Maru Korean BBQ
3/5
157 Elizabeth St Brisbane CBD
I noticed Maru’s appearance a few weeks prior to its actual
opening. It’s located where David’s, a Chinese restaurant, was; just up from
the Irish club. An addition to the already good downtown Korean scene, my
anticipation for this BBQ place was palpable.
Like many of the new Korean places, Maru have done a great
job in their fit out. The feel is a fresh, bright minimalism, which for BBQ
works really well in accentuating the sociality of the dining.
A combination of light and dark timber fittings is paired
against a rather spare, small tree in the centre of the room. My only complaint
is probably due to the fact that they’d just opened, but the shelves above the
bar were conspicuously bare.
Like almost all the Korean restaurants that have popped up in
the last few years, the employment of table call bells ensure service isn’t an
issue. Maru gets bonus points for also have what’ve been probably the quickest
staff in existence.
Maru has a far shorter BBQ menu than its competitor up the
street, but it contains all the important cuts and neither of the plates we
ordered, pork jowls and sliced beef, came out frozen which is an obvious
positive. The quality of the meat was good and on par with other major BBQ
places.
Maru uses electric grill plates and although they take a
while to heat up, they have the advantage over charcoal in that they don’t cool
down, but they do lose that smell and flavour of charcoal that is as much a
part of the experience as the flavour it imparts.
The sides that came out weer all of a good quality, my only
complaint could be the lack of size in the lettuce leaves. This wasn’t too much
of a negative, more just one of personal preference and could be considered a
positive by those who do BBQ differently to me.
Maru is a great addition to the Brisbane food scene, the fact
that at least at the moment it’s quieter, probably makes it my most likely eating
destination, however I doubt it’ll be like this for long judging by my
experience the other night.
Maru is open for dinner most nights
The plates of meat cost $17 each and there are combination
plates available that make each portion cheaper
Maru is licensed and has a variety of Korean drinks available
including HITE which cost us $4 per bottle.
Maru currently don’t have a website
Thanks to theo for editing this post.
