6 of the Best Korean BBQ Restaurants in Hong Kong For the Meat Gang Gang

Korean BBQ, aka KBBQ, has become somewhat of a storied pastime for the dawgz and me. It’s the de facto Thursday through Saturday night dinner option when we want to get a few drinks in us, put the ole Marks & Spencer belt to the test, and cut loose without losing anywhere close to the amount of dignity we would at Maggie Choo’s trying to parle Français with Parisian models while double-fisting the cheapest bottled beers on the menu. 

It’s also somewhere I find myself going on one-on-one “bro dates,” where we abstain from alcohol and focus on the other two important things for men in this cold, cold world – meat and emotionally opening up to your dawg. Something about several platters of marinated short ribs and pork belly just primes the soul for heartfelt reflection and armchair psychoanalysis of everything from the ages of 5 to 8 that has led to your emotional immaturity at the ripe old age of 34. 

The point is, “I just want to go to the rooftops and scream, ‘I love Korean BBQ!.’” If you caught where that quote draws inspiration, then props to you (hint: Superbad). I can’t think of a single style of cuisine in Hong Kong that delivers on so many fronts – the quality front, the camaraderie front, the booze front, the vibe front, the front front. The latter, I’m unsure of what it means but if it’s a thing then KBBQ delivers. 

Korean BBQ is the adult equivalent of having your very own backyard campfire, minus the mosquitos and having to share a tent with Aidan, something I think most of us have forgotten in this bizarre Never-Never Land big city delusion and pursuit of milk and honey. 

So, without further self-deprecation, here are 6 of the best Korean BBQ restaurants in Hong Kong that you need to add to your eating Rolodex ASAP – all of which I’ve eaten at a dozen times over (each). 

Pale Ale Travel Note: Look, I could spend four paragraphs on each restaurant describing the exact taste of the marinated beef or pork belly and the emotions, physical reverberations, and memories it imparted to my taste buds but that’s not going to get us anywhere. These are the cold hard marinated, flame-grilled facts about each restaurant. I’ve also included my “must-order” items. 

Mr. Korea 

I wish I had food pics from Mr. Korea but sadly only evidence of ungodly soju benders. This was from 2021.

Website, Address, & Details:

• Location: Causeway Bay, Lockhart Rd, 京都廣場, 5樓 (NEW LOCATION!)
• Price: $$ – Not the cheapest by any means but Mr. Korea isn’t going to break the bank. 
• Must-Order: Spicy pork belly, marinated beef ribs, naengmyon (cold noodles), and honey soju. 

I’m going to ‘George Washington’ you with this one because…I cannot tell a lie. There is no single other Korean BBQ spot in Hong Kong that the dawgz and I have ever gotten so rowdy at. If my mother is reading this. A group of 7 of us did NOT happen to drink 32 bottles of flavored soju and half a dozen tins of makgeolli in one single sitting. I repeat, DID NOT. 

And because of that, it’s our yearly ‘meat constitutional’ every single New Year’s Eve. That, by default, makes it a contender for my favorite Korean BBQ restaurant on this list. 

Also, the fact that it used to be located in Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) was a nice reprieve from the incestuous social ruckus of SoHo. And, as every expat says after they grab a drink or dinner on ‘The Darkside’ – “We really should do that more often.” But seriously, there are countless other reasons why this venerated Korean meat and drink house deserves praise.

Mr. Korea’s new location is now roughly a 5-minute walk from Sogo (Causeway Bay) – a location I have still yet to go to. Please let me know how this new location is in the comments!

This was from 2022.

Mr. Korea is unpretentious and reasonably priced. You may have noticed that a handful of Korean restaurants have popped up in the heart of Central and SoHo, purporting to serve up authentic cuisine from the Land of the Morning Calm. While mouth-watering and ‘vibe-worthy’, the overall damage to your wallet is straight-up unsustainable, hence why I generally “KBBQ” (using it as a verb here) outside of said areas (like in TST and Causeway Bay).

Mr. Korean is undeniably the spot on this list to go when you want to get rowdy with your ride-or-die’s, don’t mind a little bit of grit, and might bust out a choreographed dance number spurred by the K-Pop music videos blasting on the mounted television screens scattered across the restaurant. 

It’s one of the few spots on the list where the dawgz and I throw back some nangmyeon, Korean noodles in a chilled broth, and find that ordering the beef tongue is worth it thanks to a baseline quality. 

Oh, did I mention that they have a cornucopia of soju flavors? Favorites include both honey and grape. As a kid who used to go down to the hardware store to pick up several of those clear pixie sticks filled with honey, the soju tastes exactly like that. 

Pale Ale Travel Tip: I’m not sure why I haven’t recommended this before but booking a Korean BBQ restaurant ahead of time via OpenRice is a fantastic way to save anywhere from 10% to 20% on the bill. Simply create a free OpenRice account and book through their platform. 

Han Ah Rum Korean Restaurant

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A post shared by Han Ah Rum Korean Restaurant (@hkhanahrum)

Website, Address, & Details: https://www.instagram.com/hkhanahrum/ 

• Location: 韓雅林 6/F Causeway Bay Plaza 1, 489 Hennessy Rd, Causeway Bay
• Price: $$ – On the more refined side and well worth out shelling out the extra dough for its top-notch meat platter and main dishes!
• Must-Order: Boneless marinated short ribs, Haemul-paejon (seafood pancake), kimchi-jigae (kimchi stew), fried chicken wings, and steamed crab. 

Did I book a private room for my 31st birthday here and invite roughly 20 people I’d shortly never talk to again because I thought after moving back to Hong Kong that our relationships would have blossomed and not remained exactly the same as they did when I was living here 6 years prior? You bet your bottom I did. 

Is this the most wholesome and ‘family-oriented’ of all the Korean BBQ restaurants in Hong Kong on this list? Ship it! That means, “yes.” 

Han Ah Rum feels like stepping into the banquet hall where your (hypothetical) Korean mother-in-law likes to post up with her crew on a Sunday afternoon to gossip, eat good, and catch a taste of tradition and nostalgia from the ‘Old Country’. 

I consider it far more to be a Korean BBQ and traditional Korean restaurant hybrid, which means that nearly everything is on point here. Not only are there platters upon platters of high-quality beef, pork, and chicken, but you’ll also find favorites like shabu-shabu and other assorted hotpot (kimchi and dumpling for the win), sweet chicken wings and fried chicken, and even steamed crab – all of which I can personally vouch for. 

Pale Ale Travel Tip: Look, there’s a good chance that you’re going to do some boozing at Korean BBQ. Or as my former Catholic high school Western Civ teacher said, “There’s a good chance you’re going to do alcohol’. So, you might as well have a plan. Make sure to check out my post laying out exactly what I think the perfect Hong Kong pub crawl looks like. 

They are also behind one of my top seafood pancakes (Haemul-paejon) in the city. It’s both soft and crispy (not leaning too heavy either way), packed with shrimp, squid, and generous amounts of green onion, and is served in a ‘personal pan-size’, so you can easily take down one of these bad boys for yourself. 

Booze-wise, Han Ah Rum likes to cover all of its bases – you’ll find classics like soju, Terra Beer (my number two next to Cass), and Korean plum wine, along with Japanese sake and Japanese beers. They also serve up a range of berry wines and ‘medicinally-flavored’ hard alcohols – the latter something I imagine may put an end to your Cialis prescription. 

Jin Luo Bao

Website, Address, & Details: N/A

• Location: Island Centre, 號 金 百 利 商業 中心 6 樓, 1 Great George St, Causeway Bay
• Price: $$ – Definitely on the pricier side if you aren’t careful and drink like a fish. But still, the value of what you receive is unparalleled. 
• Must-Order: Sorghum modum or So modumgui (BBQ platters) Jokbal, homemade preserved crab in soy sauce, Haemul-paejon, japchae, and makgeolli (low-alcohol Korean sparkling rice wine). 

If I had to assign any sort of arbitrary rating system to this list (this is the only one I promise to do so on), Jin Luo Bao (aka ‘JLB’) emphatically clocks in as the top dog when it comes to overall quality, vibe, booze selection, and affordability. 

JLB has and always will be in a perpetual state of contention for the Ludacris ‘Number One Spot’ with Mr. Korea. Some days, I just want to get down and dirty and slug nine thousand bottles of soju with my flock of Chewbacca lookalikes and magic makers (Mr. Korea), other days I want to throw on a blazer and keep things at a modest three thousand bottles before heading to a fine Japanese whiskey bar after (Mizunara: The Library). 

That’s where Jin Luo Bao enters. It’s so well-established in Causeway Bay (since 2001-ish) that it would be disrespectful to wear anything but my finest off-the-rack sports jacket and khakis. 

Next to MeokBang, JLB is my most frequented Korean BBQ restaurant on this list. Should I try to ascertain just how many times I’ve eaten and boozed here, I’d likely kill off any remaining brain cells I have left over from my ruckus Mr. Korea nights. 

And much like Han Ah rum, JLB formidably runs the Korean cuisine gamut, serving up more assorted Korean BBQ platters than you can shake a stick at, finger-lickin’ good fried chicken, japchae (stir-fried vermicelli with meat), and Korean stews that put the ‘heart’ in hearty (I’m always partial to kimchi-jigae wherever I go).

For reference, we also opt for the Sogeum modum BBQ platter – ribeye, beef short ribs, ox-tongue, and pork belly – and usually order it several times over. Just to confirm if we liked it or not and not because we are capital P-i-g-s. 

Jokbal is a must. Do it. Now.

One standout that we only recently started introducing to our KBBQ sessions is the Jokbal, cooked pig knuckle served with lettuce. What’s not to love about greasy, juicy, gelatinous pig’s trotters in a salty soy sauce? It’s massive as well and the perfect dish for a large group. Just remember, it’s meant to be consumed with soju!

Finally, I wrote about how during the two weeks I spent in Antwerp, a single run in the 38-degree Celsius heat completely changed my outlook on the beer ‘Stella Artois’. So, you know this Big Body has hit JLB extra hard since he returned mid-August thanks to being the only KBBQ restaurant on this list to serve up frosty, ice-cold Stella drafts. 

Pale Ale Travel Note: I’d be remiss not to give a shoutout to one of the sweetest staff members I’ve ever come across in my lifetime – Nana. She’s a real gem and an authentic Korean. Keep an eye out for her at JLB as she brings a friendliness and warmth that makes you feel right at home. 

MeokBang 

I wish I had more pictures of the food in general. I really do. Except when the meat is ready it’s like a pack of lions fighting over a wildebeest carcass.

Website, Address, & Details: https://www.fulum.com.hk/shop61 

• Location: Complete List of MeokBang Locations (Note: Goldmark Location is Closed as of Last In-Person Check 23/11/2024).
• Price: $ – $$ – If you don’t snag one of the deals then it is similarly priced to the others on this list but the real value lies in the combo platters/discounts! 
• Must-Order: Any platter combo that suits your fancy, rib finger, ox tongue, Haemul-paejon, kimbap, and tangerine makgeolli (or a peach soju beer tower!). 

You know how I said that next to getting rowdy with the dawgz, sometimes all you need is some pork belly, banchan, cold tea, and your dear old Uncle Rico to discuss wine, women, and song – with the purest and most vulnerable hearts? MeokBang is that spot for me. 

Since 2020, MeokBang has been a monthly Thursday night staple for me and one of my best dawgz. It’s also more of a ‘weeknight’ KBBQ spot for me as I generally find the overall quality of the meat (especially the pork) can be hit or miss. Posting up in their signature bright red and cool blue booths, with a personal metallic exhaust dangling from the ceiling, while flashing Sogo advertisements across the street ensure you don’t nod off is a ritual for this Big Body. 

Unfortunately, Meokbang’s Sogo location recently closed (November 2024) but there’s more than a gaggle of these affordable meat haunts scattered across the city.

But what MeokBang sometimes lacks in consistency it makes up for more than ten-fold in terms of value. This is the Korean BBQ restaurant on the list that I recommend for anyone wanting reasonable quality meals at an affordable price. Cue MeokBang’s platter and special deals, which I just don’t think can be beaten – and I have yet to find anything that comes close in my (Hong Kong) Korean BBQ career. 

For reference, these are meat and seafood platters that range from HK$600 to HK$1000 and serve anywhere from 3 to 4 people – or two very very hungry boyz. Oftentimes, we aren’t too keen on having any seafood in our platters and they are receptive to us switching out one or two items (maybe it has just been a war or attrition since my dawg and I have been going there so regularly). 

MeokBang is also behind several flavor amalgams of my personal favorite Korean booze – makgeolli, serving up a tangerine Makgeolli (and purple sweet potato) that brings all the boyz to the yard. And, if you’re looking to really get at it, then don’t sleep on their colossal soju and beer towers (of varying flavors), which will have you feeling as if you’re back at College Station pre-gaming a Texas A&M college football game. 

Finally, I’d be remiss not to give a shout-out to the staff here. Of all the places on this list, it’s the quintessential Hong Kong service experience in the way that they aren’t fond of small talk whatsoever, but work damn hard and are extremely efficient. They bust their bottoms here and it always makes for an incredibly seamless eating and drinking experience. 

Pale Ale Travel: Feeling Italian instead? Looking at me, it wouldn’t be surprising at all to learn that I eat a lot of pizza. Here are some of my top pizza restaurants in Hong Kong and why they should absolutely be on your eating radar. 

Jeonpo Meat Shop

Website, Address, & Details: https://www.instagram.com/jeonpo_meatshop/ 

• Location: G/F, Wellington Plaza, 56 Wellington St, Central 
• Price: $$ – $$$ – While prices aren’t crazy, they ain’t cheap. Look to snag one of the tri-meat or four-meat platters. Booze is definitely something that can add up quickly here on top of already higher-priced items!
• Must-Order: Bone-in grilled beef ribs – everything else will fall in line after ordering this.

At first, I wanted to hate Jeonpo so much. As long as I’ve been in Hong Kong, the best Korean BBQ restaurants in the city have always existed and thrived in Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui. So you can imagine my skepticism when I saw a KBBQ spot open up right at the entrance of Lan Kwai Fong (and a stone’s throw away from SoHo). 

Let’s just get this out there right from the beginning, by default of where it’s located, Jeonpo is the priciest Korean BBQ restaurant on this list. But it also is the hippest and home to what I consider to be the highest quality beef and pork. While pricey, you can guarantee that your Korean BBQ experience is about as authentic as it comes in the city thanks to the ‘next level’ quality of its meats and a handful of staff that don’t even speak Cantonese or English – just straight-up Korean. I love that. 

The standout for me at Jeonpo is the behemoth grilled beef short rib that comes on a bone that looks like it belonged to a Woolly Mammoth, which you can also order as part of a tri-meat platter (with pork belly and pork rinds). 

Jeonpo feels like one big open-air meat festival. There’s bangin’ tunes, it’s in a prime people-watching location, and the tightly packed tables make it somewhat expected to strike up a conversation with the table next to you. Of all the Korean BBQ haunts on this list, it might be the only one where there’s somewhat of a ‘collective effervescence,’ or shared energy and feeling by those engaged in a shared purpose. And that shared purpose is meat. 

Frankly, I think Jeonpo has completely ‘flipped’ the KBBQ landscape in Hong Kong, one that was (and still is) previously run and dominated by the older generation. 

Now, you’ll find a gender-bending contemporary aesthetic of oversized sweaters, turtlenecks, slim-fit trousers, leather jackets, silver rings, chain necklaces, and denim, complemented by meticulously styled waves and undercuts (and the occasional tousled head of cabbage) – all of which inescapably blinds you with its sheer (previously) unforeseen sex appeal and edge. 

I love nothing more than when I see a Korean man dressed in a puffy shirt looking like he could have been the 6th member of The Revolution (not including Prince) or at the signing of the Declaration of Independence. And when he’s deliberately (sensually?) grilling pork belly and refilling banchan, it’s such an unbridled love, you could call me ‘The Bachelorette’. Zing. 

Jeonpo tableside grilling assistance is also something that makes the night a lot more engaging with friends as it allows you to focus on what’s important, eating and drinking. But then again, there’s a camaraderie that’s socially built into the grilling process. Is there ever a more loving gesture than topping off your best friend’s bowl with a healthy serving of marinated beef short ribs? 

Pale Ale Travel Note: Jeonpo has taken the meat game by storm with such force that they already have a handful of shops across Hong Kong (on top of their Central location) – including in Wan Chai and Tai Kok Tsui.

Banpo Korean BBQ 

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A post shared by BANPO BBQ 盤浦 (@banpohk)

Website, Address, & Details: https://www.instagram.com/banpohk/ 

• Location: Causeway Bay, Shell St, 18號, Kingsfield Centre, Ground Floor
• Price: $ – $$ – Very affordable if you stick to the all-you-can-eat pork belly and whatever they have with a sizable discount (ex. Pork loin). Booze is on the cheaper side as well!
• Must-Order: All-you-can-eat pork belly, beef rib set, jokbal (or bossam), and tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes). 

You and I both know that Tin Hau to Quarry Bay is one of the most underrated areas on Hong Kong Island. It’s one of the last bastions to retain an eclectic mix of both local, Asian, and other international cuisine (and beer) at a semi-affordable price – and similar to TST, it’s an area I always come out of wondering why I don’t spend more time there. 

Banpo Korean BBQ, equidistant from the Tin Hau and Fortress Hill MTR stations, and a stone’s throw away from Hong Kong Island Taphouse, emphatically backs up this statement. 

Banpo is the one on this list that I’ve eaten and drank at the least. I may have lied in the opening paragraph about having patronized each spot a dozen times over. For Banpo, it’s only a half dozen times over (maybe slightly more). 

MeokBang and Banpo Korean BBQ – the peanut butter and jelly of bang-for-your-buck KBBQ in Hong Kong. Undoubtedly, this is one of the most affordable Korean BBQ restaurants on the list thanks to its all-you-can-eat platters for specific meats (ex. Pork belly). It sits somewhere between Mr. Korea and MeokBang when it comes to vibe, quality, affordability, and booziness. It’s also basically the size of someone’s giant living room when you walk in which means you’re inevitably going to strike up a convo with whoever is in your vicinity. And I live for those moments. 

Pale Ale Travel Tip: Go check out my post on The China Club – what I consider to be one of the best Cantonese char siu spots in all of Hong Kong.

I’ll be honest. No one dish here particularly stands out for me. But no one dish here has left me walking out of the restaurant NOT doing a Snoopy dance. These double negative types of sentences confuse me. 

I had never encountered anywhere that offered ‘free flow’ pork belly for just HK$99, which on my most recent trips was plastered on a sign on the wall – along with a handful of other deals like 50% off beef loin and 30% off a Flinstone-sized beef rib set. Is it the best pork belly this Pork Belly (Big Body) has eaten in his life? No. Is it the best quality pork belly I’ve eaten until this Pork Belly couldn’t eat pork belly no mo’ – hands down. 

Banpo’s jokbal is also worth coming for on its own and something I’m working up to taking down all by myself. And it’s under HK$400. 

What is important to note about Banpo is that it is still a relatively new/recently inaugurated Korean BBQ restaurant in the grand scheme of things so you may run into one or two kinks with ordering and service. 

For example, the QR code ordering system mixed with ordering in person (it’s very fluid) just has resulted in lots of confusion for both parties. There’s also one guy who won’t even entertain a single conversation that wasn’t facilitated by a QR code. I don’t knock it at all, my dawgz and I have always just felt a little unsure of exactly what the most effective way to order is at Banpo. 

In other news, the Korean owner is a legend and has never hesitated to toss back some soju shots with us, all while expertly bobbing and weaving across the dining area, refilling meat platters, and shooting the breeze with regulars. I personally think that I’m on the cusp of going one to two more times before I start getting that regular nod – especially by this one older Korean guy who silently sits in the corner drinking and watching everyone. 

Meat Me at Korean BBQ

Now this is what a true Haemul-paejon should look and taste like – found at Jin Luo Bao.

If I didn’t already have a Korean BBQ “bro date” lined up for this Thursday, I would have no choice but to sprint to the nearest restaurant on this list to get my fix. As I wrap this post up, I’m essentially the Tyrone Biggums of the Korean BBQ world.

I can’t deny that my Korean BBQ experiences have been as full and delicious as they have been if it were not for (a) the dawgz, and (b) one particular dawg who is an expert griller and takes out a lot of the grunt work for me. Most of the time when I’m at KBBQ, I just eat what I’m served. 

Yes, I am a bit of a garbage disposal and crocodile Animorph when it comes to how I consume meat. Regardless, I haven’t had a negative or bland experience at any Korean BBQ restaurant in Hong Kong. I guarantee you won’t either. 

A final note to keep in mind when eating and drinking at Korean BBQ restaurants in Hong Kong, I strongly recommend opting for the assorted meat platters – a hodgepodge of 2 to 4 types of meat. They are far more economical than ordering each meat a la carte! 

I also recommend asking if they have any platter deals (ex. MeokBang boasts some of the most affordable in the KBBQ game), as this is great not just to save a few doll-hairs but also to try a handful of meats/dishes! 

If you have any questions about where to eat and drink in Hong Kong (or how to live it up), please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at info@palealetravel.com. 

Eat and drink well everyone,

Big Body