The first international franchise of Bulgogi Brothers (with 29 branches in South Korea) finally opened in Manila! 🙂
At first, I thought it was just one of those franchises capitalizing on the booming expansion of International Chains here in the metro. I’m usually not a fan of restaurants based in a mall, but the foodies were abuzz with excitement over the opening of Bulgogi Brothers, so I had to see it for myself.
I was happy that our family decided to try it because it was different. I liked the awesome free appetizers they offered, the unique food combinations with their Korean liquor, and the family-friendly nature of the restaurant. I also loved their focus on service (which a lot of other restaurants in Manila need to improve on).
It was during our visit that I learned how to truly appreciate Bulgogi, particularly through the different ways it was prepared and served, plus how it was paired it with various liquors.
Here are some foodie notes on what to expect at Bulgogi Brothers…
The restaurant has a modern feel to it, with its display of wine racks, dark-hued couches, and tables with an induction oven in the center. The menu is crafted very well and is quite appetizing.
Bulgogi Brothers Menu
A La Carte Page 1 and Page 2
Barbecue Page 1 and Page 2
Rice & Noodle, Side Dish
Complete Wine List Page 1 and Page 2
Drinks: Hot Drinks, Liquor, and Bottled Beer
★ Free Appetizer Plate: Sweet Corn, Sweet Potato (Kamote), and Quail Eggs (Itlog ng Pugo).
Isn’t this appetizer plate simple but unique? It’s awesome that they serve it for FREE. 🙂
★ Free Tea of the Day: Oksusu Cha (Corn Tea).
They also poured some corn tea to get us started. I like how it is different from the usual teas and how it serves as an aperitif (without the alcohol) to prepare your stomach. 🙂
★ Free Juice Drink for kids! (one serving only).
Before the meal started, Aidan was whispering to me that he wanted to order juice. We just normally order water so that the kids can appreciate the food more and they don’t get full with juice.
But guess what? The waitress informed us that kids get a free drink and they are allowed to choose their fruit juice drink. Aidan ordered Mango Juice, which was served in this plastic container.
★ Free Vegetable Plate: Spinach Salad, Kimchi, and Kangkong. 🙂
Similar to other Korean restaurants, Bulgogi Brothers provides unlimited servings of fresh vegetable dishes. The first two are spicy — Spinach Salad and the Kimchi.
We loved the Spinach Salad, especially the “magic sauce”, which is their signature sweet and spicy sauce that also comes with the Bulgogi. You can order unlimited refills. 🙂
With all that free stuff, one has to ask: “What’s the catch?” Well, I guess it would be two things.
First, the tiny serving of plain rice is priced close to a cup of Starbucks coffee at P75 + 10% service charge. (But it is impossible to resist ordering rice, which goes well with their really good Bulgogi.)
★ Bokbunja (P395 +10% service charge). Bokbunja is a rare fruit. It tastes sweet and is good for anti-aging.
Second, with the introduction of Korean Liquor-Bulgogi pairing to you, you can’t help but try it out. At P395, the Bokbunja is the cheapest choice.
I actually like the sharp sweetness of this black raspberry wine with a good alcoholic kick. I underestimated it and finished half of the bottle — needless to say, I was a bit tipsy after. Aside from being a great match with the Bulgogi, it’s a good way to loosen up and have awesome conversions with friends. 🙂
I think I’m officially addicted to its taste.
Here is the complete list of Korean Liquor available at Bulgogi Brothers.
★ Unyang Style Bulgogi (6 pcs. – P595 +10% service charge). A famous royal cuisine. Best ordered with Maechousun.
I love these Bulgogi made from the chuck eye roll cut of beef! The marinade was not too sweet — just the way I like it. This is good for kids, too. 🙂
The induction oven on the table is used to cook the Bulgogi. Usually, the meat is cooked well done alongside the onions and sweet potato slices.
As part of the restaurant service, the attendant cooks the beef in front of you. 🙂 It can get a bit smoky though; but no worries, the place does have good ventilation somehow.
The kids get their own plastic plates and the servers are thoughtful enough to cut the meat into smaller pieces for them.
★ Gwangyang Style Bulgogi (P595 +10% service charge). Seasoned beef with sweet sauce. Served with bean sprout, sesame leaf and green onions. Best ordered with Baekseju.
The Gwangyang Style Bulgogi also gets our vote!
In the menu, they have a Bulgogi Brothers Special for P1,495 (good for 2-3 persons), which is a combination of Unyang with 9 pieces and Gwangyang Style. But I would still recommend getting them separately if you’re ordering for 2-3 persons because it comes out cheaper even if you only have 6 pieces of the Unyang.
The serving size is generous — it was enough for my wife and me. It certainly looks good when it is cooked. You can even specify if you want the meat to be cooked all at once or not.
Like the Unyang, this bulgogi is also cooked well done. The meat is well-seasoned and the sweetness is not too overpowering (but you can taste it in every strand). The meat is also lean and does not have much layers of fat.
It’s really good! We ate it straight from the heated pan.
I love this awesome combination: Bulgogi, Spinach Salad, Magic Sauce and Korean Liquor. 🙂
Bekseju (P650). Made from 12 kinds of oriental herbs, including Ginseng.
Next time, I vow to order this Korean liquor, which was highly recommended by the Korean trainer.
It was nice seeing a sweet, thoughtful note from our server alongside our bill. 🙂
Even with the numerous Korean restos in the metro, Bulgogi Brothers does offer a different kind of bulgogi experience, particularly the liquor pairing. If you are after great food and family-friendly service, why not check it out? 🙂 Budget P500 – P700 (with liquor)/person.
Thank you to the Bistro Group for bringing this South Korean franchise to the Philippines!
Bulgogi Brothers
A Korean BBQ Restaurant
29 Branches in South Korea. The first international location in Manila.
Level 3, Greenbelt 5
Telephone: +632 621-6216, 621-5289
Email: bulgogibrothers@bistro.com.ph
Live an Awesome Life,
Founder, www.OurAwesomePlanet.com
Full Disclosure: Nothing to disclose. We paid for our meals. We are not connected in any way with the Bistro Group, the owners of this establishment or the PR group promoting this establishment.
★ Happily recommended 🙂
P.S. For those who have tried Bulgogi Brothers in Korea, please let us know what you think of this Manila franchise. Any suggestions on what type of Bulgogi to try next time?
Free juice for kids?! We were there last Saturday and the waitress did not tell this to us. 🙁
I’ve been to quite a number of Korean restaurants, but this looks definitely quite a trendy place and very inviting. Will definitely try this out soon. Thanks for the update, Anton.
Let me know what you think after you’ve tried it…
Hopefully they’ll offer it consistently to the kids 🙂
Regarding the free juice:Unfortunately, Bistro Group is really like that. They tend to become “all-out” to “VIP”s and rich looking people (yes,the FOH especially the managers most of the time bases this by your looks – being recognized by these category can give you the best portion,extra serving and even a faster service). I’m not saying this to sound “bitter”. I came from the company and was very vocal to my FOH team when I said that everybody should be treated as a VIP. Anyway, glad you enjoyed your dining experience. 🙂
Interesting information… thanks for sharing!
I’m still a Makati boy so any new resto in the area or nearby like BGC suits me best. Thanks for the great review… as always! 🙂
wow!! It’s korean food!!
just ate there for lunch today. delicious and great service =) its pricier but the quality of the meat is far better than the other mom and pop korean restos around the city
My comment’s a little off-topic, Anton, but you just made me remember how we made fun of bulgogi back in college, calling it “bulhohie.” Haha!
I wonder how this compares to Yedang (near Metrowalk) and Manna Garden (near Burgos Makati).
Hi Anton, please do not rave about restos giving freebies so we don’t expect much when we try the place. For all we know, it’s just you and your family they’re treating that way. I was the same one who witnessed that your free nachos had purple chips (ours were the regular yellow ones) and your dessert had three times more syrup than ours in a resto. Haha sorry if I sound bitter but please don’t mislead us.
OK Point taken. I was expecting the same freebies to be given to other customers as well.
They said that they offer all the freebies to all the customers.
Wow, looks good. Great pictures too. I’m always on the look out for good bulgogi. in Makati and usually end up in branches of Kaya. I’ve been seeing ads for this resto around Greenbelt and have been hoping to try it. Thanks for the review, will stop by this one next week to taste it for myself.
the ‘free’ appetizers are factored into the price. and they are called “BAN CHAN”. please do more research. you have a wide readership and it would be really great if you took time to give proper terms and more informed comments. cheers!
Do they accept the bistro card here?
I’m not sure but they should since this is owned by bistro group.
Thanks for the comment Chie 🙂 Yes, the appetizers are included as part of a Korean resto experience.
I agree! Anton is very popular because of his food blog and managers of restaurants are aware of the power of the blogger.They know your blog has a lot of readers and they want to suck up so that you will rave about their food.
It’s hard to review restaurants and come up with reviews that reflect the “true” non-famous blogger dining experience.
I hope that people from BGC do something about this.
i agree!!!
they do accept the bistro card here. had a wonderful experience just the other night! the unyang and gwanyang were very good! the chapchae however, was very forgettable!
Had the pleasure of dining at one of the branches in myeong dong Korea. Food and service is actually 100% the same. The waiter we had in Korea was a filipino who also served us here in the makati branch. He was training the local staff here. Two thumbs up!
Had a great time there,I felt the service was good even though we didn’t get free juice(but the “kid” was 13 years old anyway lol)we got free tea,sorry to hear about others’ experiences. The food was great,the meat was amazing.the bibimbap is nice too. 😀
The first time I went there… my son was offered free juice. The 2nd time – I requested for it for my son…and the 3rd time, I forgot to ask and they didn’t offer. I think they were offering the free juice during their first few weeks because we went there only a week or so after their opening day.
They just need to be more consistent with these offers so they will not be thought of as biased to certain types of customers.
During my 2nd visit – the sauce for the beef wasn’t good and I raised it to the manager in-charge. The manager acknowledged that the sauce wasn’t perfect but didn’t do anything about it after. No offer of discount, or voucher or anything. I guess the manager needed more training on customer handling. Also, service was poor in that 2nd visit. We occupied 3 tables and only one table was served appetizers. The rest – we had to repeatedly ask from the waiter who failed to deliver on time.
But then again, the quality of the beef is good. My kid and husband like it, though I’m not much of a beef eater.
I just read this review and convinced me to take my french cousins tomorrow to this restaurant.
I was choosing Dong Won in jupiter st. and tong yang..
but this blog definitely convinced me to choose Bulgogi well since i haven’t tried eating there too.
Thanks and kudos to the blogger.thumbs up!
Our appetizer was served after the first dish was delivered… good food… but servers seem to be in a hurry to get the dishes even if there are portions of food there still…they ask, but it’s irritating that they kept on getting the dishes while my friends and I were enjoying the dinner setting.. Plus, they offered to refill the salad (free appetizer), but it never came..
My husband and I tried Bulgogi Brothers last January 30. It was our first time and it will be our last. We ordered the Unyang Style Bulgogi which turned out to be just a heart shaped burger patty and the steak which both turned out to be bland. I was surprised that they didn’t even have their own special dipping sauce. All they had was soy sauce. I was so disappointed with the food that I made sure they knew about it based on my comments on their comment card. I guess the fact that there wasn’t a single Korean customer inside the restaurant was indicative that Bulgogi Brothers isn’t a good Korean restaurant. We would rather eat at an authentic Korean restaurant such as Minato on our street (Escriva Drive) which is always packed with Korean families and tourists during lunch and dinner all days of the week.
The only thing I liked about Bulgogi Brothers is that they gave us a pitcher of water so we didn’t have to repeatedly ask for water refills. Other than that, I suggest you go to some other Korean restaurant.
This is very informing.. I can’t wait for the coming branch of Bulgogi Brothers here in Davao!
im looking for a korean restaurant and google brought me here..hmm looks good..and i guess im gonna visit this resto..thanks for the info..:)