Stop the press! Run, don’t walk. Hannara Korean BBQ cuisine is now doing ‘all you can eat’ Korean BBQ.
I had dragged my friend to Hannara at the beginning of the year when they had just opened but nothing really stood out from other Korean restaurants. We tried a variety of dishes including japchae, fried chicken and bulgogi but what made me have food regrets was smelling other people’s Korean BBQ sizzling away. So when I read that Hannara was now doing an ‘all you can eat’, it was the perfect excuse to go back.
There are three buffets to choose from: ‘Premium Wagyu and seafood buffet‘ ($69.00pp), the ‘Wagyu BBQ buffet‘ ($59.00pp) and the ‘standard BBQ buffet‘ ($49.00pp). The whole table ordered the Wagyu BBQ buffet which included Wagyu meat, some deep fried seafood and bibimbap as well as everything from the standard BBQ buffet.
There are some terms and conditions attached: The menu you request can be sold out. Age under 10 is $20 pp. There is a penalty fee for leftovers. ALL food’s quality is the same as the single menu. Take out not available. Limited to 90 minutes from the first serving.
Ordering the Wagyu BBQ buffet meant that we could have delicious Wagyu meat as well as all the Korean fried chicken, japchae and corn cheese that we wanted!
And so it began, our ‘all you can eat’ adventure included some very delicious Wagyu meat, crunchy fried chicken, some judgment from the neighbouring tables and ended in a lot of belts being undone.
It might not look very pretty, but the meat was delicious.
Korean BBQ is the perfect winter warmer and a fun delicious way to catch up with friends. I’m a huge beef fan so the Wagyu beef was my favourite, the Korean fried chicken was nice because the sauce came on the side and came with the perfect pickled vegetables. I thought the bibimbap was a little sad looking and disappointing but I would definitely come back again! I had lots of fun and didn’t leave smelling like charcoal (their extraction fans work quite well).
The service was prompt as there is a bell on each table, the meat didn’t take long to cook and 90 minutes is ample time to order, cook, stuff your face and repeat as many times as needed.
Venue: Hannara Korean BBQ cuisine
Address: Shop 1,2&3 – 16 Moore street, Canberra ACT 2601
Phone: (02) 6193 3016
Grill platter grilled pork belly marinated with sweet BBQ sauce + grilled chicken marinated in lemongrass, garlic, soy
Again I would definitely recommend booking, this feast only happens once a month and man, the restaurant was packed when we arrived. I didn’t know what to expect and no one really explained anything to us, I just knew that there wasn’t going to be any cutlery which meant I had to tie my hair up, clean my hands and wear something with lots of patterns so you couldn’t tell how much food I dropped on myself.
Gnocco fritto. This is like a deep-fried pastry topped with prosciutto but I found the pastry a bit too oily for me.
Heirloom carrot, hummus, mint and almonds. Who knew I could enjoy carrots so much? This was a perfect pairing of flavours and with all the pasta and meat, it was good to have a salad somewhere in there. I love the sweetness from the cranberries, apples and carrots.
Four cheese risotto with radicchio and balsamic. Man I love a cheesy good risotto, it was a shame I had to share.
Pappardelle with parmesan and local black truffle. I felt that the truffle didn’t have as much of an effect because it wasn’t infused in anything. It was a nice simple pasta and the perfectly cooked egg yolk bursts to make a rich sauce.
Pumpkin and mascarpone tortellini with hazelnuts. This ladies and gentleman, was exquisite. I really do love things that involve a pumpkin parcel pasta with burnt butter sage combo and this has to be the BEST rendition I’ve ever had. Hands down! Before they change the menu you HAVE to try this. The filling is silky smooth, the pasta thickness is perfect and the sage is super crispy.
Rag pasta with lamb and rosemary ragu. I loved the sauce, the pasta, the whole thing. This was a very close second pasta choice for the table. 
Ghetto beef with rocket and salsa verde. I had tried this before where the beef was really dry and the rocket leaves were limp, I couldn’t tell if this time was much better or I was just really hungry. Be aware that the beef is rather quite pink, one of my friends didn’t eat it which meant more for us!
Whole lamb shoulder with sides. Wow! This was incredible! A wonderful lamb roast served with chimichurri sauce and a really smooth mash potato and jus. This was apparently a 1kg roast and we almost finished the whole thing.
One of the downsides of being in a busy restaurant is the wait. Sometimes there was a 15-20 minute wait between dishes, which left us a little frustrated and hungry and in turn we ordered more food hoping that something would come to the table soon. Despite ordering so many things, we had very little wastage. I knew we were testing the time constraints of our sitting (2 hours) but we asked if we could have dessert with a hopeful look in our eye. The waiter checked to see if there was someone waiting for our table but he came back happy to report we could squeeze in our dessert first.
Strawberry cheesecake. I loved the soft creamy textures with strawberries. I didn’t realise that there was granola at the bottom for the ‘base’ until I dug a little deeper but there was a strong saltiness to it that I didn’t enjoy.
Choc mint fudge sundae. If you love the choc mint combo then this is definitely for you, it was like an after dinner mint on the palette. There was a really good brownie somewhere in all that.
Caramel popcorn sundae. I felt that the signature dish of the restaurant was superseded by the other desserts. It is a nice combination but this wasn’t our favourite this time.
Banoffee pie. That caramel wasn’t too sweet which meant that this wasn’t OTT. A great way to finish the meal.
Frozen margarita. The description didn’t give much away but this tasted like lemon meringue. It was very delicate and was the pick of the desserts. You have to try this!
Even though there was a wait from the kitchen, the front of house service was fantastic, efficient and attentive. I keep telling everyone about my experience and it excited me so much I pushed it up my backlog of posts to write about because I wanted you all to know about it too.
TALES OF A CONFECTIONIST 