Dongnae — Restaurant in Bristol

I would give 5/5 if the service is better. Came for just a casual lunch.

Good bits- Food is really good. Asian tastebuds would give it 9/10. We ordered 2x lunch sets one with grilled pork and one with soya milk noodle. Grill pork is just as I expected, nicely grilled, tender inside. Soy milk noodle is just right for a summer day so refreshing but the flavour is also rich. Banchan is 10/10 I got no complaints (btw kimchi is goooood) the soup of the day is a spicy shrimp soup quite a surprise choice using seafood but really really rich i like it. The restaurant sits in a quiet street atmosphere is airy✨

Not so good bits- Service was disappointing We booked a table in advance and when we arrived it is 2 minutes before the booking time. I first open the door and wait inside the restaurant. However there is no one greeting us or simply just acknowledge our existence. I am pretty sure some staff must have noticed me but kitchen staff just continue their cooking, waitress placing order from one table to another table and walking back and forth but no one even have any eye contact with us. I mean, just to let me know - should I wait inside or what? A few customers noticed us (but not even one staff) and then after at least 3 minutes I decided to step out of the restaurant. I thought- may be I should have waited outside. Then I waited another at least 5 minutes outside, watching one staff laying menus on bar tables and onto the tables right in front of the windows where we stood, and also watching another staff near the bar keep peeking at us like we were strange people but still no one bothered to ask us to come in. I mean if someone waiting just outside the door for a long while keeps looking, I suppose at least some people should come out and ask ‘ is there anything to help?’ But obviously no. After a long while maybe another 5 minutes I finally got noticed after needing to wave my hands to one of the staff and she asked us in, saying ‘sorry I didn’t know you are waiting you should have came in!’ Excuse me, did I not? What a good start. And when we finish our drink one staff came to take away the empty cans. I thought they would just remove it hut instead they put it on another table lol empty tables no one clean up the tables until like half an hour after customers left🙂‍↔️ And after all these moments I was charged 12.5% service charge which is absurd, considering the service is below average. But still, no complaints on food....

I don’t normally leave review as people might have different tastes and experiences. However this restaurant made me angry about what we had considering what i paid for. We spent 124£ for two appetizers and two meal and 3 small glass of beer, which it sounds ok for Saturday lunch out. We had a piece of tuna belly hand roll and lobster salad for starters, which is 12£ and 20£ for each. Considering expensive ingredients the price sounds reasonable. But when food came out i was shocked. It wasn’t hand roll, it was just a piece of a bite size chopped tuna with seaweed and tuna belly is ok but you can have that tuna belly in half price in any sushi place. And lobster salad? Of course I didn’t expect even whole tail. But It was only a claw meat, even taste not nice, with figs and strawberry, lettuce in a kind of mayonnaise taste sauce. We had eonyang bulgogi and 100g of wagyu beef with 2 steamed rice for meal, which is 17£, 40£ and 9£. Rice came in small ball but I don’t care about amount, it’s not even Korean sticky rice. It’s dry, it’s just taste like cooked in the morning and warmed up in microwave for 4.5£ each!!! I wondered how they can charge this rice for that price. And bulgogi? Taste is ok but nothing special. Soy and sugar marinated shredded beef burned with flame, feel like less than 100g. Do you accept that meal for 17£?? And i don’t understand why it took so long to cook wagyu beef. I am a Korean. I can cook it in 5 min. It’s served almost 20 min after i finished bulgogi. Staff apologized and gave us free side dishes, banch(a small plate of kimchi and seaweed salad and cucumber, which is 10£ if you order separately) and ssam ( a few salad leaves and ssamjang sauce, which is 5£ if you order separately) btw kimchi was nice but not 10£ for that and a few green leaves and sauce for 5£? Come on! This is the most expensive meal i ever had in my life. If its taste is impressive as what the guardian said, i wouldn’t complain. If this taste in Michelin guide i am sure all other Korean restaurants in Korean street should in there. I feel embarrassed and shame as a same Korean for how they charged ridiculous prices for people who never taste Korean food. And table and chairs? I feel like eating in wok to walk. Definitely over rated and...

The menu really sets itself apart from the average Korean restaurant menus in the UK, where it's usually some Korean classics with other generic Asian food thrown in the mix. Dongnae is bold in being inventive of Korean classics while also introducing exotic ingredients to the British palate.

For starters - the lamb fat and octopus skewer was flavourful, and the banchan were refreshing veg side dishes that we nibbled throughout our meal.

Mains - the squid in the bibimbap tasted fresh, the squid ink rice didn't add much flavour other than the crispy rice layer at the bottom of the stone pot. Maybe would have benefited from some seaweed/veg as there's usually a medley of veg in a classic bibimbap?

The pine nut kongguksu noodles had the perfect chewy texture, the cold but creamy broth had a mild nutty flavour that is perfect for summer. I'm not sure about the fish roe though, I suppose they added saltiness and texture. I felt the whole thing was quite "busy" with many ingredients but didn't blow me away in flavour.

Dessert - the matcha terrine was silky smooth and packs a punch in flavour. The mezcal cream didn't do much to enhance the matcha but I thought it would go really well with like a choc brownie or something?

Overall for the price point I expected more value in amount and flavour, but with the other interesting items on the menu I will definitely be back (maybe for the...