Kana Express Food, Sydney

"I'm sorry. Everything is deep-fried."

Sorry? Those two beautiful words are music to my ears. The enquiring passerby steps away, shocked and a little aghast. In the meantime, I'm dancing a little jig of unrestrained joy.


Korean deep-fried snacks

Almost everything here is served on skewers and a celebration of all that is deep-fried - it's like being at the Easter Show without having to deal with queues and hours of walking. Located on Pitt Street, down one those narrow side streets opposite the George Street cinemas, you don't have to walk far at all to satiate your deep-fried cravings.

The irony of this stall being on site that hosted the vegetarian Carruthers stall (which used to sell the best falafel rolls) and then the vegetarian Zenergy, is not lost on me. There's a similar Korean-style snack stall in Strathfield, near the train station, but the novelty of having deep-fried snacks on hand in the city CBD is dangerously convenient.

In fact not everything is deep-fried. Of the twelve options available at this Korean snack stall, two are not deep-fried: the chilli rice cake and gim bahp sushi rolls. Everything else is cheerfully baptised in the resident deep-fryer.


The deep-fryer


Dduk bok ki chilli rice cake small $3.00, medium $5.00, large $8.00


Korean sausage $2.50 and
Sausage with rice cake $3.00


Chicken and sausage $3.00 and
Chicken and rice cake $3.00


Octopus ball $2.50 and fish tofu $2.50


Chicken skewers $2.50


Dduk kochi chilli rice cake $1.50


Korean style hot dog $3.00

Oh yeah, baby, I told you it was like the Easter Show.


Gim bahp Korean sushi $3.00

Gim bahp is somewhat similar to Japanese sushi although gim bahp is not served with wasabi or pickled ginger, and never includes raw fish. "Gim" is the Korean word for seaweed sheets or nori, and "bahp" refers to cooked rice.

But why would you want gim bahp sushi when you can deep-fry it?


Fried sushi $2.50

Yes, deep-fried sushi. Be still your cholesterol-clogged artery.


Chicken and rice cake $3.00
Chicken and sausage $3.00 and

But first, let's start with the sticks. We start with skewers of chicken, with variations of rice cake and sausage. Chicken thigh fillet chunks are juicy and tender, the rice cake is deliciously chewy and the sausage soft and slightly sweet.


Dduk kochi chilli rice cake $1.50

I'm quite a fan of all things starchy. Dduk kochi means rice (dduck) on skewers (kochi). Dduk (also spelt ddeock, duk, tteok and ddeog) is a Korean rice cake made from rice. To make dduk kochi, these starchy lengths of rice cake are boiled in water until cooked then deep-fried. Upon ordering, they are deep-fried again so the surface crisps, and then basted with gochujang chilli sauce. I love the thin crunchy veneer that gives way to a sticky and chewy starchy interior.


Dduk bok ki chilli rice cake small $3.00

Dduk bok ki is another traditional Korean snack, with more chewy lengths of rice cake simmered with gochujang chilli sauce and thin slices of fish cake. It's comfort food with a kick, the starchy rice doused with sweet chilli sauce that packs plenty of punch. This one is recommended for the chilli fans only.


Korean-style hot dog $3.00

I'm like a kid in a lolly shop when I finally grab hold of the Korean-style hot dog. It's like a short but really fat pluto pup or corn dog. It's huge.


Inside the Korean-style hot dog

The Korean-style hot dog isn't as heavy or as greasy as you would expect. The sweet Korean frankfurt is wrapped in what looks like a slice of crustless white bread. The surface is encrusted with Panko-style crumbs, large bread crumbs that add extra crunch with every bite.


Fried sushi $2.50

I admit I have tried deep-fried sushi before - a late night indulgence at the Korean stall near Strathfield station. The fried sushi here is undoubtedly better. It's not yesterday's sushi, as you might cynically expect, but fresh sushi, the rice still soft and moist, in a thin coat of batter that doesn't overwhelm.

The delicacy of the vinegared rice contrasts against the crisp deep-fried batter and the slick of gochujang sauce. Its deep-fried exterior only seems to enhance the acidity of the pickled white radish and the slighty chewiness of the nori skin.

Cheap, fast and tasty. If only every day could be Fried Day.


The full menu




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Kana Express Food
359 Pitt Street, Sydney
(corner of Pitt Street and Central Street)

Opening hours:
Monday to Saturday 11am-11pm

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