Shinara Grill & Lounge – Sydney CBD, NSW
If you are a vegetarian, look away now; because we are about to hop on the meat train for one hell of a wild ride tonight at Shinara Grill & Lounge. Here we are, a group of close friends gather around at the Shinara korean BBQ restaurant on Pitt St for one good reason – it is to celebrate Yas (AKA Hungry Digital Elf) last day at work. You see, that poor guy is really having a bad run with his life this year. If you are following Yas’ blog, then you would know all the unfortunate events that had happened to him recently. The Pom complained once after reading his blog, “Why Yas’ blog is always so miserable? All his posts are always begin with something negative and ended up with a compulsive midnight eating disorder.” He still does actually… the midnight eating bit that is.
Just a quick run down of his recent misfortunes:
- hit by a car at the shopping mall parking lot
- then his leg became numb and couldn’t feel a thing
- from normal checkups turned into a health scare of cancer
- had all wisdom teeth taken out
- lost his favorite BALLY bag
- lost his iphone – TWICE
- lost his job
- (I am sure there are more, but I promised not to mention his weight gain)
Okay, maybe it is not all bad. Because Yas is actually quite looking forward to point no 7. He couldn’t be happier to get out of this job that he hated so much for the last six months and sent him to nervous breakdown. Hence, we decided to held our own cleansing ritual to wash away all his bad karma with the smokey air from the all-you-can-eat BBQ meat fest.
Clockwise L to R: Asahi Beer on top - $8; Shinara menu; the fun of DIY korean BBQ
Shinara Grill & Lounge is located on Pitt St, across the street from Madang and O Bal Tan. The restaurant is separate into two levels with the lounge bar area on the ground floor and the BBQ seatings on the upper level. The lounge bar on the ground level looks disconcertingly empty, can be easily mistaken as lacking of business. But we are here for dinner, and soon follow right behind a group of Koreans into the restaurant, through a flight of stairs to the back where the BBQ seating is. The dining area is actually bigger than I thought it would be, and the restaurant is already half full with customers happily grilling away. First thing I noticed, NO SMOKE! They use the same efficient smoke extraction fan just like the ones at O Bal Tan. I think Suminoya really needs to do something about their gas chamber restaurant.
The all-you-can-eat bbq comes in two options of “Basic” and “Premium” at $29.50 and $39.50 respectively. There are about 40 items on the Basic menu including a selective cuts of meat, side dishes and drinks. For $10 more, you can upgrade to Premium menu which covers everything in the basic PLUS additional items like prawns, ox tongue, wagyu, soft shell crab, sashimi and more. But quality has been overruled by quantity tonight and we all opt for the basics and endless supply of meat is what we are after. Perfect beverage for BBQ – Asahi beer on tap is available from the bar downstairs. Others go for the rice tea, a murky sweet rice water drink with a hint of gingery.
bibimbap
Included in the basic menu, Helen, Minh, Yas and I also ordered a Bibimbap each as starter while waiting for the meat to be cooked. The bibimbap arrives in generous full meal size, so probably not a good idea to order it if you are a small eater and best to keep the stomach empty for the BBQ meat instead. The fried egg with runny yolk is always the highlight for me. A quick mix of all the ingredients with a good dash of Gochujang spicy sauce, the bibimbap instantly becomes a decent staple stomach filler. We also ordered an array of side dishes to go with the meat, the spicy chicken is one of my favorites, extremely numbing hotness but can be a little too hot for some. The Pajeon is a little disappointing, only a few squares of pancakes which has gone cold hence also a little stodgy.
Clockwise L to R: the different types of meat for BBQ; side dish of Pajeon and sweet potato pancake; the LA ribs grilling nicely on the griller
Meat!!! Where do I begin? The beef spare ribs are only limited to one piece per person, a ribbon of meat long enough to cover the length of the BBQ griller. The Pork belly is a wobbly slab of fat with a thin layer of meat instead of the other way round. The marinated LA ribs are definitely everyone’s favorite. First time I see ribs being machine sliced vertically through the bones. It is tender with a beautiful smokey BBQ flavour. It does take a little extra effort to enjoy the beef skirts – bite hard and yank the chewy tendon-y meat off the bone is compulsory.
The amount of meat you see in this post is only the first around of three. Shocking! I know. All-you-can-eat Korean BBQ is definitely the way to go, but bear in mind that there is a 90 minutes limit, and orders are only taken the first 60 minutes, plus forfeit at $2 per 100gram of food leftovers. Albeit all these rules, we definitely have got our money’s worth from the amount of meat we have consumed that night.
Oh. So. Full…..
Shinara Grill & Lounge Shop 1, 338 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000 P: 02 9262 9218
A Table For Two (ATFT) is Billy Law's food blog that features best eats in Sydney and around the world with drool-worthy food photography to salivate your appetite. I also throw in a smidgen of my food and travel photography for good measure. Billy Law also happened to be a contestant on MasterChef Australia 2011. 
I like the way you put it, “quality has been overruled by quantity” hee
and oh, there’s a limit for the buffet? what happens after 90 minute? they chase you away?
.-= ladyironchef´s last blog ..Hairy Crab Season and A Giveaway =-.
Usually I will go for quality, but not tonight!
I guess after 90 mins they will sort of hurry you up and let you know? But since the restaurant is not too busy, so I don’t think they will really kick you out.
that’s really a list of unfortunate events to happen. may things turn out better for Yas!
this looks like a really good place to go to. value for money i would say. and i’ve never known of any good korean restaurant to visit in Sydney. just look at that bibimbap! am definitely finding chance to visit this place when i go over to Sydney
and ya, like what ladyironchef mentioned, will they chase you away after 90 minutes?
.-= alvina´s last blog ..Chocolate Fondant (Lava Cake) =-.
Yeah feel sorry for that poor bastard! As mentioned, I don’t think they will kick u out unless the restaurant is full and booked out then maybe they will hurry u up.
Hehehe everything feels always A-OKAY when eating with my favourite hungry foodbloggers! Thanks for coming out that evening
Let’s do another AYCE gathering soon.
You might want to add more to the bullet points – my external backup HDD died, iMac had gone insane and broken (though fixed at Apple Care), letter box thief stole my parcels, credit card stolen & $8,000 unauthorised use. Oh happy life.
And weight gain? I don’t know what you are talking about. ;p
.-= Yas´s last blog ..Easy Teriyaki Chicken Wings. =-.
Oh by the way, you can’t say “lost his job” cuz I QUIT!
.-= Yas´s last blog ..Easy Teriyaki Chicken Wings. =-.
I think we need to do AYCE and KARAOKE at the same time next. Haahahaha… well you still lost your job, but for a good reason
@Yas My “problem-solving” rates ARE very competitive, you know…
.-= The Ninja´s last blog ..Please like me. =-.
Ah Shinara – it has gone downhill since it opened
The eat all you like was served yum cha style with trolley at first, and then it changed to a situation of having to order the items, and then the menu size shrunk and now they have limits?!?! 
Yas – golly. Oh and for the record, I read your blog and don’t find them negative, but I’d agree about the compulsive midnight cooking disorder
interesting… all u can eat yum cha style? I thought the range of items in the menu covered is extensive… if you said shrunk, really not sure how much we’ve mssed out.
Ah yes…I was reading about this meaty gathering on Yas’s blog. You can’t go wrong with Korean BBQ…apart from the bbq aroma on your clothes days after despite washing. Don’t wear white! LOL
.-= Adrian @ Food Rehab´s last blog ..Samurai Showdown in Chinatown: Yamato vs. Meiji Japanese Café =-.
Yep I prefer Korean BBQ than Japanese ones I must admit, simply because of the extra marination on the meat I guess. Shinara smokey level is not as bad as others and probably one of the best. But yep, the clothes straight into washing machine after the BBQ that for sure.
Hi. I follow your blog.
Beautiful pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have a question to ask. How did you obtain the turning pages effect on your ATFT album?
I wanted to do something like that to publish my grandma’s repices.
Can you give me some info, pleeease )
I’m @ Rosemarie & Thyme
.-= Rosy´s last blog ..Roast meat with pomegranate =-.
Hi Rosy, thanks for the kind words.
Do you mean my portoflio? There is no gimmicks or turning pages effect, it is sample designing page by page using the good ole HTML coding.
Mmmmmm…. meat. Carnivores rule. My first time here, great info. I’ll check your back posts to get some dining advice when I come to Sydney in a couple of months. Cheers.
AHhhhhh GOOD TIMMMEESS ^^! Lets do iitt K and buffet!! Haha poor Yas! At least you can stay home and de-stress by killing some zombies
.-= FFichiban´s last blog ..Plan B by Bécasse – Sydney CBD, Sydney. =-.
yeah I wanna do K! What poor yas? I think he is having the time of his life!!
Oh poor Yas! There, there.. lots of meat will make everything better!
.-= Forager´s last blog ..Far out brussel sprouts! =-.
hahahah is so true, I think he has eaten more than just meat these few weeks!
Looks great! There are so many Korean BBQs in the city now it’s so hard to choose …. where to go?
Korean town is still the best bet, Madang, O Bal Tan…. they never disappoint.