Se Jong Korean BBQ Buffet Campsie — Restaurant in Sydney

Se Jong Korean BBQ Buffet was the first time I’ve consumed Korean barbeque as a buffet. While most Korean barbeque restaurants use a menu-based system where you order ingredients, like beef short rib, by the whole plate, Se Jong Korean BBQ Buffet arranges them buffet-style for you to select at will. The big advantage of this way of eating is you can consume a wider variety of meat, especially if you’re dining as a pair.

Despite sitting tucked away on a back street in Campsie, Se Jong Korean BBQ Buffet is hugely popular, even on a drizzly week night. Reservations are a must because you’re unlikely to be able to walk in and secure a table. Once seated, your table is quickly fired up with hot coals and a shiny clean barbeque plate. Your Adult Buffet ($39/head) is paid for at the end of your meal, so you’re able to get started straight away. Drink orders are placed at the table, and all the usual Korean booze suspects, like makgeolli Kook Soon Dang Rice Wine ($12) and Hitejinro Chamisul Soju ($15), are available.

The buffet covers your whole meal from entrée to dessert. While the star is obviously barbequed meat, you’ll find everything from soups to noodles to Korean fried chicken on offer. Your best bet is to load up the barbeque using a few plates of meat and vegetables, and then get some snacking plates to tide you over through the maddening cooking process in this mouth-watering room.

You’ll get a vague idea of what each item is via the little black signs sitting on the top of the buffet, though once again, it’s kind of hard to go wrong when you’re cooking on coals. In terms of the items that don’t need further cooking, the Korean sushi is a good place to begin. From the hot food bar, my dining companion rated the fried chook, while I enjoyed the vegetable heavy jeon (pancakes) as a contrast to all the meat. The only dishes I’d pass over next time were the noodles, as they were intensely salty, so not a good combination with so much marinated, well-seasoned meat.

We both liked being able to eat kimchi by the bucketful – it’s the perfect digestive aid to rich, fatty, barbequed meat. While some (usually white) people might say soups and vegetable sides (banchan), like the spicy spring onions, are wasting space, they are a part of a balanced Korean meal.

Meat can broadly be broken down into marinated and unmarinated offerings - both are worth consuming. For the rolls of beef or beautiful slices of fatty pork belly, get each diner a range of dipping sauces to enjoy them with. For marinated options, like beef bulgogi, just devour them straight from the grill. Individual pots of cheesy sweet corn placed directly on the grill deliver much joy. Just don't be greedy - anything you take to your table and don't eat will incur a ten buck penalty per diner. I'm for this measure, as it helps avoid food waste.

While staff are very quick to change the barbeque plates whenever they seem them darkening, and every barbeque has its own extractor fan, this is, by necessity, an environment rich with the smell of barbequed meat. Don’t make the same mistake as I did, and wash your hair before coming. When you leave, you’re going to reek of coal-fire barbeque. I left smiling anyway – good food, good friends and a perception of good value for money,...

We happened to drive past Se Jong on our travels earlier in the day and decided we needed to try it. We've been to other BBQs, both à la carte and buffet style, and I'd rate this as one of the better ones in terms of value for the amount of food you can get. Booking was easy and contact prompt.

Google misled us slightly and said that parking would be easy. Because we don't live locally we believed it 😂 It very much wasn't, but places being popular is a good sign, right?

The stairs leading up the the BBQ are a bit tight. Perhaps there's a lift behind a staff access door somewhere but I can't imagine this being the easiest restaurant for someone with limited mobility to visit. There are also quite a few tables for the space so while it was bustling there was also sometimes a wait for things like drinks.

The range of plain and marinated meats was plentiful, plus there were hot drinks and desserts to help yourself to too. The pork belly in particular was a hit with our boys and my husband and I liked the green grape Soju.

If I could change anything, it would be some members of staff assuming that I didn't know what I was doing because I'm not Korean. I picked up a prepared bibimbap tray to take to our table and I hadn't even moved it fully out of the serving tray before I had someone almost shouting at me telling me that I needed sesame oil etc on it. Like... I know that! But I only have one pair of hands!

The visit would've been rated lower had it not been for the gentleman who came over to greet us and ask if we were enjoying it. Because we booked (very recommended if you plan to visit, especially on the Saturday night we happened to be there), he greeted my husband by name and had a chat with us about our meal and our stay in the area. I didn't get his name but he was very friendly and helpful.

And yes we found the café that you...

I have been a frequent diner at Sejong however the last time I dined here will be my last. The food and service was standard but good as usual however the night that my friends and I visited we had a very unpleasant and dodgy experience with one of the workers there. It was not up until we paid our bill that the night was unpleasant, our bill had come to a total of roughly $500 and some of my friends had placed cash on the counter. When we realised that not everyone had cash we chose to pay by card instead, the worker that served us held on to the cash firmly for an odd reason and hesitated to return our cash until we paid the full amount by card. Once the payment was finalised he returned our cash and we noticed that $50 was missing from the cash we placed on to the counter. We asked the worker and he advised that the cash was all he received and had the audacity to pretend like he was searching for the cash under notebooks and pads behind the counter. We did not make a scene and we were very calm about the situation but were positive of the final amount in cash that we gave to the worker. We continued to question him and would not leave until he returned our $50 note, he then began to look nervous as more diners were lining up behind us to pay the bill and then he finally returned our $50 bill to us. Although we knew that the worker had taken the $50 we were still in shock that he had done this when we've dined at Se Jong for so many occasions. This night was a birthday occasion and it seems like the worker tried to take advantage of the fact that some of us in the group were intoxicated hence why he might've thought he'd get away with it. I would recommend Se Jong to dine at but would rather go to another restaurant with genuine and honest workers, be sure to keep an eye out on the person that serves you when it comes to the...