Bornga Korean BBQ Restaurant — Restaurant in Sydney

Bornga is a popular Korean barbeque chain fronted by celebrity chef Jong Won Paik. While it kicked off inside Korea, it has subsequently expanded to ten different countries, including Australia. Taking up a first-floor space on Harbour Street, the substantially-sized Bornga is a bit of a Korean theme park. It's decorated with the wooden doors and tiled roofs that are common features of traditional Korean architecture, which tended toward simplicity and economy of shape by using horizontal and vertical lines. Traditional Korean attire gets pride of place over the entrance door, while on another wall there are black and white photos of the celebrity founder and the original Korean store.

Bornga aims to give Korean expatriates a taste of home, while at the same time inducting new audiences into the Korean way of eating. As such, one of the things Bornga does very well is communicate how to consume your meal. The famous Woo Samgyeop ($23/150g) is explained both in the well-illustrated menu and on the paper place-mats sitting under your bowl.

This signature recipe sees paper-thin slices of beef brisket marinated in the chef’s secret marinade for a very short period, meaning, unlike traditional beef bulgogi, this well-marbled beef retains its pink and white colour. Your server will place it on the grill plate sitting over your hot coals, and then it's up to you to keep an eye on it - it cooks very quickly.

It's accompanied by banchan (side dishes) and a row of raw vegetables that look so delightful when they land, you instantly feel like you’re doing something good for your body just by eating here. The leaves are for wrapping up your barbequed meats. My big Bornga learning was finding out layering different leaves together in the one ssam (lettuce wrap) is a thing - and they taste so much better this way too!

Don’t be afraid to ask your server for more kimchi! The side dishes, which include spicy radish salad, seasoned spincah and a sweet ball of mashed potato adorned with a lotus root chip, are all refillable for no extra charge. My side highlight here was the spicy fermented crab (gejang). While originally designed as a way of preserving crab, today this popular Korean side dish is just lightly fermented. It's worth getting your hands dirty to try.

Also new to me was Haemul Ssamjang ($10) a fermented soy bean paste-based pork and squid side that’s served alongside your ssam. While it looks like a thick stew, it is designed as a seasoned dipping sauce for your barbeque. I found it easier to roll some up inside the lettuce wrap itself but wasn’t all that swayed by the muddy flavour it imparted to my wrap. I think I'll stick to kimchi and spicy radish in the future.

While Yesan Tteokgalbi ($23) struck me as fusion - a Korean take on the rissole, substituting in tteok (Korean rice cakes) for the stale bread ends your Mum might have thrown in - it’s actually a royal court dish. Originally called hyo-galbi it was considered an elder-friendly dish that made rib meat easier to bite off. The rice cake-shaped patties (they don’t all contain actual rice cakes like this version) were often attached back onto the short rib bone before cooking to impart some cook-on-the-bone flavour, and to make the presentation fit for a king. They’re grilled and kind of compelling as a side hustle to your main job: barbeque.

Wagyu Yangnyeom Kkotsal ($34/160g) helped redirect our attention back to the smoking grill plate with beef short rib taken off the bone and marinated in another Bornga secret sauce. Extraction fans are quite effective here, and floor staff are quick to jump to fix anyone creating too much smoky atmosphere.

While everyone’s friendly, and the food here is good, I can’t help but compare this night, full of endless shrieking toasts as youthful Korean groups around us get messy on soju, with my recent Jang Ta Bal experiences. It’s my view that Jang Ta Bal give better service and more high-end beef for your buck, rather than paying for Bornga's fancier fit out, more extensive menu, and er......

KBBQ in my experience from other restaurants and eateries are usually a messy, smoky, and often chaotic affair. Delicious - yes, but mostly problematic in the "cleanliness" of the atmosphere as well as the attentiveness of their staff.

Tonight was our first time at Bornga after having probably walked past it more times that I could possibly count and we were blown away.

The food lived up to the expectation and everything we ordered and had on the table were delicious. The sauces/condiments they had on the table were all winners and absolutely delicious. The meat were delightfully marinated and all heartily scrumptious, the cheesy corn was fantastic in every way. But the elements that really stood out were the overall quality of the restaurant and the superb attentiveness, timing, and professionalism of the floor staff.

The staff were quick and on the money with everything. From serving food, to clearing out plates, to changing BBQ grills and hotplates. Their timings were impeccable. As though someone was watching us from afar and ready to take action in a second's notice. Everything was just done and sorted for us without even so much a thought from us needing to call someone or to attract their attention. The staff were polite and outlandishly quick and efficient at tidying up - we saw a pair clean up a whole table in less than a minute. If this isn't what you would consider well trained and professional - I don't know what is.

The side dishes were delicious and the whole meal was hearty and relaxed because you could just get more refills. Yes you paid a fair price for everything but nothing felt stingy. The vegetable self serve station was also plentifully stocked with crunchy and fresh vegetables that you would be silly not to indulge and wrap your freshly caramelised and charred bits of meat with them.

Ventilation and lighting were fantastic. Every single grill (charcoal as well!) was going and all the grills were smoking but the air inside the restaurant was completely clear of grease and smoke. The ventilation hatch above the grills did their jobs fantastically and didn't need to be pulled so low that it would essentially need to touch the meat for it to maybe work somewhat well. We have also never been to a KBBQ restaurant that was so bright and so full of light. The whole experience just felt clean and vibrant and added onto the delightful nature of the experience.

We spent about 180 dollars for all the food in the photos (plus an additional plate of pork belly at the end) and although it would be considered pricey, compared to some other KBBQ restaurants, I think the value that you get from the overall package makes it a strong contender for best KBBQ in Sydney.

I look forward to coming back to Bornga for more...

I am writing to formally express my deep concern and disappointment regarding a serious incident that occurred during my recent visit to your restaurant on 2025.08.06 for two staffs serve table 8.

Before eating, I asked whether any of the side dishes contained shrimp. One staff even came over to double check and specifically asked me are allergic to shrimp, which I confirmed. So, I trusted that the food provided to me would be safe.

However, while eating, I founded shrimp inside (the pancake), which was not clearly marked on the menu, nor was I warned about it. When I raised the issue with your staff, instead of showing concern for my health or offering immediate assistance, I was met with blame-shifting responses such as “it’s a seafood pancake” or “I didn’t take the order.” Not a single staff member asked how I was feeling or whether I needed medical help.

As a restaurant serving the public, it is your legal and moral responsibility to: Clearly label all allergens on your menu. Take food allergy inquiries seriously and ensure accurate communication between the kitchen and front-of-house staff. Be equipped with basic emergency protocols or medication (such as antihistamines or epinephrine) in case of allergic reactions. Most importantly, show empathy and concern for your customers’ health and safety.

Your team failed on all of these fronts, and this could have led to a life-threatening situation. While I was lucky to notice the shrimp early, not every customer may be as fortunate.

I request the following actions: • A formal written apology. • Clarification on your staff training procedures for allergen awareness. • An explanation of how you plan to prevent such incidents in the future.

If I do not receive a response within 7 days, I will consider escalating this matter to the relevant health and food safety...