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.