Kogi Kogi Korean BBQ, Wolter Monginsidi, Jakarta

Last week, I finally had opportunity to visit one of the most-talked-about Korean restaurant which had just opened few weeks ago. Yes, I am talking about Kogi Kogi Korean BBQ Restaurant that is located at the oh-always-so-busy Wolter Monginsidi street, the same area where we can find line of authentic Korean restaurants in Jakarta.

Do you know what’s the meaning of Kogi Kogi? “Kogi” is actually Korean word for “meat”, so it’s literally translated as “meat meat”. Although the neighborhood is already packed with various Korean restaurants, the most interesting part of Kogi Kogi is that it serves All You Can Eat (AYCE) Korean BBQ for fixed prices: IDR 99K++/person (Lunch) and IDR 199++/person (Dinner) excluding drinks. Definitely a great price to begin with!

The place is not too big but looks simple, homey and inviting. The buffet station is located at the middle of the room, much smaller than I imagined, but glad that my first visit was on a lunch hour on weekday, so it wasn’t crowded at all. The downside was, because I came during Ramadhan month, the pork wasn’t available at all, so we just got beef and chicken for the meat.

For the buffet station itself, the selections are quite good, when we visited for the first time, everything was in good order and organized very nicely. The meat were all marinated and there were meat skewers, salad bar, rice rolls or sushi, and also another area serving Korean pancakes (or jeon). Beside the rice pot, there was also a Korean noodle (Jap chae) ready to eat! Don’t forget the various sauce and condiments to accompany your dining experience as well as the fresh veggies! And FYI, the vegetables are all organic and claimed to be clean and healthy.

The meat were very well-marinated, tasted great and the textures were nice and tender. I was amazed by how soft the chicken were, although they were cut in quite big chunks, even after being grilled, the chicken were soft and smooth. I love chicken in BBQ like this, but sometimes I feel annoyed when eating breast part because of its thickness and not-so-smooth texture after it’s done grilled. But well, here I didn’t find anything bad at all about the chicken and meat in general, everything was just perfectly seasoned and well-balanced. If you like Korean BBQ sauce, you’ll love these for sure!

Although the main attraction is the Korean BBQ, they also serve a la carte menu including homemade Korean dishes that are commonly found in any Korean restaurants. To top it all, the prices are almost ridiculously cheap considering that they are authentic and very much cheaper compared to other restaurants.

Aside from the great deal, I also love the grilling pan that is made from some kind of stone on the surface and it is really not sticky at all. Korean technology for pan like this is something that I like, and I have the other kinds called diamond pan from H**pyC*ll, been using them for 2 years and so and they still rock! Basically you don’t need to spread any oil or fat first before start grilling, because with this pan, nothing will stick and even if it does, you can just scrape it off using turnip (ask the staff and they will assist you).

The AYCE price already includes unlimited rice (and everything on the buffet station, duh!), assorted puddings, also shikhye (Korean rice drink), hot/iced coffee. But just to let you know, these additional stuffs are not always available and you have to ask the right staff to be able to get those. Sad to say, I found this quite unreliable and maybe they should just state that the AYCE goes to anything on the buffet station only. As stated above, the price for AYCE during lunch and dinner are different, so as expected, there are supposedly more variety of food available for dinner.

I had really great experience in Kogi Kogi during my first visit, but my second visit was terribly saddening. Yes, before I write this post, actually I already made my second visit few days ago and since it was still on holiday and it was lunch time, the restaurant was fully-packed and I could see they were short of staffs as well as food. Rice pot was almost always empty, the buffet station was crazily empty except the salad and veggie, even the sauce and condiments were gone as soon as they were refilled. However, the food were still good and to make it clear, I will still come back whenever I want some Korean BBQ with fixed prices! I actually recommend this restaurant but I would suggest that you come during odd hours in weekdays to avoid major crowds that can ruin your dining experience! 😉

Good luck, Kogi Kogi, and I am sure you’re gonna see lots of me in the future! XD