Best Korean restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne
How is it almost 2023?? I often also forget how old I am because the last three years feels like a write off. The good news is though, the end of the year is always such a festive season. Time to get together with family, plenty of excuses to catch up with neglected friends and a great time to celebrate another great year.
To help with your end of year celebrations, we've put together a list of the best Korean restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne!
Sydney
In the hub of all things Korean, the unofficial Korea-town Strathfield (and also the home of our Beautyworks store!), there is a great Korean restaurant that offers a wide range of hearty home-made soups and traditional dishes from street food to royal food. You'll see the huge pot of bone broth cooking at the front of the store and a wall of stone rice pots. My favourite dish there is the intestine and blood sausage spicy stir fry. Look, I know it sounds terrible but it's so delicious!!
One of my favourite spots for KBBQ in the city. We're really spoiled for choice for KBBQ especially in the city, and many people aren't sure where to go. In my opinion, Bornga is the spot for great quality meat and side dishes. It's a no fuss kind of restaurant that only focuses on the BBQ so there's nothing too fancy or too complicated to overwhelm you. And! you must try the cold noodles there.
The Korean style black bean noodles 'Jjajangmyun' that we see everyone order in metal boxes in Korea. It's the dish everyone has on moving day and the go-to family restaurant choice. In Sydney, Dong Bo Sung in Lidcombe has the best black bean noodles and the deep fried, sweet and sour pork.
Red Pepper Bistro (Strathfield)
Another famous Korean dish that has gained popularity widely as it's own league is Korean fried chicken. Head over to the Strathfield Sports Club to enjoy the fried chicken. The menu is super impressive with a wide range of flavours - ALL of which are tasty. Red Pepper Bistro also offers hot pots and sharing dishes to keep it interesting.
I'm always a little skeptical of fancy Korean restaurants but the latest offering in Sydney is a little different. Traditionally, Korean food is meant to be cosy, not fussy and just a low key tasty meal but this restaurant has mum and dad in the kitchen serving out really high quality Korean dishes in a fancy date night worthy spot.
Ok Melbourne. Since moving to Melbourne I've been disappointed in the Korean restaurant offerings and have always resorted to just cooking at home but I've found some gems!
What we believe to be the sister restaurant of Sydney's Hansang restaurant, we're so excited to have welcomed this spot in the CBD! It has all the same offerings as the Sydney menu and the same quality taste. I have to say though, both Hansang and Surasang are on the pricer side of what I'd normally pay for a soup but definitely worth it!
This has got to be my favourite Korean restaurant in Melbourne. I know it's 40 mins out of the city via car and with a lack of wheels this is a treat for when we take an excursion out there. It's a small menu but absolutely everything is perfected and the pork soup hits the spot every. damn. time.
Looking for a cosy spot for beer and white flesh sashimi? This is a great small restaurant that offers the perfect vibe for low key catch ups and warm date nights. I would also recommend trying the clam soup with knife cut noodles!
There are of course a number of Korean fried chicken restaurants in Melbourne but this is one of the better ones. There are also a few locations but I normally go to the one in Healeys Lane (the unofficial Korean street). Their kimchi soup and soybean soups are also quite good, so much so that we sometimes take away just the soup for quick KBBQ at home.
Every time I passed this spot since it opened, it always had a line without fail so I had to check it out. If you love BBQ, this is the place to go as it's all you can eat! Often, all you can eat BBQs have low quality offerings but the meat here is all of good quality and has a lot of cuts that most all you can eat BBQs don't have. On top of that, there are several different types of kimchi, a dipping sauce station, soups, side dishes and a sushi bar (still all you can eat). It even has a nice fruit and dessert bad including a freezer of ice creams to finish your sitting.
Leave a comment