Chingu

Chingu (280 West Beaver Creek Road, Richmond Hill)

905-763-0620

Hours:

Mon - Thurs 11:30 a.m - 3 p.m., 5:30 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.

Fri - Sun 11:30 a.m. - 3 p.m., 5:30 p.m. - 1 a.m.

Josie had Korean barbecue cravings, so I suggested Chingu, remembering that their all-you-can-eat business included pork bone soup. 

Korean appetizers

Yay to glass noodles and the fish cake thingies. 

I like their pork bone soup, but Jo noted that she remembered it having more peppercorns and stuff last time. I still liked it. 

I spared the pictures of the raw meat, but on the regular AYCE option we got, there was fish, pork belly, pork in red sauce, beef, short ribs, squid, and I can't remember what else. It comes with lettuce, and chopped up lettuce with spicy seasoning. You're meant to wrap meat in the lettuce and shove the seasoned lettuce in that as well. Lettuce in lettuce still seems kind of weird to me. 

The deluxe AYCE menu that we didn't get included things like tofu soup, handmade dumplings, salmon, and I can't remember what else.

There's also ice cream at the end.

There's still at 15% automatic gratuity charge, but it's well deserved. Staff nonchalantly eyed us as we cooked, making sure that if the grill got too crusted up with black stuff, they would change it. 

Would I return? Yes. Their marinated beef is pretty awesome and I appreciate that it comes with lettuce.  I also like that they're actually Korean. I'm a fan of the pork bone soup as well. Also, chingu means friend. :D

Total damage: approximately $25. (It's cheaper than that by a few bucks on weekdays.)

Chako

Chako (163 York Boulevard, Richmond Hill, Ontario)

A while back (probably last year sometime), I went to this all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue restaurant. I find it slightly better than some of the other Korean BBQ places in the area in that it offers fruits and vegetables to grill. If I'm not mistaken, you can also get sushi rolls.

It's priced slightly higher, but eating the grilled pineapple slices is great.

Total damage: approximately $25, but I really can't remember.

Kum Hong BBQ Restaurant

Kum Hong BBQ Restaurant (420 Highway 7 East, Richmond Hill, Ontario)

BBQ pork rice:

(The McDonald's coffee cup in the background is from free coffee week.)

It's really quite good. I'm a fan of the meat quality, taste, and colour. There is a good portion of meat, and this could probably feed two small people for lunch. The sauce that they use is that standard "cha siu" sauce and there's enough of it to mix with the rice, but you can always purchase an extra cup of sauce for $0.50. Also provided, is the ginger and green onion sauce.

Delicious!
The slightly burnt end pieces are my favourite.

Price is right, too.

Total, including tax: $5.25.

Phil's Original BBQ

Phil's Original BBQ (838 College Street, Toronto)

Right when I walked in this restaurant near the corner of Ossington and College, I immediately noted the smoky barbecue scent in the air. It smelled like meaty goodness.

Apparently this establishment was on the Food Network's Restaurant Makeover show. Frankly, I think that show does very little to help any of the places that appear on it. Redecorating and introducing three new dishes isn't enough to significantly improve business, in my opinion (influenced by Andrew). That being said, I have no idea what Phil's was like before it went on the show.

Out of the items on the simple one-sided menu, I went for the Pulled Pork plate ($15) with beans and potato salad.

The potato salad was kind of meh. If it was supposed to be the same as the one from the Salads section of the menu, it would have had horseradish dressing. I tasted none of this. The beans were okay; nothing to applaud or complain about there. My last experience with pulled pork from another restaurant was pretty terrible, so I had low expectations. This pulled pork wasn't bad. Only a couple larger chunks were dry, but most of the meat was sufficiently covered in sauce. The sauce had a slight vinegary taste to it.

Notes:

Service was pretty attentive, but there wasn't anybody else in the restaurant.

The lime that came with my 7Up ($2.25) had a lot of brown marks on the peel and the sides looked pretty dried up.

The food came really fast. It might have been faster than McDonald's at a busy hour.

I read reviews beforehand, and ribs and pulled pork seemed to be some of the safer options.

Total damage: $23.

BBQ!

Team Social BBQ (Kathy's place)

That's some nice glazing on the ribs:
Avacado dip:
Salad (by Alan), ribs, chicken, and presumably focaccia bread (by Kathy and Elton):

I enjoyed the salad and the chicken the most. The meat was so moist in its Shake 'n Bake goodness. (I was told it was Shake 'n Bake.) The salad also had fruits in it which carried it away from bland greenery.

Summer barbecue!