Korean BBQ in Bangkok: how a Hwaro table works

화로 is the Korean word for the small brazier that once sat at the centre of a family table, and the brand is named after it. The pan is a shallow cast-iron griddle rather than a bare bar grill, and that changes the meal: garlic, kimchi and rice cake cook in the fat that renders off the pork instead of dropping through into the fire.

Everything shares one hot surface, so by the middle of the meal the pan smells like a whole dinner rather than like meat on its own. Korean tabletop barbecue seared on a cast-iron griddle over a table stove, with free-flowing banchan, fresh wrapping vegetables and kimchi in the true gogi-jip style.

Five moves, in this order, at any Hwaro table.

1. 01

   The pan heats

   A cast-iron griddle goes over the stove set into your table. It is heated before anything touches it, which is why the first piece sears instead of stewing.

2. 02

   The meat goes on

   Pork belly and pork shoulder, samgyeopsal and moksal, are the house cuts. They are laid out on the pan with garlic, kimchi and rice cake so everything cooks in the same fat.

3. 03

   The table fills around it

   Fresh wrapping vegetables and banchan, the small Korean side dishes, arrive beside the pan. Asking for a refill is normal and expected.

4. 04

   You wrap and eat

   Take a leaf, add a piece of meat straight off the pan, add a little kimchi or sauce, fold it closed and eat it in one bite. The wrap is the point of the meal, not a garnish.

5. 05

   Rice or noodles close it

   A griddle set brings ramyeon, rice pots and banchan for the whole tray. In Korea the starch usually lands at the end of a barbecue, once the pan has done its work.

Both. In a Korean barbecue room the cooking happens at the table and guests turn most of it themselves. The team starts the pan, helps with the first turn and swaps out a griddle that has done its work. If you are not sure when a piece is ready, ask. Nobody in a Korean BBQ room expects a guest to already know.

Two things you are meant to use rather than admire: the fresh wrapping vegetables and the banchan, both refilled generously. The leaves exist to be folded around meat, and the side dishes belong throughout the meal rather than before it. A Korean table is built to be reached across.

All 4 sit inside shopping malls, which makes them easy to reach and easy to park at. Each branch answers its own line.

• Central Ladprao4th floor, Chatuchak, Bangkok093-036-8282
• The Mall NgamwongwanGround floor, Ngamwongwan, Nonthaburi064-741-8282
• Central Pinklao5th floor, Pinklao, Bangkok062-058-8282
• The Mall BangkapiGround floor, Bangkapi, Bangkok064-785-8282

The Hwaro brand page carries the full record for each table, and every branch the family runs is on the locations page.

It is built for one. A griddle in the middle of a table is a shared object: one pan, one fire, everyone reaching. For a large booking, the Group Order Center takes calls on 02-662-2268, and the branch will answer its own number too.

Same family, different vessel. The Bibimbab is the original table of the family: a Korean house-cuisine brand opened in Bangkok in 2010, serving dolsot bibimbap, soups and the Korean classics across Thailand under The Bibimbab Co., Ltd. Hwaro is the fire: a griddle at the table, meat cooked in front of you, and a room that is louder for it. Visit The Bibimbab for the stone-bowl side of the family, or read how to eat dolsot bibimbap for the method that goes with it.