New restaurants in Hong Kong: The Charcoal Room in Mong Kok – high-quality Korean grilled meats
Susan Jung went for Hanwoo beef and Jeju pork and was certainly not disappointed, while the other dishes – even the banchan and kimchi – all went down extremely well
We had a good feeling about The Charcoal Room within moments of sitting down.
You can often tell the quality of a Korean restaurant by its banchan – the small side dishes served with Korean cuisine – and its kimchi.
Both were excellent. The waiter set down an array of banchan before we ordered, including lotus root in a sticky, slightly sweet sauce, white radish kimchi, bean sprouts with sesame oil, and a green salad with a creamy dressing that we didn’t bother with. The kimchi, meanwhile, was served from a pot placed on each table so guests could help themselves to as much as they wanted.
The restaurant offers extensive two-person set dinners that include beef, pork and chicken priced at HK$620 (US$80) or HK$860 (US$110) plus 10 per cent. But we wanted to focus on eating the Hanwoo beef and Jeju pork, so we ordered à la carte.
We thought we were supposed to cook the meats ourselves, as we’ve done at other Korean restaurants, but a helpful waitress soon took over, and did a great job.