Jinadasa Niyathapala Mawatha, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte
Open until 11:00 PM
KBQ has an all new spot in Jana Jaya building, and they do some good fried chicken and noodles, with a Korean twist.
KBQ was a popular Korean fried chicken joint, which shut down a few months ago. Good news is, they're back — with bigger premises and a bit more variety of food, including a few giant dishes of soupy noodles. And black noodles. Basically, a lot of noodles, chicken, and rice.
There are a few tables and chairs laid out in the front, but they've also got two private dining rooms. One's just with tables and chairs, but the other is more of a Japanese/ East Asian dine-in experience — a low-slung wooden table on a raised platform, where you have to remove your shoes before entering and then sit cross-legged around it.
The place is super clean, and the staff incredibly friendly. They make suggestions, give helpful tips, and even offers to take pictures for groups of friends and all that. They also have Kpop and music from K-dramas playing throughout. It was pretty much white noise to me, but the people I'd gone with are Kpoppers and they got pretty excited at some of the songs played while we were there. Given their reaction, I'm assuming it's popular and quite good.
They have about 12 solid items on their menu, but said that they'll be updating it soon, so there'll probably be more stuff soon. Given that this place is popular for its bbq chicken, we ordered a portion of Fire Chicken (Rs. 990), and a bunch of other stuff. 'Other stuff' includes noodles topped with black bean sauce, and more on that soon.
We got the Shimramyeon (Rs. 450) first. This was a huge bowl of soup with super thick noodles which tasted infinitely better than the stuff we regularly get here.
Shin Ramyun is essentially a brand of Korean instant noodles, and that's precisley what this is (and what it tasted like as well). More thicker and heavier than our two-minute noodles, this would be enough for at least two people.
Their Jjamppong (Rs. 1100) was equally large. This is a spicy Chinese-Korean noodle concoction, with a whole lot of seafood, veggies, and mushrooms thrown in. It's red and it can make you cry, so we like it. Personally, I'd have prefered a bit more salt to the dishes, but it was still pretty good.
As you can see, it's pretty fiery. Another good thing about these food is the lack of oil. Whatever oil there is in the soup is mostly from the meat itself, as far as I could make out. And the Jjamppong is a meal in itself, with an abundant amount of cuttlefish and shrimp swimming in it.
I found their Jajangmyeon (Rs. 700) interesting and really hard to pronounce at the beginning. I've never had this before, and looked at it a bit askance as it arrived to the table.
The black gooey stuff is a sauce made of black beans. It congeals when it's left to cool, so we recommend eating it as soon as it arrives. It tasted quite good, and if I'm to make a local comparision, the paste/ sauce over it tasted practically like kidney beans. The friends I was with are avid Kpop fangirls, and Lee told me that this dish is especially eaten in Korea on April 14, a day when single people get together and mourn being single. It's called Black Day, and they dress in black and eat black coloured food. And go around being sad at their relationship status. I did some reading up on this and it's true. Fascinating.
Last up was the Bibimbap Bullseye Egg with Chicken (Rs. 800), and the Fire Chicken. Wooots!
The Bibimbap was beautifully presented and was soon a gooey mess. It is, after all, 'mixed rice' — white rice under a layer of meat, egg, and a lot of veggies. You take a spoon and then mix them all up together, and your meal is sorted.
We left the best for the last, which we shouldn't have because, fried chicken. It was a bit cold by the time its turn rolled around, but delicious nonetheless. We need more KBQs around because they do a hella better job than KFC can ever imagine. My only complaint would be that it wasn't really all that spicy despite its red-hot appearance, and bordered a bit on the sweet side.
We ordered the half-portion, so there were seven pieces and all of them were very chunky and fleshy. We like it.
With friendly and helpful staff and great food, we're glad KBQ is back. We were the only Sri Lankans there during lunch, and the rest of the customers were all Korean. Looks like they like it too. They haven't gotten any deserts yet, and only have soft drinks and fruit juice so far (the latter which wasn't available on the day we were in), but we their food is seriously filling so you won't have much space for anything else later on anyway.
Cheaper, less oily KFC, really.
The Korean bbq joint is back.
If you want a unique fried chicken experience, KBQ in Kotte does fried chicken with a Korean twist. We think it's a tasty and different delight.
KBQ has an all new spot in Jana Jaya building, and they do some good fried chicken and noodles, with a Korean twist.
සිංහල K කියන්නෙ කොරියන්. B Q කියන්නෙ බාබකියු. ඒ කියන්නෙ මේ අවන්හලේ නම තමයි කොරියන් බාබකියු. මොන බාබකියු ද? චිකන් බාබකියු.
සිංහල ඇතුල් කෝට්ටේ Rama’s Tea House අසල පිහිටා තිබෙන කොරියන් බාබකියු කියන්නේ කොළඹ අලුත්, ආකර්ශනීය බොජුන්හලක්. එය පිහිටා තිබෙන්නේ අලුත් ගොඩනැගිල්ලක කොටසක. පහත මාලයේ අලෙවි හලක් තිබෙනවා. එහි පෙනුම අනුව බැරිස්ටාත් මෙහි එන්න වගේ.
Open until 11:00 PM
Cuisine
Price Range
Dish Types
Ratings Breakdown
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1/5
This is my second time visiting KBQ due to the fact that KBQ consists of a menu which differ from the rest of the restaurants in Rajagiriya. Food is decent and a different experience for the Sri Lankan taste buds.
However all our excitement ends with an unpleasant service provided by the KBQ staff which also ended our wonderful evening with a bitter ending. All our orders were delayed unreasonably, even though we didn’t complaint at the beginning we had to complain the staff at the end since the last order was delaying us getting home. We had to go to the place where the waiter stood since he didn’t come towards our table, when we asked him to expedite the order he started to question our rights since for his unfortunate there were other customers’ front of us when we complained. The same waiter called few off his colleagues to make a scene out of our complain. Before things get heated up we decided to settle the bill and withdrawing from the location without making an incident due to an uneducated staff. After we settled the bill and was coming out of the parking lot a delivery boy from the KBQ who was riding one of the delivery bike started to threaten me stating that my friend who complained should have shut his mouth. Due to our colleagues generosity we collectively decided to leave the place without making an incident.
With utter disappointment I have to state this in a public post ‘which is the first time in my career’, KBQ management should be more sensitive with how they treat their customers. We don’t come to your restaurant to have food for free. We did pay for whatever we ordered. As per consumer law you can’t ask a customer to shut up when he/she is complaining about a poor service. I could have sued your organization for what have you done today which I’m not bothered.
To whom consider to visit KBQ, I rate 1 out of 10.
Oshada De Costa
4/5
The staff is really friendly and helpful, they even let you taste food before ordering if you haven't tried korean food before. But the service is kind of slow
Kimchi is a fantastic condiment, and it's a shame that you found it "a waste". It's even more of a shame that you would rather have a buryani than try different types of fast food cuisine.
It's always frustrating to read reviews by people who don't want to expand their taste buds past the kade palate.
Name of this restaurant is a huge disappointment. I though it's a Korean barbecue restaurant.
I second sjl3n8. From this review I am not sure whether I should try it or not. On the one hand, since it is a review by someone who is patently unfamiliar with Korean food should i not try it or because of that should I take a risk and try it because the reviewer wouldn't know what it is like anyway!
Yamu really needs to work on its new writers. Part of the appeal of the early reviews was the excellent writing, and appreciation for a variety of cuisines. Don't lose it.
I think Koreans everywhere may have been insulted to hear that their staple dish would be better suited to accompanying buriyani or rice & curry. If the owners of Korean BBQ aim to offer Colombo exactly that - Korean BBQ - they'll ignore YAMU's suggestion, keep the burgers and chips off the menu and opt for Bibimbab instead.
"Some sort of Korean acchaaru", Man…for you to become a food critic you really need to know what the basic world dishes. I agree with Niran on Yamu's earliest reviews, the writing spiced up a somewhat drab or overlooked place
I think even dead Koreans rolled over in their grave after hearing Kimchi was a 'waste' and that it should be eaten with biriyani or rice and curry. Is it really wise to let someone who knows nothing about Korean food review a Korean food place? Like sjl3n8 said its quite frustrating to read reviews from people who aren't interested in expanding their palate.
Tried this place a couple of days ago. The chicken was really good, and free of the distressing oiliness KFC is prone to! They gave a variety of sauces and a rather nice radish (?) relish. 2 chicken legs (drumsticks + thigh) cost Rs. 420/-. Their other food seemed pretty authentic Korean fare, and apparently the place is quite popular with Korean expats (about 8 were there at the time we visited). Worth checking out.
I have to agree with the previous 3-4 comments. If you're reviewing a particular cuisine, do your bit to get to know the intricacies of the same.
There are a lot of people who really didn't get where Yamu was going with their happy and breezy reviews - that was their problem. However, without the reviewers knowing their basics, it will become your problem.
As Niran said, don't lose it ~ but do keep it up :)
WOW….Just wow…at the fact that a food critic does not know what kimchi is and expects burgers and french fries from a Korean BBQ joint. How can we trust the opinion of a person who has such limited knowledge on food? Major fail!
I visited '"KBQ" over the weekend and ordered a half a chicken of the Fire Chicken and I was impressed! The chicken was crispy and packed a wallop of flavour. The batter on the chicken was light and had minimal grease (unlike KFC). The only down side of this place is that you can't get any of the Korean noodle options (Shinramyeon noodles, JaJangmyeon) for take-away. So in essence if you are ordering take-away, you have no carb options.
Any chance Yamu could put up a better review of this restaurant? Very interested in trying it, but this review gives nothing.
WOW Another Korean Restaurant^^ Writer, i also felt the same when i ate da Kimchi for the 1st time, Since Korean & Srilankan Ppls' tastes r sooo different~~~~ But when i asked my Korean Friend how u r able 2 eat kimchi, he started to scold me……… bcz Kimchi is a very important Dish in their Meals~~~~~~~ They all prefer Kimchi alot~~~~~he asked me to eat Kimchi with Ramen (Noodles) ~~~~~
Anyway thank U For writing abt dz awesome Korean BBQ Shop ^_^
So it's like KFC with whole lot oil, otherwise the food is OK for a change. friend chicken good though soft and fresh but nothing really to rave about.
didn't have a good experience at all, very misleading place hiding behind the name and its not Korean food even .
I went there yesterday for my friends bday. The staff ws very friendly. I have to agree with many of the reviews regarding the chicken. We ordered both fire and fried. Both were great. 2 drawbacks were that there was no actual Korean bbq there and the Kimchi ws horrible. I don't understand why they named it the kbbq place.when there iss no kbbq.
Went there about a week ago and tried the JaJangmyeon. Even to my Sri Lankan palate it was quite good. I understand why they don't give it take away since it gets kinda ick when it goes cold. Nice to have some fairly authentic korean fare unspoilt by burghers and fries.
You've embarrassed yourself with this review. If you never tried kimchi before how would you know if it's a waste! The problem is that people who don't know food try to review something that they've never even tasted before
I went there last night. The Kimchi was really good and the fire chicken was like FIRE. The flavors are Korean, so if you don't know it, you may not like it. The sauces taste authentic. I agree on the fact that they should have more Korean BBQ dishes with a name like KBq.
But for what it's worth, this is the only place that I've found that serves something close to the Korean food I like.
As for the reviewer, well he/she obviously never tasted Korean. FYI Kimchi is Korea's national dish not a bloody achcharu. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimchi
my dear customer thank you all,and we only served foods, that sri lankan can eat.some korean foods sri lankan can"t eat.we only served good foods
some of my friends have been raving about this restaurent. So im going to give it try possibly tmr :)
This place is now OPEN again from 5th Nov at a new location in Welikada between the P&S and HSBC.
Try the fried chicken with sweet sauce instead of the fire chicken, I think it's much better. It's right at the bottom of of the menu card in a small font with kimchi & other condiments.
Fire chicken is actually very sweet (like the review mentioned), with just a kick of heat at the back end. Not sure how authentic this is, but it does taste good. Texture of the chicken was good, crispy on the outside (slightly reduced by the sauce) and tender on the inside. Had it with some Biriyani (bought from another place), and the sweetness of the chicken went very well against the salty and savoriness of the rice. Gonna try the regular fried chicken next. All in all I think KBQ has replaced KFC for my fried chicken needs.
Never order rice items. very unsatisfied.
we ordered BBQ Mix rice, but we got only small pieces of chicken, mixed with very small portion of rice.
Do Not order lunch menu items from KBQ.
Really disappointed about the quality and quantity. Just mixed some seafood items and chicken with rice.
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телемосты
3/5
Hz
Pretty good value for money, dingy atmosphere though…
1/5
Oshada De Costa
This is my second time visiting KBQ due to the fact that KBQ consists of a menu which differ from the rest of the restaurants in Rajagiriya. Food is decent and a different experience for the Sri Lankan taste buds.
However all our excitement ends with an unpleasant service provided by the KBQ staff which also ended our wonderful evening with a bitter ending. All our orders were delayed unreasonably, even though we didn’t complaint at the beginning we had to complain the staff at the end since the last order was delaying us getting home. We had to go to the place where the waiter stood since he didn’t come towards our table, when we asked him to expedite the order he started to question our rights since for his unfortunate there were other customers’ front of us when we complained. The same waiter called few off his colleagues to make a scene out of our complain. Before things get heated up we decided to settle the bill and withdrawing from the location without making an incident due to an uneducated staff. After we settled the bill and was coming out of the parking lot a delivery boy from the KBQ who was riding one of the delivery bike started to threaten me stating that my friend who complained should have shut his mouth. Due to our colleagues generosity we collectively decided to leave the place without making an incident.
With utter disappointment I have to state this in a public post ‘which is the first time in my career’, KBQ management should be more sensitive with how they treat their customers. We don’t come to your restaurant to have food for free. We did pay for whatever we ordered. As per consumer law you can’t ask a customer to shut up when he/she is complaining about a poor service. I could have sued your organization for what have you done today which I’m not bothered.
To whom consider to visit KBQ, I rate 1 out of 10.
Oshada De Costa
4/5
la rêveuse
The staff is really friendly and helpful, they even let you taste food before ordering if you haven't tried korean food before. But the service is kind of slow