The best Korean barbecue places in Melbourne

If you’ve driven past or walked down the top end of A’Beckett Street on any given evening, you’ll inevitably have noticed the line of people waiting outside Mansae. It's a modern Korean barbecue restaurant whose name translates to ‘hip hip hooray’ – and a celebration of Korean barbecue cuisine it is.

Everyone knows that meat grilled over charcoal is exponentially more flavoursome than other forms of cooking. And this is why we love Hwaro, the Korean barbecue joint on Little Collins Street. It’s not Korean barbecue without beef ribs (gal-bi), and here you can order them thin and bony, standard cut, premium marble or top grade. If you’re new to Korean barbecue this is a great place to start because here they’ll pop your meats on the grill, flip it and slice it when it’s ready if you prefer being a passenger. If you want to captain your own dinner cruise, you go right ahead.

Yeong translates to 'smoky house' and this Korean barbecue joint promises fresh meat that isn't frozen (aside from beef brisket and ox tongue that are frozen for precision slicing). The venue also promises charcoal which lends meat that ideal smoky flavour. Wagyu is the name of the game here, but there's also pork on offer. Don't miss out on the pork belly dripping in the venue's housemade chilli paste.

ChangGo is a pretty popular Korean restaurant and barbecue haunt. Our tip: Try the Palsaik BBQ Set, which comes with eight cuts of pork belly marinated in eight different ways. Complete with banchan (think your usual suspects like kimchi, pickled daikon, pickled veg and spring onion salad) and piping hot white rice – what more could one ask for?

Situated in Box Hill, this is where to come if you're looking for Korean barbecue with all the trimmings. Not only can you get just about any type of beef or pork here, you can also sample whole squid, king prawns, hot pot and more. What's special about this particular venue is that the grills here contain a special outer ring that stays hot and allows you to cook (and keep warm) your side dishes.