Wooga Korean Restaurant
Is it immature to want to eat at a restaurant merely because of it’s name? If so, count me as immature because I was keen to eat at Wooga for that exact reason! Woooooooga woooooga. (Someone please stop me.)
Wooga is a Korean barbeque restaurant located across the road from the Queen Victoria market, in a string of Korean restaurants. According to The Age, woo means beef, and ga means house in Korean. I went there with mum, dad, Alastair and Bro in December for a low key birthday dinner. When we arrived on a Monday night, they were the busiest out of all the Korean restaurants on the street and even though we had booked we had to wait for about 15 minutes for our table. There’s not much standing space inside, so we loitered outside on the footpath – fortunately it was a lovely, warm evening!
We ordered one of the BBQ set menus for the five of us – the “Combo B” menu ($65). The menu said that it would serve 3-4 people. Mum is a light eater (though the rest of us are big eaters… so it all works out really!) so we figured if we added one more dish we would have enough food. Meat to be cooked on the barbeque can also be ordered separately, but it’s probably better value in a set.
The set came with:
Top grade beef rib
Top side with salt and pepper
Beef brisket
Top grade scotch fillet
Kimchi and pork in spicy soup
And four bowls of rice
In addition, we also ordered one main dish: pan fried squid in spicy sauce ($26).
The staff placed the meat on the grill for us, and returned every now and again to check on us. When it was cooked to our liking, we dipped it into bean paste and scoffed it down.
Naturally, there were several dishes of banchan. We REALLY liked their kim chi and asked for refills several times. I also really liked the pickled daikon and beansprouts, though there was a cabbage one that was too bitter to be enjoyable. I wish they gave out larger dishes of the banchan though – even though you can ask for refills it’s a bit annoying when one portion can only be shared out among two people.
The soup was packed with mushrooms, cabbage, pork, tofu and a big spoon of chilli. It was delicious and warming – and definitely not the kind of thing to be eating on a warm night. But we wouldn’t help ourselves, it was so enjoyable!
We actually got quite full with the rest of the food so could possibly have skipped this dish. Lest you think that’s all squid on that large plate, it was interspersed with chewy noodles in a spicy-sweet sauce. The sauce was a touch too sweet for my liking, otherwise I would have loved it.
Wooga is inexpensive, filling, and the vent above the charcoal pots work REALLY well. I walked out without my hair smelling like cooking smoke – which is pretty rare whenever we go out for Korean barbeque! That reason alone elevates Wooga above other Korean barbeque restaurants that I’ve been to, and fortunately the food was good enough to warrant further visits.
For more posts on Wooga, check out these blogs:
[googleMap name=”Wooga Korean Restaurant” width=”600″ height=”300″ directions_to=”false”]270 Victoria Street, North Melbourne, VIC, Australia[/googleMap]
Wooga Korean Restaurant
270 Victoria Street
North Melbourne VIC 3051
Phone: (03) 9328 1221
Allan
February 13, 2011 @ 10:37 pm
i absolutely hate that smoke in hair / clothes that lingers forever…
i sure hope you are right about the good vents =P.
Agnes
February 16, 2011 @ 7:56 am
I definitely didn’t smell like BBQ afterwards! Tho I wasn’t right next to the coals, so that may have helped too 🙂
leaf @ theindolentcook
February 13, 2011 @ 11:21 pm
Oh, I’m rather enticed by the idea of eating Korean barbeque without smelling like it! And the name Wooga really is wonderfully whimsical. 😀
Agnes
February 16, 2011 @ 7:54 am
It’s a very cute name, isn’t it? 😀
foodie and the chef
February 14, 2011 @ 2:21 am
Oh dear… I started crying “wooo-ga” out loud, trying to discern the most entertaining way of saying it 🙂 Pity this place isn’t in Sydney, it looks fab – great photos.
Agnes
February 15, 2011 @ 5:10 pm
Haha glad I wasn’t the only one to go wooooga woooga 😉
penny aka jeroxie
February 14, 2011 @ 4:29 pm
Wooga is so affordable. I prefer it so much more than Hallah now. But I still work out smelling like BBQ meat 😛
Agnes
February 15, 2011 @ 5:09 pm
I haven’t been to Hallah yet. Wooga was busier than Hallah on the day we went!
Maybe I was sitting far away enough from the coals to not catch all the smoke.
Hannah
February 14, 2011 @ 9:57 pm
And this is [another reason] why we’re BFFs: I saw the title of your post in google reader and immediately though a-WOOOOO-ga a-WOOOO-ga in my head.
Also, pickles make me so happy that I simply don’t know why I’ve never been to a Korean restaurant. Mmm, vinegar.
Agnes
February 15, 2011 @ 5:08 pm
You WHAT!? Have never been to a Korean restaurant?? Okay, we’ll go next time you’re in Melb!
Hannah
February 15, 2011 @ 5:51 pm
Okay! Can we order extra extra extra mountains of banchan?
Agnes
February 16, 2011 @ 7:57 am
Of course! It’s unlimited!
Akika @ Ichigo Shortcake
February 15, 2011 @ 3:23 am
I LOVE Korean BBQ! Although I haven’t had any in a long time. I really like how it’s interactive and we all smell like food after we leave 😀
Agnes
February 15, 2011 @ 5:07 pm
Hehee smelling like food afterwards is the part I hate the most!
msihua
February 15, 2011 @ 10:08 pm
Ooo… this is the one next to Hallah right? It looked pretty decent.. However living where I live… there’s so many Korean choices!
Agnes
February 16, 2011 @ 7:59 am
Yep, next to Hallah 🙂 And I guess there’s no point traveling for Korean if you’ve got good ones on your door step!
mademoiselle délicieuse
February 15, 2011 @ 10:44 pm
I really like that they use coal for their barbeques – definitely imparts a different flavour to gas ones!
Agnes
February 16, 2011 @ 8:00 am
The coals are great. Tho I always wonder if they’ve ever burnt anyone bringing them out to the tables!
Erwin @ TheLearnerChef
February 18, 2011 @ 12:26 am
I love Korean BBQ…Alistair mentioned you guys ate here. I think I ate at the one on the corner, it’s kind of new. if you thought the name Wooga was funny, the on the corner is called Don Woori, I think. I can’t find it on Google anywhere, I guess I’ll have to blog about it.
Agnes
February 24, 2011 @ 9:14 pm
Yes, you’ll have to blog it! We’ve eaten at Toodouri, on the same street – maybe it’s that one you’re thinking of? The tables are basically big barrels?
Thanh
February 23, 2011 @ 10:36 pm
Oooh another Korean BBQ place with real coals, that’s exciting. Have you been to Hwaro? Is so, is this place better or worse?
Agnes
February 24, 2011 @ 9:14 pm
Haven’t been to Hwaro yet, so not sure! I definitely need to check it out though.
claire
March 23, 2011 @ 9:55 pm
Oooh, looks great! Like many of the other commenters I usually just go to Hallah, but will consider this one next time I’m in the hood…
wonchan
July 8, 2011 @ 9:23 pm
i really really enjoyed the posts. now i’m heading to Donwoori two weekends in a row 😀
Agnes
July 12, 2011 @ 10:10 am
Hi, thanks for the comment 🙂 Glad you’re liking Donwoori – it’s so good!