Food Blog | Dong Baek Korean Dining | Sri Hartamas | Kuala Lumpur
When you talk about viral Korean food in Sri Hartamas, I really cannot think of one Korean food spot that has gone this viral in Sri Hartamas in a while. I even think I’ve seen this place more than Busan Zip and Gamtan on social media, and that’s saying a lot! This is Dong Baek, a new Korean spot in Sri Hartamas specializing in pressure cooker dishes and unique Korean alcohol offerings.
It is Halal
No, this is a non-halal restaurant with both pork and alcohol served on the menu. Do avoid this spot if this is a concern of yours!
Where it Is
It is located in Sri Hartamas, on the same row as Burger King, Dubu Dubu/Buldojang, and Guardian, in the same square as Gamtan. At peak hours, this place can be a nightmare to find parking (especially around dinner times). I highly, I highly recommend having a light breakfast and coming here for an early dinner at around 5-5.30pm. It really is the same story with a lot of the Korean restaurants in Sri Hartamas - limited seating, and once you hit that 6.30pm window, the queues just keep piling up and you’ll end up eating your dinner 30 mins - 1.5 hours later. Come at around 5-5.30pm and you’ll be among the first batch of dinner patrons and you can stop for a quick dessert (if you haven’t had enough of their strawberry maekgeolli) at Aftermeal / Binq / Family Mart!
Address: 20, Jalan 24/70a, Desa Sri Hartamas, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur
Operating Hours:
Daily: 4pm - 1am
What it Costs
This will 100% be the spot that I will have a gripe to pick with Dong Baek. Strictly speaking, these prices are comparable to that of Busan Zip, because a meal for two here is RM177.55, a meal for two at Busan Zip is RM178.65 - and I would say that what was ordered is roughly equivalent in the sense that I’m generally ordering more at both locations that a typical two person meal just to try more things and have more to review about. I mean, selling white rice at RM5.80 (I’m not even talking about some fancy yam rice or anything special), literally white rice at RM5.80 will get this statement from me no matter what. You’ll need to order your rice / noodles as an add-on here, and they don’t serve you water here - which I’ve actually seen every other restaurant in the area do, but it looks like a conscious choice given they are much more of a bar kind of vibe. A little annoying as if you order the spicy variation of their pressure cooked meals, it is decently spicy.
I would say their side dishes are a bit underwhelming compared to the other options here at Sri Hartamas as well, so that lets down the whole package for me.
Food Menu
Drinks Menu
Here’s the breakdown of the bill:
Pressure Cooked Pork Backbone & Minari (With White Rice) | RM124.60
Minari Seafood Pancake | RM36.80
Service Charge | RM16.14
Total (With Rounding) | RM177.55
How it Tastes
What I’ll say is that the food is good, it’s just really not RM90 per person level good, and not much ever really is. The second thing is that there are much better options for a first date spot. Here, you’ll likely find yourself sweating from the heat and spice, and doing all the cutting up of the meat - because you will need to cut up all the meat from the bones (at least for the pork, but I’m guessing it’s arguable worse for the chicken / crab variation) - and I wouldn’t say it’s the easiest thing to do. Not to mention that this is definitely one of the messier places you will eat at. So this place is a no-go from me, if you’re considering it as a first date spot despite how viral it may be. Note: you can ask them for gloves to eat - that makes things a lot easier if you want to eat with your hands.
Side Dishes
Enough of the bashing, because the food is actually pretty good. I think portion-size for the pressure cooked bowls, I would say it’s much more for 3-4 people, as much as they say it is for 2-3 people. 2 normal people ain’t finishing that pressure cooker bowl unless you hungry as a wolf. I have a big appetite, and I will tell you that this really is on the borderline of two people meal. That’s probably the second reason why it isn’t as suitable for dates, it’s more because portion size is much more suited for larger groups of people to share. They even have anchovy rice balls, which is the alternative to getting white rice, that might be your preferred option here.
Pressure Cooked Pork Backbone & Minari
The soup is thick and full of flavour. Doesn’t give that MSG taste that you sometimes get with these kinds of soup, but you can really taste the gochujang and the flavour of pork seeping into that soup and I think the soup and the meat itself are the two big stars of the dish. Very flavourful broth. I wouldn’t really describe the meat as tender to the point that it comes right off the bone, but I would say it is 75% there. There’s a lot of bone but there’s a fair bit of meat in there as well - which is why I say it probably is more suited for more than two people. I would say that the Minari (or the vegetables incorporated in this dish) didn’t have that big of an impact for me but at least there’s a vegetable component in the dish.
The Seafood Pancake (pajeon) is maybe a bit of a let down at that price as well, I would expect more seafood - both in taste and in “liao”. Most of it is just usual plain pajeon taste - doughy - so I would probably recommend skipping on this and saving your belly for perhaps their Strawberry Makgeoli which I didn’t try myself.
Star Rating
5.5/10. It’s probably somewhere in between 5.5/10 and 6/10. Reason being is simple - price, lack of extra service items at that price, and the fact that you probably NEED to have their alcohol to make the most of the experience here. I think give it a miss if you’re in a party of two, this is probably suited for more people to come together. But at its price, this is in that category of try once and you likely won’t revisit again.
