Electric Korean BBQ Grill for a Busy Restaurant: Malaysia Case Study

Key takeaways

An electric Korean BBQ grill uses electricity as the heat source instead of charcoal or gas. After preheating and choosing a heat level, staff do not need to manage fire at the table. This matters most in restaurants where the kitchen and dining room get busy at the same time.
Shik Gaek (食客) Korean Family Restaurant in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, has operated since 1999. Its K-BBQ tables use the MorningArt MA-2100 enclosed oven-style charcoal-fiber far-infrared grill, which has a 300×340 mm grill plate.
MorningArt grills cook with radiant heat from charcoal-fiber far-infrared heaters. They are designed to reduce smoke by keeping grease off the heat source. Hood and ventilation requirements still depend on local codes and the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ).

If you run a Korean restaurant outside Korea, or plan to open one, the hardest table to manage is often the grill table. A full Korean menu means grilling meat at the table while the kitchen sends out stews, rice dishes and a spread of banchan, the small side dishes served with every Korean meal. When staff also have to light charcoal, swap coals or watch gas flames, service quality is the first thing to suffer. This article explains how a commercial electric Korean BBQ grill removes fire management from that workload. It uses a real installation at Shik Gaek Korean Family Restaurant in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, as the example.

Why busy Korean restaurants abroad move table heat to electricity

A multi-menu Korean restaurant is more complex to run than a single-concept grill house. The kitchen prepares many side dishes, soups and rice dishes every day. The dining team handles orders, serving and meat service at the table. If table heat also depends on staff, every extra task competes for the same people.

Each traditional heat source adds its own work:

Charcoal needs time to ignite before service. During service, staff must check it regularly and replace it. Supply and quality of charcoal also vary from country to country.
Gas burners do not always hold a steady flame intensity. When meat fat drips onto a burner, combustion conditions change at the table.
Electric heating works differently. Staff preheat the grill at opening and set a heat level. After that, no one has to manage the fire during service.

For owners, the point is not just convenience. Moving fire management off the staff's task list lets the team spend that attention on meat quality and guests.

How a charcoal-fiber far-infrared grill works

MorningArt's core technology is a far-infrared heater that uses charcoal fiber, a carbon-based material, as its heating element. To see why this matters, compare it with a conventional metal-coil heater. A metal coil heats up and cooks with a mix of radiant and convective heat. When grease or moisture touches a hot coil surface, smoke and odor can form instantly.

A charcoal-fiber heater mainly emits radiant heat in the far-infrared range, because of the radiation properties of carbon materials. MorningArt combines this heater with a structure that keeps grease from dripping directly onto the heat source. Together, these features are designed to reduce combustion smoke from grease hitting a hot element. In a restaurant serving many dishes at once, this helps keep dining-room air quality more consistent from table to table.

Ventilation still has to be planned. Hood and ventilation requirements for a low-smoke indoor BBQ grill depend on the country, local codes and the approval conditions of the AHJ. Any restaurant installing tabletop grills should confirm local requirements early in the project.

Installation case: Shik Gaek Korean Family Restaurant, Johor Bahru

Shik Gaek (食客) Korean Family Restaurant is in the Taman Tebrau Jaya neighborhood of Johor Bahru, the Malaysian city just across the border from Singapore. The "Since 1999" on its sign shows it has served local diners at the same location for more than two decades.

The restaurant aims to recreate the full Korean dining experience. Its menu includes:

K-BBQ centered on samgyeopsal (pork belly) and galbi (ribs)
Jjigae (Korean stews) and set rice meals
A table full of banchan side dishes

This is exactly the kind of operation where table heat management can pull staff away from everything else.

For its K-BBQ tables, Shik Gaek chose the MorningArt MA-2100 enclosed oven-style charcoal-fiber far-infrared grill. The goal was not simply ease of use. It was to redirect the effort that fire management requires toward food quality and guest service, which is a structural answer to a structural problem in multi-menu Korean restaurants.

Installed model: MorningArt MA-2100 enclosed oven-style charcoal-fiber far-infrared electric Korean BBQ grill
Location: 185, Jalan Sri Pelangi, Taman Tebrau Jaya, 80400 Johor Bahru, Johor Darul Ta'zim, Malaysia

Inside the MA-2100: enclosed oven-style heat concentration

The MorningArt MA-2100 commercial grill for K-BBQ tables combines two features:

An enclosed oven-style, heat-concentrating structure
Double charcoal-fiber far-infrared heaters

Two heaters generate radiant heat from both sides, and the oven-shaped interior directs that heat toward the grill plate. As a result, the plate stays at a relatively even temperature across its surface. This helps meat cook without large differences between the edge and the center.

An open electric grill works differently. It places the plate on top of the heater, so part of the radiant heat escapes to the sides. The oven-style, heat-concentrating structure is specific to the MorningArt MA-2100 charcoal-fiber far-infrared grill. Other MorningArt models do not share this design.

The MA-2100 far-infrared grill's 300×340 mm plate fits a typical K-BBQ table spread. Samgyeopsal, galbi and vegetables can go on at the same time. For a restaurant that needs every table to deliver the same result, consistent heat across the plate is a practical operating advantage, not a marketing detail.

Choosing a MorningArt model for your restaurant

MorningArt builds several commercial electric Korean BBQ grills, which are called "electric roasters" in Korea, for different restaurant types and operating conditions. The MA-2100 enclosed oven-style grill suits a multi-menu Korean restaurant built around samgyeopsal and galbi, like Shik Gaek. Other models may fit better depending on your cuisine and table layout.

The table below compares structure and best-fit use rather than numbers. Plate size is listed only where the source confirms it.

Model and use	Structure and heating	Best fit	Grill plate
MA-2100 enclosed oven-style K-BBQ grill	Heat-concentrating enclosed oven-style structure, double charcoal-fiber far-infrared heaters	Korean BBQ restaurants built around pork belly and ribs; multi-menu Korean restaurants	300×340 mm
MA-1000 compact yakiniku grill	Compact build, charcoal-fiber far-infrared heater	Yakiniku-style and one-person grilling; small tables	Contact us for specifications
MA-2500 all-round commercial grill	General-purpose charcoal-fiber far-infrared grill	General commercial use across many restaurant types	Contact us for specifications
MA-3000 large grill for eel restaurants	Large build, far-infrared heater	Eel restaurants (Korean jang-eo eel is grilled whole or in long fillets at the table) and wide tables	Contact us for specifications
MA-3300 low-smoke grill for North America	Smoke-reduction design developed for North American certification requirements	Restaurants in markets where North American certification standards apply	Contact us for specifications

Detailed specifications for each model are available on request.

The engineering history behind the technology

MorningArt Co., Ltd. has been developing electric grills since 1998. In 2000, MorningArt developed MIRACOOK, the world's first far-infrared electric roaster. Since then, the company has built its product line around charcoal-fiber heating elements.

Key milestones and records include:

2016: Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy selected MorningArt's charcoal-fiber heating-element electric roaster as a World Class Product.
Patents: MorningArt holds 15 patents related to electric roasters.
Global use: MorningArt grills have been exported to and used in 40+ countries.
Installations: MorningArt grills have been installed in 38,000+ establishments (cumulative).

This installation experience in real restaurants is the practical evidence behind the design choices described above.

FAQ

Q. Why do Korean restaurants outside Korea choose an electric Korean BBQ grill instead of charcoal or gas?

Charcoal supply varies by country, and lighting, replacing and managing smoke from charcoal can be hard to handle in local conditions. An electric grill replaces the fuel with electricity, and staff can set and hold the heat level, which reduces fire management in a multi-menu operation. In our view, the benefit grows the more dishes a restaurant serves besides BBQ, as at Shik Gaek.

Q. Do I still need a hood or ventilation system with a low-smoke electric grill?

MorningArt grills are designed to reduce smoke by keeping grease from dripping directly onto the charcoal-fiber far-infrared heat source. Whether a hood or a specific ventilation setup is required depends on local codes and the approval conditions of the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ). Confirm these requirements with your local authority and kitchen designer before finalizing your layout.

Q. Can restaurants in Malaysia or other countries buy MorningArt grills and get after-sales support?

MorningArt grills have been exported to and used in 40+ countries, and there are many supply cases for Korean restaurants overseas. Supply terms and after-sales support arrangements can differ by country. Contact MorningArt directly to confirm the details for your market.

Talk to MorningArt about your restaurant

Planning a K-BBQ, yakiniku or grill restaurant, or sourcing equipment as a distributor? Our team can help you choose the right electric Korean BBQ grill for your menu, table layout and local requirements.

Email: info@morningart.co.kr
Phone: +82-32-822-9220
Website: https://en.morningart.co.kr

This article is also available in Korean: 한국어로 읽기

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