BBQ & Beyond at Jango
There’s a restaurant that blends authentic charcoal barbecue with thoughtful hospitality. John Caruso discovers that it’s not just a meal, but a shared experience of quality, care, and connection.
In Korea, there’s an ancient board game known as Go, or Baduk in Korean. Two players, black stones and white stones, and a grid where strategy, patience and foresight rule. It’s a game of deep thinking and long-term moves rather than short-term wins.
When Lillian Li and the team at Jango Korean Restaurant were searching for a name, that game became the inspiration.
“When you play Go, you can’t just think about this moment. You must think long-term,” Lillian explains. “We wanted to bring that into the restaurant, the way we serve, the way we accommodate customers, the way we look after everything and everyone.”
Thoughtful hospitality is at the centre of what Jango do, where the glow of the charcoal, sizzling meat, and the theatre of table barbecue all come together, along with a drinks list, including Korean sodas, beers and cocktails.
Step inside and the first thing you notice is the warmth of the interiors – and I’m not talking about the BBQ. The booths and tables are set for comfort and the sunken charcoal pits and exhaust pipes extending from the ceilings set the scene for sharing – the simple art of enjoying a meal together.
While some Korean restaurants on the Coast offer buffet-style barbecue, Jango has committed to the real thing – red-hot charcoal, brought to the table for each diner to cook their own Wagyu slices, pork belly, marinated chicken or seafood, along with ample proportions of sides and housemade sauces.
“Banchan charcoal makes a big difference,” says sous chef Julius Malagayo. “It adds smokiness to the meat, and if you cook the meat with the right timing it enhances the tenderness. Gas is easy, but banchan is authentic.”
Cooking your own meat over the charcoal is made easy with support and simple advice from the passionate team.
“We tell them four minutes each side will give you medium rare,” Julius says. “Most people prefer that and we’re always here to guide them.”
If Julius is focused on the fire and the kitchen, Lillian’s role is to make the experience seamless out front. As front-of-house manager, she enjoys explaining the steps of a traditional Korean barbecue to the uninitiated.
“We show them that what goes on the grill and how the side dishes balance the flavours,” she says. “The meat is hot, so when you eat it with the cool lettuce or salad, it brings harmony to the meal.”
That careful explanation turns what could be a confusing dining ritual into something engaging and fun. It’s not just about eating, but participating, cooking, sharing, and learning. When the Hello Sunshine Magazine team dropped in for lunch recently, we discovered just that.
As the BBQ master at home, I was keen for one of the authentic Korean dishes expertly prepared in the Jango kitchen with options from sizzling hot plates to rice bowls, noodles or soup sets – most of which is offered as a Weekday lunch special for just $17!
I couldn’t go past the Korean Fried Chicken though – Yangnyeom (spiced), boneless, crisp, sticky, and with a sauce that was perfectly balanced between sweet and heat.
Deb and Ali were all-in for the Korean BBQ experience and were spoilt for choice from pork belly, marinated chicken, seafood to the highest quality MSA 5+ prime beef Wagyu with a Marble Score of 7/8.
Expertly guided by our server, they opted for the flavoursome cut of Wagyu flap and the table was soon full of side dishes – with an extra serving of Cheesy Corn, the combination of sweetcorn with smoky melted cheese too good to resist!
Once the meat arrived and they were guided on how to best cook and eat it, Ali and Deb wasted no time in getting the expertly sliced portions of Wagyu on the grill with the subtle sizzle serving as a soundscape to the conversation.
Ali enjoyed the rhythm of it all and pictured it as the perfect family outing.
“It’s such a great experience,” she said. “It gets people, especially teenagers, off their phones and around the grill, cooking, talking, keeping an eye on what’s happening, looking out for your own and each other’s meat.
“That’s the whole point, isn’t it? Being present at the table.”
Of course, Korean cuisine is about much more than meat on the grill. Jango’s menu features dishes that balance colour, flavour, and tradition.
“Bibimbap (loosely meaning ‘mixing rice’) is one of our signatures,” says Lillian. “We arrange the vegetables, carrot, cucumber, mushrooms, onion, like a flower, with meat or an egg yolk in the middle. It looks beautiful and when you mix it all together with our house-made gochujang, that spicy sauce, the flavours come alive.”
Unlike some restaurants that rely on pre-made condiments, Jango prepares all of its sauces and condiments in-house.
“We don’t buy gochujang or kimchi,” Julius points out. “We season it and create it ourselves, so it’s unique to us.”
Jango’s daily specials are an invitation to try Korean food at a more affordable price: Monday might bring a pork belly and jowl barbecue special; Tuesday a hearty soup; Wednesday Korean-style fried chicken; and Thursday a ‘fire and ice’ pairing of hot stone-pot bibimbap and cold noodles topped with beef and cucumber. Find out more online.
“The daily specials are really popular,” Lillian says. “In winter we focus on warm soups, but in summer the cold noodles are traditional and refreshing. It’s about giving people a reason to come back and try something new.”
For all the engagement of the table barbecues, the team at Jango returns repeatedly to this idea of ‘care’ and ‘deep thinking’ that’s behind the name.
“It’s not just about food,” Lillian says. “It’s about the approach, how we welcome people, how we interact. We make sure the ingredients are high quality and fresh, but most of all we want customers to feel they’ve been looked after.”
Julius nods to the same principle from the kitchen: “Even with the charcoal, we don’t overload the pots. Too much and the meat burns, too little and it dies out. There’s a standard we follow, a balance. It’s all about controlling the fire for the best customer experience.”
Two years on from opening, Jango has built a loyal following, with first-time diners returning for the flavours, the friendliness, and the sense of discovery.
“When people come in and try it for the first time, it’s new, it’s surprising,” Lillian says. “They enjoy it, and they come back. That’s what we want, not just for today, but for the long term.”
In that way, Jango really does live up to its name. Like the game that inspired it, success is about thinking deeply, planning, and staying committed to authenticity and quality.
