Myeong Dong Korean Restaurant, North Strathfield

What’s not to love about banchan, those free side dishes served in Korean restaurants? Myeong Dong in North Strathfield, however, steps things up a notch. It’s not just the number of banchan – at least a dozen seems to be standard – but the variety on rotation too. On any given day you’ll score cabbage kimchi, soy-marinated perilla leaves, mung bean jelly, soy bean sprouts, radish kimchi, fish cake slices, simmered lotus roots, stir-fried spinach and more. Each offers variations in crunch, saltiness, acidity and heat, perfect for alternate nibbling throughout your meal. And if you need refills of anything, they’ll do that too. Also free.


Assorted banchan on another visit


Haemul pajeon seafood pancake $20

Get the haemul pajeon seafood pancake to start, and revel in a massive disc of prawns, calamari, mussels and shallots, bound together in a light and crunchy batter.


Spicy soft tofu stew with seafood and banchan


Spicy soft tofu stew with seafood $10

Don’t overlook the classic simplicity of sundubu jjigae, a spicy soup filled with fresh curds of soft and quivering silky tofu and hunks of seafood.


Beef intestines stew $18

If you’re down with offal, you’ll love the tender chewiness of the beef intestine stew.


Beef intestines 


Spicy pork rib with potato hotpot $56 large

You won’t find barbecue grills here, but you will notice that the majority of diners – Korean families and chattering groups of friends – sharing hot pot dishes, giant vessels set over a portable gas cookers at the table. The gamjatang spicy pork bone stew is a crowd favourite, a spicy soup piled with raw onions, cabbage, enoki mushrooms, green vegetables and sweet potato noodles.


Spicy pork rib with potato hotpot $48 medium (eaten on a 2nd independent visit)

There’s not a huge amount of DIY cooking involved, just some gentle prodding to make sure everything softens as preferred. What you will be rewarded with is a piping hot soup, swollen with goodies. The pork rib bones are the best bit. Don’t even bother going for one unless you’re willing to do it justice by using your fingers to get into every last nook and cranny.


Fried chicken wings $32

It’s not all spice: fried chicken wings, bulgogi beef and hot stone pot bibimbap mixed rice all await.


MyeongDong pork napa wraps $52

The bossam offers build-your-own fun: slices of pork belly ready to be wrapped in lettuce with pickled daikon, seaweed, red capsicum and radish kimchi with raw oysters.


Shrimp potato korokke $10


Inside the shrimp potato korokke 








Myeong Dong Korean Restaurant
2/1 George Street, North Strathfield, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9746 8746

Opening hours
Daily 10am-12am


This article first appeared in Time Out Sydney. Read this article online or read more of my Time Out Sydney reviews.

All-you-can-eat Korean BBQ buffet at Se Jong, Sydney CBD

Where is the best all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ in the Sydney CBD? I think we have a winner. Long-time Campsie favourite, Se Jong, now has a restaurant on Castlereagh Street in the city. And it's cheap. Just $35 gets you a two hour window of unlimited wagyu beef, prawns, ox tongue, sushi, fried chicken, jap chae and more. Go ahead. Pinch yourself. This is not a dream.


Wagyu and Angus beef fridge

The dining room isn't huge, probably seating about 40, so bookings are essential. Decorations are minimal but the dining space is bright and clean.

All the prime meats - Angus beef and wagyu - are accessible from the self-serve fridge. Grab as many as you can eat. You're wearing loose pants, right?


Wagyu steaks and marinated LA galbi beef short ribs

The chilled meat cabinet includes pork neck, bulgogi beef slices, marinated LA galbi beef short ribs, prawns, calamari skewers, mussels, chicken and sausages.


Angus beef and wagyu steaks on the barbecue grill

The grills are electric, not charcoal, which is a pity. Staff also insist on placing sheets of waxed paper on your grill, presumably to make cleaning easier. This tends to steam, not char, your meat, especially when they turn the heat knob down to 20%. You can see this happening in the photo above.


LA galbi beef short ribs, bulgogi beef slices, pork belly and ox tongue slices

Instead we surreptitiously cranked the heat up to 100%. Only then will you get caramelisation, which is the whole point of barbecue, in my opinion. Staff will usually persist in turning the heat back down again, and replacing the waxed paper, but well, two can play at the game, right?


Gyeran jjim steamed egg

Complimentary gyeran jiim, a steamed egg that has the fluffiness of souffle, will arrive as a bubbling mass. Eat this while it's hot and relish its cloud-like consistency.


Jajangmyeon black blean sauce noodles

While your meat is cooking on the grill, hit up the hot food station. It's an impressive collection of dishes. And immaculately presented. The metal serving dishes sit on induction hotplates, and all of them are arranged at the exact same angle to satisfy even the most OCD perfectionist.

Here you'll find prawn cutlets, Korean fried chicken, jajangmyeon black bean sauce noodles, pajeon pancakes and fried rice.


Tteokbokki spicy Korean rice cake noodles with fish cake

Got nuts over the tteokbokki spicy Korean rice cake noodles, jap chae sweet potato noodles, corn cobs (throw them on the bbq for extra flavour) and agedashi tofu. Yep, it's not all Korean, which would explain the all-you-can-eat sushi station.


Nigiri sushi and maki sushi

Sushi stations at buffets tend to be pretty average, but the one at Se Jong in the city does more than just half-hearted cucumber maki. Here you can get prawn nigiri and salmon nigiri plus uramaki inside-out sushi rolls with tuna, prawn and California roll fillings.

To the right of this station you'll find plain rice and miso soup.


Unlimited kimchi and pickles 

And don't forget to load up on all-you-can-eat kimchi and pickles. You'll want lots of these to cut through the fattiness of the meat. Pile on the cabbage kimchi, yangpa jangajji pickled onions,
kongnamul muchin soybean sprouts and pa muchim scallion salad.

Grab a heap of enoki and king brown mushrooms for the grill too. And a scoop of salad. Add a handful of lettuce leaves for wrapping up your cooked meat and stop by the sauce station for gochujang, sesame oil, salt, pepper and more.


Candied sweet potato, tteokbokki, prawn cutlets and sushi

They have all your classic beers, like Cass, Asahi, Tsingtao, Singha, Corona and Hite. We may have hit the flavoured soju (peach, green grape or apple) hard.

And if there's one golden rule at Korean bbq, it's to make sure that everyone helps out with the cooking.


Fresh watermelon and oranges, cake squares and candied sweet potato

For dessert you can have as much cheap vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce as you like. The mini cakes weren't that great either but the candied sweet potato - coated in a thin layer of hard toffee - was definitely addictive.

We attacked the fresh watermelon and oranges. And you know what? It was the palate cleanser we needed to start eating all over again.





Se Jong Korean Restaurant
270 Castlereagh Street, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 8964 0133

Opening hours
Daily 5pm-10.30pm

Also at:
Se Jong Campsie, 8 London Street, Tel: +61 (02) 9787 7126
Se Jong Carlingford, 821 Pennant Hills Road, Tel: +61 (02) 9872 8868


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Gami Chicken & Beer, Central Park Sydney

Break out the soju. Korean fried chicken has landed at Central Park. Gami, the famed Korean fried chicken king of Melbourne with 13 outlets across the city, has finally spread its wings to Sydney. They've taken over the site that was once Doughnut Time (and before that, Autolyse), and already drawing a crowd.

It's a family-friendly space with brightly coloured walls and a good amount of room between tables. Outdoor seating is also available.


Kimchi pancake $14

The menu is larger than you'd expect, with one page devoted to fried chicken; the other to "gami delights", a list of 13 dishes ranging from mandu deep fried dumplings to spicy seafood soup.

Our food takes a little while to arrive, despite the restaurant only being about a third full. The kimchi pancake, or kimchijeon, takes about 15min to land at our table.


Upskirt shot

Kimchijeon is a huddle of kimchi, onion and shallots enrobed in pancake batter. Although there's a deep golden hue to the panfried disc, it's not particularly crunchy - always a difficult feat when kimchi juice is involved. We relish the piping hot triangles regardless, dipping them into the accompanying soy and rice vinegar dressing.


Korean fried half chicken $18 
with spicy sauce on the side

When it comes to the fried chicken, you can choose between whole ($34) or half ($18) chickens on-the-bone, boneless mix of breast and thigh fillets ($34), mix of wingettes and drumettes ($12 for 8 pieces/ $16 for 12 pieces), and chicken spare ribs ($12).

And vegetarians don't miss out either. They even have vegetarian fried chicken made from soy meat.


Crunchalicious

We go with half a chicken, opting for spicy sauce (it's more sweet than spicy) on the side. It's a mini mountain of crunch, the pieces cut small so there's plenty of rubbly batter for each mouthful.

The chicken is juicy. The batter is well seasoned. And yes, you can have beer with it too. Their drinks list includes Hite and Asahi Super Dry as well as Gun:Bae Lager and Murray's Whale Ale on tap. Tap beers come in 300ml glasses ($5.5), jugs ($18.50) and party-sized oak kegs ($59). And yes, there's soju. Plus Korean juices like bonbon grape, sec sec orange and grated pear for non-alcoholic kicks.


Cabbage coleslaw (and pickled radish) free with the fried chicken

Complimentary pickled daikon radish is essential for cleansing the palate (and relieving the arteries) in between bites of fried chicken. The cabbage coleslaw provides some welcome crunch too, but I'd probably prefer mine with just mayonnaise and no tomato sauce - it's tangy sweetness is a little too overpowering.


Tteok bok ki $14

Sure we might be a table of two but why would that stop us from ordering tteok bok ki? It's just the kinda dish you'd craving in wintery weather, a mix of two minute noodles, chewy rice cakes and fish cake slices in a spicy red pepper broth.


Noodles and rice cakes

Next time I'd definitely add cheese ($2) on top, an extra I didn't notice until too late. I also have my eye on the corn cheese ($9.80), fried rice cakes ($5.50 for three) and deep fried cheese sticks ($7 for three) for my next visit. I'll definitely be back.

And if you haven't already seen it, the story of the four uni students behind the business is a pretty impressive read too.








Gami Chicken & Beer
Central Park Mall 
Lower ground floor
28 Broadway, Chippendale, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 8067 0304


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All-you-can-eat Korean BBQ (for cheap!) at Charcoal Mine Barbecue House, Parramatta

There are two golden rules for any all-you-can-eat: wear loose clothing, and arrive hungry. You’ll face instant regret if you don’t do both when you rock up to Charcoal Mine, said to be Australia’s first all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue restaurant.


Overhead barbecue smoke ventilators

The fact they opened over 20 years ago goes some way in explaining the dated but perfectly functional décor. The room full of Korean families, students and couples don’t care though. Let’s face it. Everybody’s focus is on the self-serve buffet. Hit it hard.


Buffet island


Time to gather all the meats


Marinated pork and chicken

You'll be in protein central with meats that run from marinated scotch fillet to spicy bacon strips, chicken wings and pork sausages. Seafood choices include mussels, octopus and squid. The more adventurous will venture towards kidney, intestine, giblet and liver territory. Leave your vegetarian mates at home unless they’re happy to binge on kimchi and lettuce leaves.


Meat on charcoal. Oh yeah.

Load up, head back to your table and resist the urge to throw everything on the charcoal barbecue. Yep, you’ll have to cook your own meat but trust us, it’s a cinch. Plus there are few things more satisfying than transferring succulent meat straight off the barbie and into your mouth. Plus, the charcoal really makes a difference, adding a smokier flavour to your sizzle meats. Most other Korean barbecue joints use cheaper – and less flavoursome – gas.


Cooked in a flash

The buffet selection isn’t huge but neither is the price tag. You’ll pay $35-$37 for dinner, depending on which night you dine, or binge at lunch for maximum value when the price drops to $28. Bargain!


Lettuce wraps and fresh watermelon and oranges

Don’t forget to create your own dipping sauces using gochujang chilli paste, ssamjang barbecue paste, sesame oil and soy. Help yourself to a bowl of steamed rice and make like a local, wrapping up your freshly barbecued meats in crisp iceberg lettuce leaves with a little bit of rice and a smear of ssamjang.

Fresh watermelon and orange wedges make for a sweet and refreshing dessert – or mid-meal palate cleanser. They have an alcohol license too, so you can barbie on up with a beer by your side. Maaate.

Fellow diners showing us how it's done with the lettuce wraps


Dining tables with inset barbecue grills






Charcoal Mine Barbecue House
454 Church Street, North Parramatta, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9630 3299 or +61 (02) 9630 4401

Opening hours
Monday 12pm-3pm, 5pm-11pm
Tuesday 5pm-11pm
Wednesday to Sunday 12pm-3pm, 5pm-11pm

This article first appeared in Time Out Sydney. Read this article online or read more of my Time Out Sydney reviews.