Hwadam BBQ — Restaurant in Melbourne

You guys, don’t sleep on this spot! Sister to @yeongabbq is a new KBBQ restaurant called Hwadam Korean BBQ and grill. They’ve been around for a year-ish, but they’re a little hidden - located on the end of Elizabeth St, on the 2nd level of an apartment complex.

The restaurant itself is very chic with cozy booths that resemble traditional Korean houses. It’s also super clean and modern where all the ordering is done on an iPad that’s attached to your table. The staff are incredibly attentive, proactively refilling our sides throughout the night and cooking all the meats for us. They were so friendly and speedy - legit felt like they were running to get our sides and water refills.

Between 3, we ordered: 🥩 - Wagyu Combo Set [$119] - included wagyu chuck eye steak, oyster blade & bulgogi, sushi rice, halloumi cheese and mushrooms - good quality meats, and a generous amount for 3 🍲 - Beef Soybean Stew [$17] - very beefy and hearty 🐙 - Seafood Pancake [$22] - their pancakes slaps! It’s one of the best seafood pancakes I’ve had! Crispy and loaded with ingredients. It smelt soooo good when they brought it out 🦐 - Soy Marinated Raw Prawns [$26] - the prawns were super fresh, buttery and marinated so well! 🌽 - Corn Cheese [$14] - cheesy with a slight crisp from the sizzling plate - so yum! 🍚 - Steamed Rice [3.8] - because the set came with sushi rice, you could probably share a bowl between 2

Definitely recommend checking it out the next time you're in the city for KBBQ! Follow me on Instagram @ EvelineEats for more food content...

🔥🥩 KBBQ spot in Melbourne CBD 😍👌 Just hit up this spot and OMG, the value is great💯 comes with high-quality meat💃🕺

My girlfriend and I ordered the Combo Platter (perfect for 2-3): 😘Marinated Wagyu Bulgogi 🐮Wagyu Short Rib Meat: Melt in your mouth🤤 🐷Pork Belly: the staff cooked it to crispy perfection 👨‍🍳Angus Brisket: so tender👍

The Platter comes with lettuce🥬& sushi rice🍙 which balance out all the meaty richness!

Their 5 side dishes are very nice too, I love their Kimchi🌶️ Sprouts🌱& Salad. Let's go try it when you are in town next time!

Thank you @hwadam.bbq.melbourne for having me& @shymelbournean_media for the arrangement 💌 2nd visit:

🔥 KBBQ night done right! 🔥 This is my 2nd time here, definitely one of my favourite KBBQ in Melbourne CBD 💯

Tried their Combo Platter ($99 for 2–3) and honestly it was so worth it! 🥢🥩

🍖 Wagyu Short Rib Meat OMG so rich and buttery!!! 🍣 Comes with sushi rice with wasabi – perfect to balance the richness of the wagyu, make them not too oily at all 👌

🥩 Marinated Wagyu Bulgogi tender and juicy, packed with korean sweet sauce flavour

🥓 Pork Belly nicely marbled, sizzles up beautifully on the grill, nice to have it with lettuce

🐄 Angus Brisket

🍲 Ginseng Chicken Stone Pot bubbling hot when served! So comforting especially in this chilly weather 🧣❄️

🧀🌽 Cheesy corn one of the best sides to enjoy in between all the meat 😍

#koreanbarbecue #koreanfood #KBBQ #melbkbbq #melbcbdeats #internationalfoodiechat #melbourneoodie #Vicfoodie #aufoodie #melbfood...

We are not beef eaters, so only options were chicken and pork. One of us is coeliac and options became even more limited, while that is not a criticism for the joint, but maybe feedback for full disclosure (especially if they ask you for dietary requirements while booking?) Even the rice wine / soju had no GF options...

Extremely small portion sizes and very overpriced for the meat. Side dishes were miniatures so we had to keep asking for refills, and halfway through our dinner, we were just ignored, specifically by the female attendees... too little kimchi etc. for 4 people to share…

The same female attendees, while "helping us to cook" would pretty much "flick" those miniature sides with their hands, to the point of being rude. At one point, one of the female attendees, just came and dumped the whole plate of sliced pork belly rolls on to the grill, without asking and checking with us. It became a stir-fry instead of individual slices as my daughters like to eat.

It was stuffy, just the ventilator on top of the grill. Not enough ventilation throughout the store, it got too hot and stuffy and made the meal unenjoyable - other KBBQs are not as bad. While it’s KBBQ, but this was over the top.

While booking, they asked if there was a special occasion - we were celebrating a birthday, but not even a verbal acknowledgement from the staff.

Customer service has a long way to go at...