Korean BBQ Southport | Yi Dynasty Gold Coast

A few people told me to try Yi Dynasty for proper Korean BBQ Southport locals actually rate, so I finally booked a table on a Thursday night. I wasn’t expecting it to be this busy midweek — every table was full, the grills were going, and there was a real buzz in the room I wasn’t quite ready for on a “quiet” night out.

Even with how packed it was, staff sat me and took my order quickly. The table-side grilling started almost as soon as my order went in, which I appreciated — nothing worse than sitting there hungry waiting for the cooking to begin.

What I Ordered at Yi Dynasty

I wanted to try a bit of everything rather than just sticking to the grill, so I went with:

• Vegetable Deep Fried Dumplings (6pcs) —that comes with a white mayo dipping sauce. Crispy, well portioned for one person to snack on before the mains landed.
• Stir-Fried Teriyaki Chicken with Rice — a simple, familiar plate that worked well as a middle-ground dish next to everything else I’d ordered.
• Pork Bone Hangover Soup (Haejangguk) — a slow, rich broth with pork that just fell apart. Spice built up gradually rather than hitting all at once.
• Brisket Noodle Soup, with hand-cut noodles that had a proper chew, and brisket sliced thin enough to actually soak up the broth.
• Cold Noodles (Naengmyeon) — icy, sharp, and honestly a smart order on a warm night, it cut through the heavier dishes well.
• Kimchi Pancake (Kimchi Jeon) — crispy on the edges, and the first thing gone off the table.

The Standout: Shabu Shabu

If I had to pick one dish to order again, it’d be the Shabu Shabu Meat & Seafood & Vege Set. It’s a full table-side hot pot — beef, pork and fresh seafood cooking away in the broth with a mix of vegetables, plus hand-cut noodles, ramen, rice cakes, fish cakes, and a full side of banchan. Once the broth’s soaked up all that flavour, they finish it with porridge, I hadn’t seen another Korean BBQ Southport spot do that

Korean BBQ at Yi Dynasty

The tableside BBQ is really what I came for, and it’s what I’d come back to Yi Dynasty for again. It’s less about food being delivered to you and more about the process — cooking it yourself, passing plates around, timing everything while the conversation keeps going.

If you haven’t done Korean BBQ before: every table at Yi Dynasty has its own cast-iron grill built in. That’s different from the thin metal plates a lot of other places use — cast iron holds heat more evenly, so the meat actually sears instead of steaming through. Small detail, but it makes a real difference to the bite.

More Than Just the Gril

What surprised me most was how much menu there was beyond BBQ. Between hot pot, soups, and casual dishes like sweet soy chicken, cheese buldak, tteokbokki, udon and Korean fried chicken, it clearly suits a table where not everyone wants the same thing  — which probably explains why I saw a few groups of students in there too, grabbing something affordable between classes.

Would I Go Back?

Yes — though I’d book ahead next time. Walking in on a Thursday and getting a table for 5 felt like it could easily have gone the other way given how full it was. Given the amount of food that came out, it felt like a solid outing for a group our size.

YI DYNASTY KOREAN BBQ