GyuJin    牛陣  

This is a convenient location for a meal right after watching a movie in this mall. Saw the poster of $88/person all-you-can-eat beef and pork Japanese Hotpot. Didn't think my boyfriend (never adventurous for food) would agree to try, but he said yes because he thought he will have to start getting used to Japanese food for our Japan trip in July.

Can't really eat a lot in 60 minutes, but we were pretty full after 2 plates of beef, 2 plates of pork and plentiful of vegetable. We both prefer the pork because it was tender and rich in flavor. On the other hand, the beef was pretty tasteless probably because it was quite lean. There were 3 types of fresh green vegetables, 2 types of noodles and lots of other all-you-can eat items as well. For the price, we weren't offered the premium quality meat but no complain from my side at all. He didn't really care about the hotpot but must have been quite happy about the unlimited Häagen-Dazs ice-cream.

We were there for dinner on 17:00. Nobody there. But the taste of pork was very good in first dish but the rest they add more oilly meat
Make the taste different. But the bean sours was good and ice cream was ok
Verity of veggetable
We try in spice soup and white soup both are ok.
The window view were very nice

Went to iSquare with friends for lunch between class time. Saw that they had an all-you-can-eat deal and thought we'd try.
The all-you-can-eat for 60 minutes was $88 for normal beef and pork $108 for better beef and pork, and then $208 for Japanese beef (wagyu). Need to add more money for the sukiyaki, the soya bean, or the mixed soup bases (per person). The vegetables and noodles were laid out buffet style, the beef and pork had to be ordered. If you restrict yourself to 1 plate of meat (150g), you're looking at about $30 cheaper for the normal and better beef, and $80 cheaper for the wagyu.
First thing that annoyed us - we were a group of 6, but 2 of us haven't arrived yet. We asked if we could sit down first, but they said no - the 60 minutes start counting down the moment you sit down. If the restaurant was super busy then that's fair because the restaurant has to turn tables around, but there was no one waiting! We didn't understand why we couldn't sit down, and have them start the 60 minutes once they take our order.

Second thing that annoyed us - we had about 5-10 minutes left on the clock, but the staff came by and asked us to pay first, and told us we had 6 minutes left. We were busy eating, so she came by again and said we had to pay first, and that we and 2 minutes left. That really ruined things - a reminder once, say 10 minutes before the end, would be fine. But here, the reminders and exactness of time shows how stingy the restaurant's policy is.

The final draw - they started cleaning up right when time was up, to try to get us to leave. We already knew our time is up, so we thought that meant we couldn't order more meat or get more vegetables or noodles from the buffet. We were a bit annoyed they tried to clean up so fast, especially since there was no one waiting for tables. We had our food cooked in the pot and turned it off, thinking we could sit around for a little bit more to finish eating the food. BUT NO - THEY TOOK THE POT AWAY. That's too extreme, and a waste of food on their part! We were planning to finish off the vegetables and things in the pot.
On a side note, I felt like the beef wasn't consistent - the first plate looked good, but the subsequent plates looked like normal beef, not the better beef that we ordered. It was like they were trying to cheat us out of what we ordered. Also, the seating arrangement was mediocre. We were a party of 6 in a booth, which made it inconvenient for everyone to go out to the buffet. It was also stupid that there was only one pot to share amongst the 6 of us.
For $120 (including service), it was mediocre. It wasn't a pleasurable dining experience, with the super-strict stingy policy and food wastage.

My friends and I came here for lunch. They have a great deal. You order a plate of meat for about $78 HKD and you get to have all you can eat at the vegetable bar. Some choices include: tofu products, lettuce, spinach, fish, lotus roots, pumpkin, mushrooms, noodles, just to name a few. The meat is standard beef slices. It's thin, tender, and fresh.

We ordered the Japanese style soup base, which is slightly on the sweet side. There's also an option to order the all you can eat meat dishes, but that might be a bit much, unless you have a really big appetite. Also, if you have enough room left over, there's also ice cream!!

I went to this restaurant because Ms.A likes beef so much and we found that their lunch buffet is quite cheap compared to the other restaurants in isquare.
However, we didnt notice that the buffet can at most last for 1 hour and after that they will force you to leave.

We ordered beef and hotpot buffet, beef can be refilled on command and other ingredients like fish ball, sasuages, different kind of mushrooms and vegetables, wudon and oily noodles, fish and rice. They provide haggendaz ice-cream ( choco, strawberry, coffee and vanilla) which we thought is the most attractive thing.

Overall, their food is just so-so. Indeed, I was quite disappointed by their beef which was too tough. They haven't filled our water too. However, they refilled the food outside quickly and also zealous to ask you to leave as they asked you to pay the check 15 minsand force you to leave the table 5 mins before the 1 hr limit .

I will definitely not come back as their waiters are rude and annoying.
Food is also not impressive.

Not worth it to try.

I was going there with my girl friend for lunch. The smell of the soup base can literally lure you to enter and eat right away . And the lineup wasn't too long.

I have to admit that the food is not so bad. But don't order the $58 beef set, I went there 2 times and the raw beef color shows that it's not too fresh.

Here comes the worst part. The buffet is limited to 1 hour and they ask for payment at 45 minutes. Then, 10 minutes later, the manager (WITHOUT asking) push away my chopsticks and take hot pot away. I was very shocked and don't know what just happened. My friend comes back with the icecream and ask me why i look so shocked. The manager comes back and say he can only give me few minutes to eat icecream.

I would be appreciated if he just ask me to leave. It is not necessary to push off my chopstick and take away the pot. Plus, I still have 5 minutes left. I would never believe the restaurant would kick people out until this day. This is the worst service I have ever seen!!!!

Very disappointed with the beef particularly the Saga beef they served. Tried Saga beef a few times in Japan as well as in Hong Kong, this is probably the most disappointing experience - tasteless and 又硬 The service was efficient and the decor is fine though.

we were shopping around isquare and want to look for a place to have lunch.
we finally chose this restaurant bcos this is hotpot.

once we walked into the restaurant, a waitress answered in a very rude manner.
but later on a waiter presented the menu for us which is good.

the taste isn't good at all. but the price is acceptable.
i think most of the restaurants can provide this standard of food.

as one of the selling point of this restaurant is the ice cream of haagen-daz,
i can say u better buy a cup of this in the supermarket.
bcos the fridge is always opened for people to take, the texture of the ice cream is a bitweird.

i wont recommend this restaurant to people.

First of all, while making reseravtion the operater didn't mention there is a time limit for lunch hours. So as we arrived the place, we were told we had only AN hour to eat. Well, it's a little bit rush for people who are slow eater. As the hour goes, on the menu it stated waiter/ress will remind you have 15 mins more to go, but in real life there isn't anyone to remind you at all. What the operator did is that she brought the bill over and said your dinning time is up, please pay for you bill. After paying the bill, we chat for a while, the waitress came again and said your dinning time is up, which means you have to leave. We thought there is a long line up at the door, but as we exit the place, there weren't anyone at all!!!! The beef isn't that great at ALL!

So five of us came to try out their all you can eat shabu shabu. Since my reservations made earlier failed, we were lucky to arrive early enough for their 8.15pm round. There are a couple rules you must abide by here...
Rule 1: 90 mins eating time.
Rule 2: Must order the same 'set' i.e. if one diner on your table orders the Australian Wagyu with Soymilk Hotpot, then everyone else must have the same.
Rule 3: Be strategic and don't waste!

We opted for the Gyu Jin Supreme Shabu Shabu Course, priced at $148 per adult. The soup base was a clear (fish) broth, not particularly salty or sweet.

A plate of 'supreme beef', pork loin and pork belly shortly arrived. The beef when raw looked fresh and red, but after cooking the lack of marbling in the beef meant it was quite tough... The pork loin and pork belly was better in our opinion!

We also went to the table at the centre of the restaurant, where there was plain or fried rice, fresh udon or ramen, ramen or udon in packs, fish balls, pork meat balls, sausages, seafood and vegetables. Ah, and soy / sesame sauces for you to make your own concoctions.... Needless to say, we sampled nearly everything.

Worthy of mention was the fried rice with beef which was subtle in saltiness but had a 'beefy' taste and was generally not bad. The ramen and udon noodles which came in plastic packs were also very good if not overdone - ramen was springy and udon was nice and al dente.

The seafood was fair, the assortment of vegetables better - they had cabbage, chinese vegetables, radish, pumpkin, variety of mushrooms, bean sprouts etc. Thanks to the boys our second and third rounds of meat were mostly cleared! =)

To round off our meal we had some haagen daz ice cream which tonight they had in vanilla, strawberry and coffee.

Gyu Jin is a fun restaurant if you want to 'cook' your own food, and you can leave without stinking from the hot pot. Would return to try the more premium beef, but not for the 'course' we chose!

[For more pictures and original post see http://gastronomerr.blogspot.com/2010/07/gyu-jin-isquare.html]

FOR REFERENCE PHOTOS, PLEASE VISIT MY SUPPLEMENTARY BLOG WHEN I UPDATE IT LATER.

I heard 牛陣 was promoting an All-You-Can-Eat, authentic Kobe Beef Shabu-shabu course to promote their newly opened K-11 shop. Knowing this chain is run by Japanese-owned 但馬屋, one of the most reliable World Beef importers which our group of friends always purchase from, we were not perturbed in giving them a trial run!

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1...
There are around 5 Levels of Beef Quality Available. 1) Normal, 2) Better, 3) Wagyu, 4) Better Wagyu, *5) Promotional only Kobe Beef.
2..
The normal 3) Wagyu ($2XX) and Better-Quality 4) Wagyu ($328) use the cheaper cut from Belly and Brisket part. Its something I don't like eating !
3..
The Kobe Wagyu ($450), which is of the real Hyogo prefecture steer, is a little more expensive, however I decided to order this after asking which muscle cut they use and they said its sourced from along the Back - which usually carries the more expensive cuts. Worth a gamble, as I don't like Wagyu Brisket. When this arrived, it was pretty good indeed. But truth be told, I couldn't work out which muscle this comes from since I have little experience with visually judging various Wagyu cuts. I figured its not the Chuck because that usually has a lot of sinewy tendons, despite appearing to be very marbled - I hate Wagyu Chuck cuts, its deceiving! It looks a little like a Topside or Rump but closer to the Sirloin? Who cares!
4..
Beef taste was quite strong, very well marbled. The only let-down is that, they were shaved so thin.... you can't taste much eating them 1 piece at a time. I hate thin beef! So I cooked them 3-4 pieces at a time to compensate!
5..
Other stuff like Scallops, Fish, Vegies, Noodles, Haagen Dazs Ice-Creams were all refillable, tried a bit of these and they were really high quality too.
6..
The biggest weakness of ordering the most Expensive Kobe Beef Set, is that you can surprisingly only choose 1 Soup Base, rather than a Hybrid - to me, this doesn't make sense mate!

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I know I should not have succumbed, but I ordered the sweetish Sukiyaki flavoured soup that night - even though its just Sukiyaki-Flavoured-Shabu rather than real Sukiyaki-Sukiyaki! I normally don't like Sukiyaki much at all whether its the Shabu or real Sukiyaki versions, but since our friends just made a home-style Sukiyaki not long before using very expensive beef and the Best Sauce available imported from Japan, which was awesome, we were keen to make a direct comparison! In hindsight, I should have picked the Konbu version (normally $20 cheaper, but not for this set, strange!) or Soy Milk version. Yet as pointed out above - this wouldn't even be an issue if the Gyujin shop got rid of that stupid rule of allowing only 1 soup rather than 2 soup-bases for their most expensive set! >.<

I don't know how to rate this meal fairly: I didn't think it was spectacular nor exciting for me, considering the Soup base selection was restricted to 1 and also the way the Wagyu were sliced way too thinly! Having said that, it was certainly Value for Money - seeing how perfectly marbled and meaty each one of these Kobe Beef were, and they did not cheat by given worser quality towards the end either!

Around High '3' to High '4'.
Read what you want from this review!

Five of us came for the birthday dinner of our friend.

There were around 5 levels of meat you cn choose and 3 soup bases.

Meat- Ordinary Australian Beef, better beef, Australian wagyu, better Australian wagyu and Japanese Wagyu. Each level of beef came with a comparable level of kurobata pork.
Soup - sukiyaki, soy milk and clear broth.

We had the better australia wagyu for $278 a person for 90 mins.

-sukiyaki 湯底略為太甜
-soy milk 湯底 quite ok. Good with pork

As with many other customers comments on Kwun Tong Gyu Jin site, it seem like the beef quality gets lower as you order more refills. But the change is not too obvious. Beef was fatty and in-line with general Australian wagyu you get else where.

The meat are machine cut thin. I think for better texture the beef should be cut thicker. Maybe thin cut just looks like they are giving you more.

They also have side dish bar in the middle of the restaurant for vegetable, noodles and ice cream.

夠鐘前約十至十五分鐘左右，店員會禮貌地提你last order.

Decoration is modern, and the restaurant is clean. Service is amicable, we did not experience any rudeness.

Overall, this is a decent place to eat after movies or shopping in iSquare.