What makes YG REPUBLIQUE different from other Korean barbeque restaurants in Malaysia is a two concept store where they have the Samgeori Butcher's (삼거리 푸줏간) which mainly offers premium pork & beef grilled barbeque, and the K PUB which offers Korean snacks and street food with a variety of wine, beer, and other alcoholic drinks from the bar.
I went to the Samgeori Butcher's (삼거리 푸줏간) to try out their barbeque as I am a huge Korean barbeque fan. I have to mention that it is definitely pricey compared to other Korean barbeque restaurants that I have tried in Malaysia, but the quality of the food and the service I've gotten was impressive.
I went to TREC by UBER (free UBER ride to TREC by using promotion code "GOTREC" worth RM 15 each). YG REPUBLIQUE was quite easy to find. The restaurant was blasting YG artists' songs non stop and it was almost a free Karaoke session for me and my friends. Definitely a heaven for YG fans! I went with two of my friends, so 3 people in total.
We made reservations before going there because it was Friday night and we want to make sure we have a table. But to our surprise, it wasn't that packed and the restaurant wasn't as big as I've imagined. Maybe because it was separated into two parts. You can make your reservations online through their website here.
We have ordered one army stew (부대찌개) which was around 2-3 person portion, one pork belly 150g, one pork shoulder 150g, one Butcher's pork fried rice, one pint of beer and one chilled mango juice. It was just nice for 3 of us because we tend to stuff ourself when it comes to Korean food because we just love eating it. The side dishes they gave was really nice too. I don't remember exactly what was the name of it but the pickled white radish and braised baby potatoes (알감자조림) were awesome!
The food we ordered was served fairly fast. The first to reach was the side dishes, then followed by the pork fried rice. I was expecting the fried rice to be more heavy on the kimchi because they did say that aged kimchi are used in the fried rice. Couldn't really find any traces of aged kimchi inside other than some finely chopped kimchi. Although it wasn't the taste I was expecting, the fried rice still tasted nice. Besides, the portion was good as we could share it although it was a 1 person portion. It was nice to eat the fried rice with some grilled kimchi.
The barbeque pork was next. The pork meat was wrapped up in a beautiful newspaper printed butcher paper, with a slice of onion inside. The griller grilled the onion on the grill before putting the meat inside, hence enhancing the flavour of the meat. The smell of grilled onion was incredible. The griller constantly checked on our meat so we didn't have to worry about it over grilled. They grilled both pork belly and pork shoulders at the same time and mixed them up in the end.
As a grilled kimchi lover, I just had to grill the kimchi with the pork fat that was covering the grill pan.
While the meat was grilling, they served our army stew on a portable stove. It was so pleasing to see the stew all bubbling and thickening up. Army stew is one of my friends and I's favourite. We just had to try! It was impressively well made, though we have had better ones at the place we often. I love the way they cut thick slices of spam and put it inside the stew. SPAM lover here! You know it is a great army stew if there is baked beans in it!
They have ramen, mushrooms, pieces of meat, onions, green onions, baked beans, SPAM and some other hidden ingredients.
Last but not least, the beer! It was my first time trying out one pint of Carlsberg beer, it was so refreshing, until the bitterness hit me. But nonetheless, I am amazed at how the beer could stay icy cold despite the hot grills and portable stove beside it. It was just so nice to gulp down some cold beer after taking a few mouthful of hot soup and grilled barbeque.
I would definitely come back again! YG REPUBLIQUE is doing a great job. I hope they can maintain their quality in food and service for as long as possible. The next time I would really love to visit the K PUB and try out the Korean snacks and street food. They have Korean fried chicken, pancakes and Korean spicy rice cakes at K PUB! Not bad right?
Here are the menu for both Samgeori Butcher's (삼거리 푸줏간) and K PUB.
Samgeori Butcher's (삼거리 푸줏간)
http://www.ygrepublique.com.my/3geori-butchers.html
K PUB
http://www.ygrepublique.com.my/k-pub.html
