WELCOME to my blog post about probably one of my favourite places in Sydney ever. I love Korean food and BBQ, I love AYCE buffets, and I absolutely love Se Jong in Campsie who combine the two. I remember the first time I was introduced to this place . It was for dinner with the family on my 18th birthday and I had an exam which I didn't study for the next day. But foregoing that little bit of study and stuffing my belly with all this delicious food? No regrats, not a single letter 😂
Since then, I have only been back a few times because it is quite expensive and the prices keep going up but every dollar is worth it. This place is QUALITY. They are also very clean, abundant in choices and frequently restock each offering in the buffet. For dinner buffet, there are a variety of Korean food choices which I will show in this post as well as the Korean BBQ option. For the lunch buffet there is no Korean BBQ option but I still highly recommend it because the food is so fresh and amazing!
I also highly recommend you call and make a booking because I have made the mistake of showing up with a group before and being turned away because there was already so many people waiting ahead of us. Se Jong is wildly popular. The price we paid at the time of eating here recently was $38pp for the dinner buffet but I did see a sign up saying their prices were increasing to $40pp and I think that is currently in effect.
The place as mentioned is very popular and crowdy. We are seated on a large table that has only 1 grill to share between 6 people. We're also furthest from the buffet but the place isn't huge so it's not a massive problem. There are also tables in the front outside. The entire place is very smokey but make sure your plans accomodate for the smell clinging to your clothes hehe.
Service is pretty nice as they do kind of often come around to change your grill plate for a cleaner one, and clear your used dishes.
I'll walk you guys through some of the offerings Se Jong Korean BBQ Buffet has to offer now! I think that they do sometimes change around and offer different things but this is a basic idea of what to expect.
MEATS
There is a great range of meat from beef, pork and chicken. I think there is a good selection of KBBQ favourites such as marinated ribs, spicy chicken, ox tongue, and pork belly. Some meats are slightly frozen and plain while others are marinated and my favourite is the marinated bulgogi and short & long beef ribs! The marinade is flavoursome and delicious. The cuts of meat are pretty good as well but definitely don't expect any Wagyu quality marbling etc :)
SEAFOOD
Tonight there was mussels, prawns, squid and baby octopus! I personally don't reach for many of these but they did look pretty good. It's a popular choice amongst diners and I noticed these got restocked the fastest! Love a restaurant that doesn't go stingy on restocking the seafood.
SUSHI
Pretty empty looking display of sushi because honestly these were quite popular as well. There was also nigiri sushi and I loved the prawn and imitation crab ones. Not the best sushi but it's pretty good, like what you would expect from many of Sydney's sushi stores and enough to make your cravings feel satisfied. Seafood is fresh, no warm, weird or fishy tastes. There is soy sauce and wasabi on the side for you to take if you like!
COLD SELECTIONS + SIDES
You can see a lot of Korean barchan options here! They have kimchi (which was actually quite good being not too raw and not too sour), spicy green onions, and blanched bean sprouts. Then there are also mushrooms, potato and carrot slices, lettuce ... typical veggies they offer you in the basket or plate when you order KBBQ. Unfortunately this is the first time this happened but the lettuce wasn't washed properly at all and we found some bugs in it. We went to get new lettuce but it's a shame that happened and also a waste of lettuce.
Anyway interestingly enough they also have little tin foil cups with a mixture of cream, onions, corn, peas, and mozzarella cheese which you pop on top of your grill for a minute until the cheese melts and then you eat it. Never had this before but it was sweet and yummy!
HOT FOOD
Honestly I didn't go near this much to pick up anything for myself because uhh... I usually just come back for more meats, but from memory this section had things like grilled veggies, spicy octopus stir fry, Korean sweet and sour pork, fried chicken, and creamy fish. On our table we had the fried chicken which wasn't the best or anything special, but still good!
EDAMAME
As much edamame as your heart desires! I love these little pods!!!
NOODLES
There is a large plate of Japchae (Korean potato noodles) which are bit oilier than I'm used to... but it's sesame oil so it's still delicious. Above which is not pictured in the photo above is bowls of buckwheat noodles and you can add in the cold broth yourself. Very much cold soba. I picked that up and the broth is a bit bland but it's still nice and refreshing for your meal!
SALADS
Nice range of salads which funnily enough, not a lot of people come to. I had some the leafy green one to the left and it's definitely washed better than the lettuce in the cold selections area so safe to say, it's all good here.
RICE AND SOUP
I don't know why I took a picture of these when I should have taken a photo of the two tanks to the right. This is just rice I think, but to the right is two choices of soup. One is Korean seaweed soup and I can't remember the other... maybe hot & sour?
CONDIMENTS
You can grab utensils, napkins, sauce plates and condiments here in this neat little section. I really love the ssamjang sauce (orange pot in the middle) here because it is so garlicky and goes perfectly with every meat and wrap! The sweet soy sauce is also great being salty, sweet and a thick syrupy consistency.
ICE CREAM
They only offer Vanilla ice cream and I think it's the cheap homebrand one but its perfect for post KBBQ feasting and sometimes I even grab a bowl in between because why not :) The freezer is also super cold so your ice cream whilst hard to scoop, is really solid, cold and satisfying.
DESSERT
They don't have anything like different petit cuts of cake but they two have fruits (watermelon and oranges), Korean candied sweet potato (a must try!), and some Asian cookies. Come to think of it, this is a very typical Asian way to end the meal.
DRINKS
Table water is free, soft drinks and alcohol would require extra payment but then there is this station that offers sikhye and tea/coffee. Sikhye is a traditional Korean rice and malt drink. The girls and I go back to this station a lot as the drink is cool and refreshing and said to alleviate a bloated stomach! It tastes sweet and malty and at the bottom of your drink there are softened rice grains. Yum!
FEASTING.
Hope you all enjoyed this blog post and have a good idea of what to expect when you come to Se Jong! I highly recommend it and if I haven't mentioned it already it's one of my favourites!
TL;DR:
Price: Expensive but it's all set
Quality: Good, frequent refills
Service: Fast
Ambience: Smoky, busy
Se Jong Korean BBQ Buffet
8 London St,
Campsie NSW 2194
Open 7 days a week
Lunch: 11:30AM - 2:30PM
Dinner: 5PM - 10PM
