Milliore Restaurant, Korean, Chinatown, Sydney

I get the feeling Milliore Restaurant was originally set up to serve the local student students because the prices are reasonable for a CBD location.  It's authentic too, with an extensive menu, fair servings and fast service from young, friendly staff.

However, being the closest restaurant to the Capitol Theatre they're attracting a different crowd, you often see the theatre crowd breeze in for a quick meal before the show.

Tonight I'm with a big group of friends and we're seriously hungry.  The fried dumplings worked for me, crispy pastry covering pipping hot mince filling.  The fat and the meat instantly quelling my hunger.

Bassim Korean BBQ, Strathfield

Go to Korean BBQ if you love your meat and have no intimate plans for the evening.  The meat comes out pre-marinated, whether it's beef, ribs, chicken  or a variety of other meats.  Often they come out in long strips and need to be rolled out and cut with the tongs and scissors provided.

You expect unlimited kim chi at most places, however, the choices are limited, Bassim is particularly generous with variety, tonight we got cabbage, onion, shredded radish, shallots, plus a side dish of lettuce, cucumber, carrots and garlic.  It's the liberal use of delicious garlic in Korean dishes that renders you instantly unpopular on the dance floor (you've been warned).

And the telescopic metal tube that lurkes over your table like something out of Dr Who does an amazingly effective job of removing the smoke and bbq smells.  While it gives the entire restaurant an industrial look, this thing does an amazingly effective job.



The other thing that really impresses noodlies at Bassim is their staff.  Firstly, they weren't understaffed.  We're immediately and enthusiastically greeted at the door and shown to our table.  The kim chi comes out instantly as does the coal for our bbq.  And your order is taken promptly.  They're discreet, but very efficient, our kim chi was re-filled promptly.

We ordered beef and chicken for our bbq.  The beef was marinated in a sweet soy sauce that flavoured the meat but didn't drown out the beef taste.  While the chicken was marinated bright orange, with marinade on the sweeter side.  Cooked properly (you're the chef) and the beef is tender and juicy, the chicken tends to be a little drier on the outside but soft and cooked iniside.

Our den jang soup is probably the best I've had for a long time.  The main flavour is driven from fermented bean paste, the soup is salty and smoky, with good consistency.  It's milder in taste and spice than it sounds but the den jang still packs plenty of flavour.

Have you had den jang before? How would you describe the taste?

It's hard to fault this place, great food, fast efficient service, young and enthusiastic staff and enough tables to save us from queueing at 6pm on a Friday evening.  Oh, and the price is relatively reasonable, too.

Noodlies Sydney food blog was very, very impressed

Bassim Korean Restaurant
Shop 252, 20-34 Albert Rd, Strathfield
(entrance cnr Raw Square and Churchill Ave)
(02) 8756 5689

Ceci Korean Restaurant, Strathfield

Will Korea eventually rule the world?

That wasn't a question on my mind when I embarked on a four week Asia Eating Tour recently, but it was top of mind by the time I came back.

Even though the tour covered Cambodia, Hong Kong, Macau and Thailand, even there I could see the strong Korean cultural influence.  Channel V Asia, which has over taken MTV as the purveyor of music across the continent was pushing K-pop big time, their artist of the month a Korean boy band JYJ produced by Kanye West.



My personal favourite is another boy band, 2PM and their very catchy song, "Again and Again".  A quick youtube search finds me the stunning video clip (above), which has so far amassed almost 6.4m views.

And of course, Korean soaps, famous for their pessimistic tone is dubbed into most Asian languages and shown prime time.  I saw a particularly popular soap on Hong Kong tv.

In Phnom Penh, we also ate at the super scary Pyongyang North Korean restaurant.  Here, we also saw young kids playing K-pop clips on the main square and copying their fantastic moves.

Already, Korean is one of my favourite food.  I'm not sure why.  The tastes are so in-your-face, pungent, sour, hot - usually the sort of thing you don't eat too often, but since coming back from overseas, we've had it four times already.  I drive there in my Hyundai car....

I am a fan of the quartet of free kim chi you get at Korean restaurants.  Always the cabbage chilli version and three others.  Today the 'others' were bean sprout, jelly, and potato.  My favourite is the endive version but we rarely get them these days.

Do you have a favourite kim chi?

The kim chi chi ke soup is a perfect illustration of Korean food, strong sour from the kim chi and added vinegar, chilli hot, garlic overload, and garlic chives to drive you over the edge.  It comes out still boiling.  When it cools down and I take a spoonful, I'm hit with successive flavours that compete and after a while strangely become complimentary.

How would you describe the taste of kim chi chi ke?

The fried dumplings in chilli sauce continues this bright and sharp theme, except dominant tastes are chilli, garlic (of course) and sweet.  I'm usually a fan of crispy dumplings when they are fried, these of course are soggy from the sauce, but I'm still a fan.

We usually order something relatively plain to cut the taste, usually sizzling korean beef.  It's not chilli hot or heavily marinated, but of course, the subtle-ness is only relative, the garlic chives are delicious and the dish is overall very sweet.  A noodlies reader commented recently about becoming lethargic and having a racey heart after a Vietnamese meal, my advice, don't come here!



But I love it at Ceci, it's still not up there with the old Ceci - the owner who has since moved to the next suburb to open the delicious Burwood Korea House, but the new it's still pretty good.

Korean food is taking over CBD Sydney, Strathfield, Burwood. There's even a korean restaurant in Cabramatta!  Do you like Korean food?  Why?

Do you think Korea will over take Japan?

Ceci Korean Restaurant
37 The Boulevarde, Strathfield
02 9746 7710

Pyongyang North Korean Restaurant, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

If you're fascinated by the mysterious world of North Korea, then Pyongyang might give you a tantalising glimpse.  It's a restaurant chain that is run by the North Korean regime with the sole motive of making money for the government.  Those who are less kind have accused the government of using these restaurants to launder money from more illicit activities.

There are restaurants in China, Thailand and here, in one of the busiest roads in Phnom Penh, Cambodian. The decor is from a bygone era, fanned curtains, heavy wooden furniture with glass tops... and the women.

While others might come for the food, I'm here to check out the waitresses who are dressed in baby doll, polyester pastel dresses.  These ladies also sing, dance, play musical instruments and as in my case, very politely tell me to put my camera away - photography and filming is prohibited.

I manage to get a short video in and some photos before I'm busted.  It's just a shame I wasn't able to capture the women dance in perfect formation.

The seafood kim chi was delicious, crunchy, spicy daikon radish with marinated octopus.  Surprisingly good.

The stir fried kim chi pork is equally classy, the kim chi is aged to my liking, not too old that it becomes acidic and not too young as to lack flavour.

It's the Kim Chi soup I struggle with, lacking in spiciness or any other type of punch. The flavour is very different from other soups I've had and I've had a few.  It's definitely acceptable, but I expected more after the first two dishes.

But then again, you don't come to Pyongyang North Korean Restaurant just for the food.  It's an experience that was, well, yes enjoyable, I clapped, smiled and generally egged the ladies on and in the process had a unique and very good time.  I did feel the eyes of my waitress on my several times as my hand moved within range of the camera, but she too seemed to enjoy herself as she sang and danced to the delight of the smallish Tuesday night crowd.

Watch the video again, and imaging these beautify ladies singing and dancing in North Korean precision.

Pyongyang Restaurant
400 Monivong Blvd, Phnom Penh
Cambodia

Korean Restaurant (Dai Jang Gum), Cabramatta

We've blogged about the only Korean restaurant in Cabramatta before.  But I thought we'd try a video to give you a better feel for the atmosphere: it's noisy, hectic and fun!

Burwood Korea House & Kim Chi

We love korean food and eat it at least once a week, or in the case of this week, three times! Love the complimentary kim chi which comes with every meal; and it's usually four if not five different types. The lovely cabbage which is universally called kim chi (above), I also love the endive and also bean sprouts too (below).

They serve to stimulate your taste buds for mains.  Although god knows why there would be a need, this Sydney food blog reckons Korean food is already full of flavour.  The kim chi soup (below) usually does the trick of being both hearty and waking up any sleepy taste buds.

There are milder, though very sweet dishes too, like the sweet and sour pork (below).

Burwood Korea House Restaurant
175 Burwood Rd
Burwood NSW 2134
Ph: (02) 9715 5098

Previous reviews here.

Korean Restaurant (Dai Jang Gum), Cabramatta

Writing a Sydney food blog is not just about eating in a different place each night.  In fact, we go back to the favourite haunts over and over.  This is an update of an old post on this now not-so-new Korean restaurant, Dai Jang Gum (actually the only signage outside is Korean Restaurant).  Now that I have a better camera, I wanted to do the place justice.

Pancake

The pancake can be a little over cooked and dry, but today it was perfect, thin but not too crispy.

Korean Pork Kim Chi Stir Fry, Strathfield

My favourite dishes changes over time, but one that remains on the list, despite its many faults, is this kim chi pork stir fried (well thats what I call it).

It sounds bland, but you can see by the photo, it's anything but.  The colours and busy-ness of this dish is reflected in the flavour too.  In additional to the distinctive kim chi taste, the pork is marinated in bean paste, with onion and shallots and chilli also crying for attention.  There's a bit of oil too.

For a break, the squares of tofu provides contrast, but even here, the dense texture adds complexity.

This is not a dish for everyone and I'm continually surprised as to it's longevity on my favourites list.

I had this dish at Hyung Won in Strathfield.

Korean Restaurant, Cabramatta

It still remains nameless.. actually I think the sign outside just says Korean Restaurant.  I'm sure they have a less generic name, but that's all we use for now, after all, there is only one Korean restaurant in town!

Lovely pancake and sauce tonight.  Not sure if I'm a fan of the lettuce kim chi (well lettuce with salad dressing really).  Had the fried, marinated pork and kim chi stew as well, but the photos didn't turn out very well!

Won Jo Korean, Strathfield

We gave Ceci a miss today, felt like different Korean.  Went pretty much next door.  It's a much larger restaurant that has the benefit of taking credit cards.

First thing we noticed is that they were very generous with the comp Kim Chi... six types, with several you don't normally get.  The actual cabbage Kim Chi was saltier and actually very nice.

My favourite is the pork dish below, which doesn't kill you with flavour but is still very tasty.

The Kim Chi Chi Ke was nice too, although I thought the sausage over powered the other flavours (if that's possible for Korean food!).  The soup was particularly nice though.

Tried something different in the form of shallot pancake, it's ok, but we really should have ordered the usual Kim Chi seafood pancake.

Overall, a very pleasant experience.

Sydney Mandang Restaurant

Had lunch here today.  Our Korean friends took us here ages ago and it was delicious.

Today while it was nice, I couldn't say it was our favourite Korean in Sydney or even in the CBD for that matter.

Kim Chi Chi Ke was nice, the soup a little thicker than I'm used too.

The seafood pancake below was my favourite of the meal, especially with the dipping sauce.  I like these pancakes thick like here and also crunchy... sometimes they can be cold an soggy.

The marinated chicken was just fine.. maybe lacking a little flavour.... but still very nice.

An interesting twist is the omelette kim chi... different from the other varieties I'm used to.