Food:Tongkun

Special five-step process to marinate meats

A taste of Korea: Tongkun, the first Korean restaurant chain to open in Malaysia.

Tongkun
20 Block H
Jalan Solaris 5
Solaris Mont' Kiara
Off Jalan Duta Kiara
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-62036528
Business Hours: Daily, lunch (11am-3pm); dinner (5pm-10.30pm). Closed on the third Wednesday of each month.

Those who like Korean food can head to Tongkun, which opened in Solaris Mont' Kiara in September. Tongkun is a popular restaurant chain in South Korea that is famed for its authentic barbecue food.

Tongkun, which means “big size” – a reference to the portions of meat – serves ethnic Korean meat dishes that are specially marinated with more than 27 spices.

Choice beef: The Waygu Kkotdeungsim or Grilled Beef Rib Eye Roll and the Jin Galbi Sal or Beef Short Rib.

The meats undergo a special five-step marinating process that involves boiling, cooling to room temperature, marinating with spices, chilling and putting the final touches to the meats before they are served, to be barbecued at the table.

According to Wee Joon Ho, managing director of Dynasty Hallmark Sdn Bhd, the local franchisee of Tongkun, the restaurant is the first Korean restaurant chain in Malaysia.

“This restaurant is very famous in Korea,, where there are about 98 outlets. We brought the chain here because we wanted to give people here a taste of the real food and environment in our country,” he said, adding that they hoped to cater to the many foreigners in the vicinity of the outlet in addition to the local Chinese community.

The outlet is unpretentious, with a homely feel.

This is how it's done: Wee showing how the meat is grilled.

“We have given the place an organic and homely environment, hence the use of a lot of shades of green, which helps soften the environment,” Wee explained. The tables come with grill and steam absorber.

“We use premium meats like wagyu, which is considered the most tender, succulent and tastiest beef in the world. For our pork dishes, we use the highest quality local pork,” he said, adding that separate grilling equipment was used for the beef dishes to respect the sensitivities of patrons who did not eat pork.

“For our side dishes, there two sets of menu which we rotate every day,” Wee added. Among the side dishes are the popular kimchi and scrambled eggs.

Patrons can also look forward to complementing their meal with Korean ginseng tea, Soju (Korean liquor) and Bak Sek Ju, a ginseng liquor which is said to promote longevity because of the herbs, like ginseng, ginger, liquorice, yarrow, cinnamon, vine and arrowroot, that are infused into the wine.

Prices of the meal sets range from RM15 to RM150.