A Stylish Korean Nightclub-Themed BBQ Joint in Taichung: Huge Meat Platters with Chicken Soup!

Text & Photos /Burnout Nurse

While it’s not hard to spot plenty of barbecue restaurants along Gongyi Road in Taichung, one with an oversized Korean signboard—kako kako Japanese-Korean BBQ—really stands out. What’s even more special is its stylish Korean nightclub vibe, complete with pub-like music, a spacious, fashionable, and bright interior, plus a unique Korean smoking pipe. It’s just super cool!

The name kako kako comes from ?(ka)?!? ??裹 汗羌缝 (Let’s go eat BBQ!) and宪!(kol) (Sure!). It might seem confusing at first glance, but simply put, it means “Let’s go eat BBQ!”—yes, that’s right, let’s go eat BBQ!

Aside from the spacious interior that had the burnout nurse staring in awe upon arrival, there’s also a trendy runway for pork belly. Once inside, another particularly noteworthy feature is… the space is huge!! Dining here doesn’t feel cramped or uncomfortable at all. Groups of friends can chat freely, and with the music playing, it’s nearly impossible for neighboring tables to overhear your little secrets~

▲ Pork belly fashion runway—best brought along with a group of mischievous friends for a pork belly show.

Upon entering, you’ll find the space is large, but the number of tables isn’t as many as you’d expect. It feels like working here would require legs that never tire—the whole restaurant is practically an employee’s workout arena!

But for customers, you don’t have to rub shoulders with strangers or overhear every detail of someone’s mother-in-law woes, how annoying or detestable she is—you really couldn’t care less. You’re here with friends to chat, but instead, you end up smiling politely, unable to even mutter a complaint, afraid of being recorded…

But at kako kako, you don’t have to worry about that. Basically, you can still see what’s going on at the next table (your eyes aren’t blind), but you won’t hear any overly intimate conversations. This dining environment truly lets you dine in comfort, even with a beer belly.

▲ As soon as you sit down, everyone bursts out laughing at the seat cushions—you’re about to sit on pork belly!

For the menu, there are both set meals and à la carte options. However, many customers previously mentioned they couldn’t get full, so the owner, angered by the feedback, increased the portion sizes. That day, four people shared a three-person set meal and were absolutely stuffed. Plus, the kimchi is refillable unlimited times.

Scanning through the menu, although meat portions aren’t labeled by weight, the selection is quite generous. The beef is prime quality, paired with Yilan cherry duck, the rice is Koshihikari, the squid is of sashimi-grade from Japan, and the shrimp is 5P grade—only five per jin. Just reading this, you can tell the ingredients are top-notch!

▲ Korean BBQ isn’t complete without cheese!

▲ Hotpot with cheese? Pretty great, huh~

What’s fun about this place is that while you see all these very Korean items—grill, kimchi, scallions, plates, and chopsticks—the owner dislikes “heaviness,” so the meats incorporate refined Japanese elements. That means no thick triple-layer pork belly, only delicate marbling like in Japanese-style BBQ, plus a pot of warm chicken soup.

▲ First up: a side salad. This portion was just right for three people.

▲ Along with king oyster mushrooms, there’s also the less common zucchini.

▲ Koshihikari rice—served one bowl per person, but there was so much meat that the rice barely got touched!

As everyone chatted quietly, the first plate of meat arrived: boneless chicken thigh and cherry duck breast. Even before trying anything, just seeing the vibrant color of the ingredients made us feel hopeful—it looked delicious.

While we were still chatting, the server came over to grill the meat for us. Were we just that good-looking? Looking around, it seemed like servers helped everyone—not just us. Okay, fine, but let’s be honest, our handsomeness is undeniable. Soon, the chicken was grilled to perfection. What—how did it finish so fast? We were just chatting and scrolling our phones!

The plate also had a piece of cherry duck meat... k8, I hadn’t even taken a photo yet, and the server silently added three more pieces. From now on, we had to keep a close eye on things, because once it’s grilled, it might be served before we even snap a shot.

Ahhh—just as I bent down to eat the duck, the chicken was moved aside and the grill was switched. I wanted to take a picture of the grilled chicken!!! “Uh, let me plate it for you.”

Honestly, we could’ve done it ourselves, but the chicken was already arranged in an intricate five-elements formation. Quietly, we moved it back into a more scattered style, paired with the most photogenic angle after the cheese melted. Yes, perfect!

“Got the photo? Let me change the grill for you.” We just changed it??

“Oh—it’s because the grill for BBQ and the one for chicken are different. Beef doesn’t need as high a temperature, so they’re not the same.” (Internally, we’re thinking: the server just loves switching grills.)

Not long after the new grill arrived, up came a… three-layer pork belly. On top were Korean-glazed beef short ribs, tenderloin, and more beef short ribs. You can see how gorgeous the marbling on that prime-grade beef is!

▲ The portion of beef short ribs is seriously generous.

▲ Beef belly.

▲Additional order of diaphragm meat

▲Pork collar

▲Matsusaka pork

At first, seeing the meat presented on a three-tiered afternoon tea stand, we were pleased by its marbling. But then, when beef belly, Matsusaka pork, and pork collar were also served, all four of us instantly had that "deer in headlights" look and kept asking the owner if this was really enough for three people?? The owner replied, "Because previous customers complained about not getting full, the boss got fed up and just upped the portions." Be careful with how strongly you leave comments, folks—this time, the overworked team felt a bit like victims of those very comments.

I heard there’s also seafood and dessert!? (￣∇￣) But why did we even order more diaphragm meat? Suddenly, I felt a bit sad………

Although the portion of meat was really quite large, the texture was actually delicious. Thankfully, they provided Korean-style lettuce to wrap the meat and kimchi together—it felt healthy and not overly heavy, which is one of the shop’s specialties—you can enjoy elements of both Japanese and Korean BBQ here.

Later on, we were too full to even take photos of the food, but one thing I have to share is that "this place loves changing the grill grates." They switch them out the moment they get a little black, to the point where we almost wanted to stop them. And the raw-grade squid? It tasted amazing—so good that even after eating so much meat, your taste buds still appreciate it.

Other places might use 10-count shrimp for better-quality BBQ, but here they use 5-count, meaning there are only five shrimp per jin (500g). Naturally, the size is pretty impressive—the visual impact alone is just satisfying.

While chatting and eating, we sat down at 6 PM and finally got ice desserts at 9 PM……… Just look how tired we were from eating—and talking so much. When the ice desserts arrived, everyone burst out laughing again. Boss, how afraid are you that your guests won’t get full???

It’s shaved ice, but it’s almost as smooth as snowflake ice, filled with the bitter-sweetness of Oiwaen matcha. From the first bite to the last, it’s all about the matcha. This is truly a unique dessert to end the meal—apart from being huge.

All in all, we were really full by the end, and that’s considering it was a three-person set split among four adults. Both the texture of the meat and the dining atmosphere are highly recommended for anyone who wants to try yakiniku or have a group meal. It’s genuinely delicious.

kako kako Japanese-Korean BBQ – Taichung Gongyi Flagship Store

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Location: No. 294, Gongyi Road, West District, Taichung City
Phone: 04 2320 9111
Business Hours: 12:00–01:00

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