Bull Bar for Dinner

The Bull Bar
Basement, 85 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane CBD

I know it's going to be a good weekend when Howl comes to visit. We kicked off last weekend's festivities with a big feast on Saturday night. Marc and I got there late so most of the guys had already finished eating. I hadn't eaten since a 10am 'lunch' that morning so I was starving.

The Bull Bar is located downstairs from Elizabeth arcade in an underground space. The last time I was here, it sold almost exclusively Korean fried chicken and there were only a couple of small tables. Now it seems huge and the menu is overwhelmingly comprehensive.

I asked Howl's Korean friend for a recommendation and he suggested that the set meals were better value. Rather than $x per person like many banquet menus are, this was a total $ for all the dishes in each combination. We went for combination no 4, which was $45.

When all the food was brought out, Marc voiced his concerns "uh... how much food is this meant to be for?" We had intended to order just enough for the two of us, being the late comers to the dinner, but there was soooo much food it was impossible for us to finish on our own. It turns out that the sets are better suited for groups of 3-4. Luckily the other boys still had room in their bellies to help us out.

Korean veggie gyoza

We started our dinner with some vegetable gyoza. Actually, I learnt the Korean word for gyoza and promptly forgot it again. Whatever they're actually called, these little fried dumplings were very tasty and absolutely perfect for munching with beer.

Spicy noodle stew

Next, we were brought out a seafood stew. This was a ginormous bowl of various seafood, veggies and noodles in a spicy sauce. My chilli tolerance is low and this soup soon became too much for me. I was so tormented because it was delicious! I loved the soup and seafood. I loved the noodles that were a cross between instant noodles and udon. It was just too hot for me and I alternated between crying, downing more cold beer and then going back for more.

Deep-fried pork

The final component of our feast was a huge plate of deep fried crispy pork. It was accompanied by a generous bowl of sweet and sour sauce. Our friend explained that this could be poured over the top, or for better crispiness retention, used for dipping. We decided to use it as a dipping sauce.

Sweet and sour sauce

The pork pieces were lovely and crunchy and had a fine crumb coating rather than the thick eggy battered pork found in many Chinese takeaways. I loved that there was so much sauce, rather than a tiny stingy amount.

I am still blown away by how inexpensive our meal was. The total set was only $45 and even the beers were a very reasonable $6 each bottle. The environment was nice and friendly without being too rowdy. The Bull Bar will be my new go to Korean restaurant in Brisbane CBD.