wai Wah Centre Shatin, 11-17 Sha Tin Centre St
Phone Number: +(852)2465 9055
Opening Hours: 11:30-0:00 (Mon-Sun)
The entrance to the restaurant.
Walking into MeokBang Korean BBQ restaurant, the sizzling of the grilled meat along with the heavy smoke occupied my nose and ears for quite a while. Looking around the restaurant, it has around 30 tables for guests, which is quite spacious for a restaurant located in the center of Sha Tin. Most of the furniture were made out of metal, creating an industrial feel to the restaurant. The vibe plays really well with the restaurant as customers are filled in their seats, and waiters bustling through the narrow corridors. The receptionist was eager to seat us, which is a sharp contrast for the service that is to come.
After being seated, we were brought to the menu, it offered fewer sets for a bigger gathering than expected. The only sets that were promoted all included a significant portion of seafood (which typically isn’t the star in Korean BBQ), in the normal menu, there were different varieties of beef and pork: which on some parts compensated for the lack of sets.
As the food started to come, we were well served by the different side dishes they provided. Though we were expecting the waiter’s help for cooking the food when our items came, the idea quickly vanished as we were troubled to find available personnel to order our rice, let alone barbecue the meat for us. One recurring problem for us is the lack of servers the restaurant has, it seems that every time I look up servers were buzzing pass me trying to serve all the tables.
As our own chef, we started off with the easier beef slices and beef tongue. Though we can’t say much about their cooking, the beef served was of amazing quality. Marble like fat was evenly distributed over the beef slices creating a delicate pattern, it was more of an art piece than meat. When we put it on the heat, the instant gratification of the sizzling “zzzzz” sound emerged. After the beef touched the iron, the fat turned into a small puddle of oil as the beef was well into its cooking process. Along with lettuce and the three dips provided (sesame oil, salt, chili sauce) there was the pleasant feeling of the bits of fat melting in your mouth along with the refreshing taste of the lettuce.
To the left is beef slices slowly being cooked.
The beef tongue was similar to the beef slices, with one major difference – it was much chewier than the slices. If the beef slices were like marshmallows, soft and not greasy, the tongue was like a chewing gum, where it has the same texture as soft, but it is much chewier. (Note this is different than what I am going to talk about next.)
Pork belly is a known as a staple in Korean BBQ. As expected, we ordered this dish hoping to enjoy some well-grilled meat, however, once again our expectations were shattered; when the meat was cooked, not only did we struggle to cut it, but also had trouble eating it, as it was like chewing on tires.
Another famous dish from Korea is their fried chicken, but surprise surprise when our chicken was served, it was stone cold. When I tried a piece of chicken for myself, I thought it was a piece from a different batch, but as soon as we all ate it, we realized how it was served. It was as if we were meant to put it on the stove to heat it back up before consuming it. Though the texture and taste was fine, I was disgusted being served food cold in a restaurant.
Caption for the image on the right: Don’t be tricked by its looks, the fried chicken seemed to come out of the fryer immediately, but it is actually stone cold.
Last of all was the beef ribs, with seasoning, it was phenomenal with the outcome. Comparing it to the other beef, the seasoning created ranks among them. Though the beef slices provide the original taste of the meat, the ribs cater the taste of different ingredients, such as salt, soy sauce, pepper, and more to create the perfect dish for us to end the night.
At the end, when we were waiting for our bill, it took a whopping 10 minutes before the server brought us our check, and it took another 5 minutes to return the credit card to us. Once again proving how poor the service quality (or lack in waiters) the restaurant offers. Our night seemed to start on a high note, and experienced a gentle decline in every step of the way. All in all, the restaurant only excelled by providing decent quality beef to their customer, while they lacked in providing proper services as well as providing decent food in other categories. (Glad we did not order seafood, or God knows what is to come)
Koen's College Writing Blog 
I really like how you described the food and the way you described your experience at the restaurant. I think that next time, you can provide a picture of the menu so people can know the selection of food at the restaurant. I also liked how you included the negative parts of your experience and not just the good parts.
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