Flying Tong, Newtown

Melted, oozing, gooey, stringy, stretchy cheese. Buried within it are kernels of sweetcorn. Wait until the cheese starts to brown and form a crust all along the edges. If you just experienced a frisson of excitement over that description, the cheesy corn at Flying Tong is your dream come true. The whole shebang arrives on a hotplate, the kind you get for sizzling Mongolian lamb, except here you score one big puddle of bubbling, molten cheese. Oh yes.


Roasted corn tea $5

Flying Tong opened on Enmore Road in January this year, the same stretch of road that features favourites Bovine & Swine, Queen Chow and Stanbuli. It's the first solo venture for sibling team Julie and Jeff Oh (ex-Kobe Jones), a casual Korean eatery that focuses on chicken and beer (alcohol license is in the midst!). And if you're not on the booze, there's a proper selection of soft drinks (ginger beer, sparkling blood orange and sparkling grapefruit) as well as teas. The roasted corn tea is worth ordering, with noticeable hints of popcorn.


Glass noodle $16.50

Vegetarians don't fare too badly, as we discovered, although options are mostly in the sides and salads categories. Glass noodles - jap chae by any other name - is a mushroom-heavy jumble of the classic Korean sweet potato noodle dish. It's deliciously heavy on the umami and devoid of the overly oily greasiness you sometimes find in other restaurants.


Kor-Slaw $5

Kor-Slaw is the Oh's take on coleslaw, julienned red cabbage and carrot doused in quite a sweet and spicy dressing. Black sesame seeds provide nuttiness and textural crunch. 

Cheesy corn $11

And then there's the glory of cheesy corn. Melted mozzarella cheese on sweet corn is such a magical combination it's surprising we don't see it more often in restaurants. I need to make more of this at home. The cheese bubbles away furiously, its remnants leaving a darkened crust along the edges. I can publicly declare that I carefully prised those golden treasures until the entire hotplate was clean.

Vegetarian bibimbamp ($17) rounds out the rest of the vegetarian offerings. It's a shame they don't offer a vegetarian version of loaded fries, at the moment covered in bulgogi beef. Lading a hot mess of cheesy corn over a pile of fries would be pretty glorious in my world.


Soy garlic Flying Tong fried chicken $20

Of the four kinds of fried chicken on offer, I go with the soy garlic. You can also order sweet chilli, spicy bomb and original.


Soy garlic fried chicken wing

The chicken is impressively juicy, coated in a knobbly batter that holds its crunch. The soy garlic is a little on the sweet side for me, but that doesn't stop me polishing off the entire serving (four pieces).

Chicken tacos, barbecue pork belly wraps and seafood pancake (pajeon) round out the menu. For now. Seats are limited (about 30) so arrive early or be prepared to queue.






Flying Tong
99 Enmore Rd, Newtown, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 8056 5985 
Open nightly 5pm-10pm


Related Grab Your Fork posts:
Enmore - Bovine & Swine
Enmore - Queen Chow
Enmore - Stanbuli