Magal Korean BBQ Surabaya (Review)

There are quite a lot of decent Korean Restaurants in Surabaya, but not many of them I would say a favorite of mine. If I could have a list, my top three would be Myoung Ga, BaikSu, and Chung Gi Wa. But just a week ago, there was a new opening Korean Restaurant in the west, and suddenly, BOOM! It’s become the talk of the town ever since. I even went there twice in one week, just because I loved it so much!

MaGal Korean BBQ

My new favorite Korean Restaurant has just arrived in town, and it also happened to be my very first time reviewing Korean restaurants on this blog as well. So I’m a little excited here. The name is MapoGalmaegi (MaGal) Korean BBQ and it’s located in Mayjend Sungkono Street, right after Mayapada Building. It’s a two-floor establishment and though it’s new, the look of it is pretty old-fashioned still.

When I first came here, I didn’t expect too much actually, I was just hoping it won’t be bad. I heard this restaurant is pretty popular in Jakarta and got a very good rating in Zomato. Later on, I found out that this chain Restaurant is originally from Korea itself and has more or less 450 branches in South Korea, 25 branches in China, 1 branch in Thailand, 3 branches in the USA, and 2 branches in Indonesia. Like, WOW?!

When I opened the door, all of the waiters and waitresses shocked me by shouting greetings at me very loudly in Korean, I almost lost my heart. LOL. They shouldn’t necessarily do that in my opinion, but I still appreciate the spirit. The tone of MaGal is mostly in red color, and on every table, there’s an exhaust above it, a very typical Korean BBQ Restaurant.

I picked the table right beside the window to get the best lighting and the waitress assisted me through the ordering process, she was doing her job pretty well. And there’s also a button on every table so that whenever you need their assistant, all you need is just one push, and they’ll be there to serve you.

MENU

The price in MaGal Korean BBQ I wouldn’t say the cheapest, but it was also not the most expensive one either, so I was fine with the spending. I also reckon even though you’re not ordering the BBQ dish, you’ll still get the side dishes. Because on my second visit, we didn’t order any BBQ dish but still get the side dishes.

Correct me if I’m wrong but in some Korean Restaurants that I know, they only serve the side dishes if you’re ordering BBQ Meat.

Their side dishes weren’t as many as Myoung Ga, I guess Myoung Ga still has the widest range in terms of side dishes among all of the Korean BBQ Restaurants in Surabaya. But I would say I mostly enjoy all of MaGal side dishes, it was all fresh and good. So then what did I order? On my first visit, I tried :

Jinkkotsal (IDR 278.000)

This is where MaGal actually stands out from the rest, why? Because the grill is surrounded by eggs mixed with kimchi which you won’t find in any Korean BBQ restaurant in Surabaya. And it is not just a gimmick, but it actually tasted really good! I loved it!

And the Jinkkotsal was also exceptional! The meat was so good in quality, even without any sauce it still tasted delicious! I loved it so much! Recommended!

Maekomtteokboki (IDR 55.000)

If you’re a Tteokboki lover, I really suggest you try this one! It’s really soft and chewy and yummy! I remember I rarely order Tteokboki in a Korean restaurant because usually the price for one portion is almost 100k and the portion was too big for one (or even two) person. But in MaGal, the portion was enough for two people, and the pricing was also making sense to me. Their rice cake is sliced in a bigger shape than the other tteokboki, it’s like a sausage size, but I don’t mind 🙂

Sogogidolsutbibimbap (IDR 89.800)

I’m not a fan of bibimbap, but this is what my friend ordered on our second visit here. We didn’t get to sit at the seat next to the window because when we came it was already packed, so pardon the low-quality picture. She said, this was the best bibimbap she had in Surabaya because she loved the spicy sauce that comes with it, plus she could request the pot to be uber hot so that the rice becomes a little bit burnt and crispy, just as she loved it.

Japchae (IDR 89.800)

On the other side, I ordered this Japchae, which I really like as well. But at that time there were only two of us, and I was thinking I want to share the meal, but since bibimbap was not fit to my liking, I had to finish this Japchae alone, and it was just too sweet for me to finish all this one dish for myself. I didn’t say it was too sweet overall, it was just too sweet if I had to finish it because the portion was quite generous and I generally don’t like constantly eating sweet foods, I have to have something salty in between to balance it out. In this case, I only had the fried egg that comes in the side dishes, haha.. But the Japchae overall was really lovely.

First of all, I would suggest you to not come in the middle of lunch or dinner time when the parking lot will be packed. If you had to, then just park before Mayapada Building, or just UBER there. Because the parking guy in here was a total bitch, I’m not even kidding.

On my second visit, the parking was full, but he didn’t do anything and just told me to go away. WTF, I had my friend waiting for me inside and I was really hungry at that time, so I was really pissed when he told me to go away. I tried to park next to MaGal, but the restaurant owner in front of my parking spot didn’t allow me to park there, so I had to go around in circles in the busy Mayjend Sungkono street to find parking again.

Shitty right? Thank God on my second attempt, there was one empty space, BUT the parking guy was still giving me such an attitude, I really want to bomb him, geez!

I guess that was the only bummer I had in MaGal, anything else was great. I hope you enjoy reading this post and found it helpful. Support me by sharing this post using the share buttons on the bottom of your screen or on the left side of the post. I will see you in my next post then. xoxo!

SUMMARY

• MaGal Korean BBQ
• Mayjend Sungkono No 243C/D
• 11.30 AM -10.00 PM
• Bring 200k/person
• Power outlets are available
• EDC Machine is available
• WiFi is not available