Deep fried desserts at Sun Cafe Restaurant

The vibe of the place definitely makes you forget how loud you actually are...

The building at the corner of Newcastle and William streets has lent itself as home to many businesses in the recent past. These short-lived food and drink businesses may come and go, but the one thing that has stayed put are the table top barbeques for sensual, hands-on Korean BBQ feasts, situated on the level above Sun Cafe. Downstairs, a chilled-out, relaxed Sun Cafe opens its doors until late to its customers, making it a great hang out destination.

Sun Cafe Restaurant

I was simultaneously eager and sceptical about coming here, largely due to the reason of them refusing to honour a voucher I had purchased on numerous occasions, which already came with a peculiar list of terms and conditions. However if I could ignore that for a second, their menu certainly did pique my interest with the offer of 'oriental tapas' and a selection of Korean dishes with a modern influence (would you yay or nay pistachio-crusted chicken katsu?). We dropped in late at night after dinner with a full belly and only managed to fit in some sweet things.

Matso's Ginger Beer

We have quite the obsession with Matso's beers at the moment, and the Mango beer especially has made many appearances at the table whenever it is offered on the beverage menu. Even though I'm not a big beer drinking or loving fan, I am a fan of Matso's beer selections as I'm quite partial to the taste of their beers in comparison to others that I down once in a while out of convenience.

Green Tea Latte - $4.30

Green tea is making its way into drink and dessert menus everywhere and whilst I love this, I only love it when the green tea flavour is actually prominent in the food or drink and strong enough to be able to recognise its presence. With that, I do not love Sun Cafe's green tea latte despite how promising it sounded. The bittersweet flavour is so next to nothing that I would have believed that I had ordered a glass of warm milk and even the extremely pale green colour makes it unidentifiable even as a green tea beverage if not for the powder sinking into the milky froth.

Marinated beef tataki, fresh crunchy salad - $18

My cousin ordered the beef tataki, presented with raw red and white cabbage and a trail of spring onions and roasted sesame seeds on a bed of raw beef, slightly seared around the edges and bathed in a vinegary sauce.

Crunchy Honey Bread - $12

We picked Sun Cafe as our dessert destination purely because of the recommendation of their Crunchy Honey Bread, so naturally it was the most anticipated dish of the evening. And certainly a very late evening too, to be eating a whole block of bread that has been wholly and thoroughly deep fried until the exterior is a hard, solid casing for the crunchy interior. Although really, this really wasn't a concern considering we had a McDonald's run for cheeseburgers, fries and ice-cream straight after this...gosh, the power of hindsight sure gives more insight into one's frivolous eating behaviours.

One of Sun Cafe's signature desserts

This indulgent dessert is quite large and solid, and thus is thoughtfully slightly cut into tall batons to make it easier to slice through the crunchy centre, which is also slightly dense in other parts. The honey bread sits on an artistic crosshatching of chocolate, caramel and honey syrups weaving through each other on the plate and is crowned by three tiers - sliced fruits (kiwi and banana on this occasion), a big scoop of fluffy whipped cream and finally adorned with a strawberry. This colourful medley of contrasting textures and flavours is further enhanced by a light dusting of cinnamon, a crunchy pecan nut crumb and more drizzling of the honey. The fruits are definitely a wise choice to counteract the heaviness of the bread, which retains a lot of oil.

Stress stimulus

Running down the centre of the dining area is a display case piled with magazines and board games to use as you please, and Jenga definitely provided ongoing entertainment for us as everybody sat around and chatted quietly. The very relaxed vibe of the place definitely makes you forget how loud you actually are. Oopsy!

Sun Cafe would be a good potential place to head to after dinner for dessert or drinks when nobody quite wants to leave yet, as their dessert selection ranges from pastries to waffles to frozen yoghurts. I'm hanging out to try their tempura oysters and crispy scallops with renkon chips and the long opening hours of Sun Cafe is the biggest convenience of all because the sun doesn't set here until late at night.

Sun Cafe Restaurant, Perth

Sun Cafe's Facebook page
Hours as stated on Facebook page
7.45am - 12am (this ranges, as we had to settle the bill before 11pm on the Saturday night)
Open 7 days

Tel: (08)9227 5009
318 William Street Perth WA 6000

A taste of globalised Korean at The Gaya

This would be making all the headlines...

Disclaimer: Hungry Again Perth was invited as a guest to The Gaya to sample the dinner menu, however all opinions expressed hereon are nobody's but my own.
Normal prices are shown with dishes.

When I think Korean food, I think traditional. I think strong, bold flavours that come out of a style of cooking that tastes like and reminds me of home. When I came across dishes like arancini on their menu being served with pan-fried kimchi, I was puzzled. Is The Gaya meant to be something else?

The Gaya Korean Restaurant

Partly right. Turns out that's what Leo, chef and owner of The Gaya envisioned it to be - a homely, nostalgic restaurant serving traditional dishes that are made with a creative and contemporary touch. The chef has used traditional Korean food as his canvas and played around with more modern cooking techniques to prepare them, resulting in dishes that are not only sound good but look visually stunning.

Yook Jijimi - $12

We started off with the 'Yook Jijimi', a type of 'pancake' made using glutinous rice flour, egg and slices of thin-cut beef. The 'pancake' was not what I had expected at all; the pancake is the beef itself, coated in a very thin layer of flour and egg before being pan-fried to a golden finish and crowned with a bouquet of battered enoki mushrooms.

The beef slices are aromatic but lack a bit of seasoning, though the subtle flavour is compensated by eating it with the roasted pine nut salt grains sprinkled on the side. The crumbs melt in your mouth and are deceptively salty, and remind me of the golden salted egg yolk crumbs that are sprinkled on top of deep fried crab dishes at Chinese restaurants. Each component on the dish is not fantastic on their own, but come together surprisingly well.

Besides the beef option, there is also the choice of vegetable, kimchi, mung bean and fish jijimi.

Salmon Gravlax - $14

The second entree was a neatly arranged plate of salmon gravlax, intercepted by mounds of wakame. Salmon gravlax is typically a dish of cured salmon and here it is marinated with gin, salt, sugar, plum and dill. The pieces of salmon are smoky and salty; the tobiko mayo that sits on top even saltier. We eat it the combination of salmon and mayo together and assume it is the salmon that is giving it that intense savoury taste, until we deconstruct it and try each element separately. I'm very surprised that amidst the tobiko, capers and onion that give the mayonnaise a textural crunch, the mayonnaise itself is unnecessarily salty. Thankfully, this is where I stop using the word "salty" to describe the rest of our dishes.

Side dish - $4

Upon ordering a "side dish" (as it is named in the menu) to be included with our main dishes, we are told that this already comes with main meals. The three items are uninspiring; the pickled cabbage crunchy and sour, the spicy radish dull and the sliced potato soft - and my most preferred out of the three. Considering these replicate the complimentary side dishes that are served at other Korean restaurants and can be refilled as you please, I wouldn't justify paying $4 for this side dish.

Beef short rib, parsnip, red date - $30

After reading Weny's review on The Gaya, I had to try for myself this monster size of a dish. It seems more of a communal dish to share at the table rather than being meant for one, with the five or six chunky pieces of short ribs in the pool of savoury and slightly sweet broth. After the mighty efforts of Andy and myself, we still had to leave a lonesome short rib behind.

The large chunks of short ribs seem all tough guy, but are big softies on the inside. This traditional hearty Korean dish involves simmering beef short ribs for 24 hours to give it that unbelievable tenderness. The softness is from a combination of the cooking time as well as the thin layers of fatty deposits in between the meat, giving it that moisture after being saturated in the broth.

We both agree there was one thing that was missing, that would make this dish the best it can be. It's a subjective call but it held true for us; we flagged the waiter over and he consequently plonked a large bowl of rice on the table for us. With this, we ate more of the dish despite stopping before - it's amazing how loading on more carbs opens up our appetite isn't it?

Tteokgalbi: Beef spare rib, rice cake, yoghurt potato salad, pine nut - $30

I contemplated on whether it was a good idea to order two beef dishes as our mains, and decided the answer was quite obviously a YES! As the Tteokgalbi does not mention "eggs" anywhere, I was a bit of a worry wart that I had ordered the Bibambap when I realised the waiter asked how I wanted my egg done.

I quite liked the yoghurt potato salad, as it was a refreshing and lighter taste to the rest of the food on the dish, which was very tasty but was high in oil content by the way the food gleamed. The two grilled beef spare rib patties fit this bill especially; it was so indulgently fatty, moist and soft, that makes other burger patties taste like a joke. Very dry jokes that aren't funny, like this one.

Egg yolk: "PIERCE ME!"

I asked for a sunny-side up egg, and received an egg yolk that was screaming to be poked. It balanced precariously, but I refrained from letting the egg yolk lava loose as I wanted to retain the crispiness of the seemingly endless discs of deep fried rice cakes. I was ADDICTED to them, but only me - Andy had one and I had the rest, which meant I probably had twenty or so.
Most of them gave a good chew. I couldn't stop chewing.

Gaya Ho-Tuck - $8

The dessert menu at The Gaya doesn't have much description supporting the dish's name. I resorted to asking one of my Korean friends what "ho-tuck" actually was, and the fact that I still ordered this without having a single clue what to expect only means that she wasn't any help, at all.

The presentation of the ho-tuck is really sweet; the walnuts, strawberry, pine nuts (chef likes his pine nuts!) and three blood-like drops of strawberry syrup adorn the rim of the plate while the ho-tuck and caramel shards sit on top of perfectly straight lines of caramel syrup that extend outwards from the centre. In comparison to the rest of the components, the nuts are exactly that: nuts. Had they been candied or something similar, would have added to the dessert.

Ho-tuck/hotteok

I snapped a picture and later that night showed the said friend from before. Her reaction was amusing; she burst out laughing with a big "LOL" and followed with a long, extended "HAHA", and left me very confused. Who would have thought that this Korean pancake - hotteok - was a 50 cent street food sold in Korea? This fancied up version sure dazzled her, but I think it's clever to work such a well known snack food into a modern style dessert.

Usually with a sugary syrup filling, The Gaya's version has a pillowy, nearly gelatinous centre in stark contrast to its crisp exterior, which has been deep fried until a golden crust has formed. I can see why they're popular; it would be so dangerously easy to down five of these in one go.

Red Misu - $8

My pick of the night is this finale for the night - a very cute tiramisu style dessert served in a small pot. If No.4 Blake Street hadn't already dazzled us with their very realistic chocolate pot plant which I named my post after, I think this would be making all the headlines if we haven't all become a little indifferent to eating dirt for dessert ;)

Digging for treasures

The Gaya's Red Misu is a play on the traditional tiramisu; this one features red beans nestled amongst the creamy "soil" and liquor laced sponges dug up with your spoon. There is less texture overall as the red beans are quite soft, but the sweetness of the dessert is pitched at a perfect level and is not mind and teeth-numbingly rich. It would be great if more crunchy textures could be thrown in addition to the chocolate pebbles scattered on top of the Red Misu. Its petite size really makes it unworthy for sharing. Order one for yourself, and make sure you only get one spoon.

Along the back wall

It is easy to see the chef's intentions to rework the concept of Korean cuisine that people have in mind into something a little new and modern; or in The Gaya's terms, globalised Korean. The word 'fusion' is frowned upon by many but I throw open my arms and welcome it with a big friendly hug; change should be embraced!

A big, spacious seating area

The menu is different (Korean tapas anyone?), the presentation is beautiful and the servings are generous. Tick, tick, tick. Friendly and extremely courteous waiter? Bigger tick! By the end of the night, we were absolutely stuffed. One of us even loosened our belt accidentally in front of the waiter, and it wasn't me :-)

Definitely has that homely feel

The Gaya, Applecross

The Gaya
Lunch: 11:30am - 2:30pm
Dinner: 5:30pm - 10pm
Open Tuesday - Saturday

(08)9364 8887
Unit 3/4, 3 Kearns Crescent Ardross WA 6153

Sardines in a can at Jayusigan

Forget the like button, I'm pressing the love button...

I particularly love the suburb of Vic Park in Perth for its myriad of different cuisines meshed with other bits and bobs in the area, but the dominance of restaurants and cafes along the long stretch of road unmistakably makes it a haven for foodies (I use that term with reluctance. The wisdom of Urban Dictionary tells me I'm much more of an eatie).

Our every intention to stuff our face with multiple bentos was thwarted by a sign stuck on JBento's entrance stating that had run out of ingredients on a very busy day. Saddened by this fact but knowing we had to move on, our instincts led us across the road to Jayusigan, which was practically full house at lunch time. We squeezed into the centre table, taking note to keep our elbows close to our body to avoid any elbowing of nearby heads.

Jayusigan

Walking into the restaurant is like walking into a breath of hot air, as I recall the same stuffy, humid, icky feeling the last time I ate here. It is a small restaurant and simply leaving the door open doesn't relieve the restaurant of all the heat and steam rising from the numerous hearty bowls of soups and stews that turn the place into a delicious-smelling sauna. Although the wonderful aromas really add to the dining environment, dining here at peak lunch hour can get a little uncomfortable. I do have a terrible soft spot for Jayusigan though, as I really enjoyed it from the first time I wandered in accidentally en route to another restaurant and discovered that they had just opened.

Mini side dishes

Delivered with your mains are these complimentary side dishes, which are small and satisfyingly addictive to keep picking at whilst eating. The good thing about these is that they'll never be empty - a top-up is only a call away; making them served in essentially bottomless little dishes.

Seaweed, pickled radish, kimchi

The flavours of Korean cuisine are predominantly spicy, and the kimchi has quite the kick if you are not too good with chilli. Even I felt the spiciness in their version of kimchi, suggested by its vivid, fiery red appearance. The pickled radish strips go a little easier on the chilli, retaining their slight crunch and have a milder chilli taste.

But oh my, the small flaky seaweed flakes blew me away that it deserves a rave! There are small visible grains of salt that give it a really addictive salty hit and its crispiness gives each mouthful a delightful crackle - kind of like popping candy almost! But salty instead of sugary - on top of little bursts of flavour. It seems deep fried and is so sinfully good, but I couldn't pry myself away nor could I stop, and I didn't, until they were all gone :)

Fried Fish cake - $3.50; Rice cake - $3.50

Rebecca wasn't hungry and settled for two items from Jayusigan's entree menu, which set her back $7, which seemed a little steep considering how small the skewers were. They are not mentioned on the menu that they come in skewered form either, so it was a little misleading to say the least.

The skewer in the foreground is fried fish cakes with a Korean style sweet chilli sauce, which is a lot thicker and richer than the overused, dare I say Westernised version of the sweet chilli sauce found in bottles on your supermarket shelf. The other skewer holds four rice cakes, slightly chewy in texture and also smothered in the same chilli sauce. Special? Not quite so.

Bibimbap - $13

Korean cuisine to me, is notable for its strong flavours from simple, honest ingredients. These aspects are found in a hearty bowl of bibimbap, which combines different ingredients into a marriage of textures and flavours in the one bowl. There is also the option to add temperatures to that list, as bibimbap can be ordered in a sizzling stone pot at $15. I don't usually feel full after one bibimbap but I did here, so their portion sizes are really quite good.

They say colourful food is good for you!

A bowl of bibimbap is as much an artwork as it is a hearty staple of Korean food, with all its elements arranged separate to one another before being mixed and thoroughly stirred through to ensure each mouthful has a little bit of everything. Rice is the backbone of the dish, to be tossed with the beef mince and well marinated shiitake mushrooms, seaweed flakes, seasoned bean sprouts, carrots, crunchy fernbrake and wilted spinach through a dollop of hot chilli sauce. The yolk, once pierced, melds with the rest of the dish and adds a creamy texture to the whole dish.

The flavours are bold, strong and could make you thirsty, but don't try to quench it with the bowl of soup it comes with - it is UNbelievably salty. We all think each other are exaggerating the extent of the salt laden soup so we all end up graciously taking turns pulling faces at the bowl of seawater we just drunk. We can't help but think that this surely is a mistake!

Korean style pancake - $9

Served last was the Korean style pancake, which we were unfortunately quite stuffed to the brim to fully enjoy this beautiful savoury pan-fried entree. Hating to see unfinished food meant I braved myself to finish this off, which was luckily not too hard considering the lightness of the pancake.

The chilli soy sauce laced with sesame seeds and spring onions was a good sauce on its own, but I preferred to have the pancake without it because it took away the crispiness, particularly at the edges where it was most golden and were my favourite part. Small bits of mung bean, bean sprouts, cabbage and pork are scattered within the pancake, which is thin and pan-fried until a crust is formed on the outer side. Forget the like button, I'm pressing the love button.

Restaurant seating - this is more or less the size of the restaurant

Being packed in like sardines in a can amidst a feeling of slight stuffiness, are the characteristics I've likened to many Korean eateries - especially Korean BBQ. Despite sweating like a pig on the hotplate, I love it - the close proximity to both people and food makes great conversation as you're flipping pork belly and ox tongues together.

I've heard that staff members here are a little aloof but with only one person serving an entire floor of customers, I think it's completely understandable. If you do come outside of peak eating hours as I did previously, the service as I experienced it was more attentive and personable. 

Hey, we can try as much as we want but we can't always be at our best can we?

Jayusigan, Victoria Park

Jayusigan
Monday - Sunday: Lunch and dinner
Closed Tuesdays (at time of enquiry)

Tel:(08) 9470 1372
Shop 5, 393 Albany Highway, Victoria Park WA 6100
(Entrance via Leonard Street)

Jayusigan

I can imagine we were quite the colour splash on the street with my striking yellow coat and A's equally as striking red hoodie.

Whilst resembling live walking tomato and mustard condiments came to mind, having hot dogs as my post-exam celebrations feast was the last thing to come to mind.

Originally headed for the much hyped, much anticipated Taiwanese dessert store Taro Taro, I casually turned my head to the side and saw a brand spanking new restaurant just 2 doors away from our intended destination.

"Ooo what's that!" I asked, fully meaning it as a rhetorical question.

Rhetorical schmetorical, we answered it, substituting Taiwan for Korea right there and then.

Jayusigan Menu

The restaurant was empty, and stepping inside in its new surroundings made me feel as though my footsteps were dirtying the floor with my shoes. Everything from its walls to floors had a gleam to it, including their eating utensils right down to its sleek menu.

With the slightest feeling of illiteracy, I stared cluelessly at the food photos on the wall, all looking delicious but without English description. Truly Korean I thought, to the point where I'm not going to know what I am ordering.

Dweajibulgogi - $12

First to arrive in style is the DJ Bulgogi, a mountain heaped high with mild marinaded pork slices, assorted vegetables and a garnish of sesame seeds. Expecting something different when I read "hot pot" in the menu, a hot plate was the last thing I thought I'd be eating off.

You'll find the meat to vegetable ratio is on the good side of generous, as you dig and eat your way through the pile of protein.
The serving of oil towards the bottom of the dish is quite unnecessarily generous too!

Tteok & Sobulgogi - $12

 My imagination tingled as I read "rice ball" in the menu description for this dish. When it was delivered I was initially underwhelmed - Jayusigan and I certainly had different ways of interpreting food items!

This feeling was overcome real fast, for I realised this was so much better than what I thought I'd get - plain rice shaped into a circular mound, which would be a nice novelty but would taste just so average. And thus I suddenly liked this rice ball & beef served with hot pot :)

Probably should have chosen another dish that was not so similar in looks and taste to its pork counterpart. The addition of long, tubular rice rolls mean less beef, but more to chew with their glutinous-like texture.

What would I do without you?

As always (almost), the meals are accompanied by a small, steaming hot bowl of plain white rice to fill you up if the meat doesn't.

Certainly true in my case, I can eat dangerously large amounts of food and still not be full, if I don't get my rice dosage.
Bad for body. Badder for wallet.

Assortment of side dishes

The one (or 3) reasons to love Korean cuisine is that you get more for what you pay for (sort of). These extra reasons come in the form of extra food, little moreish samples of side dishes that are completely complimentary and complementary to your meal.

Anchovies

Along with the ubiquitous dish of kimchi, is a small serving of tiny dried anchovies.
These savoury morsels are strong flavoured and spiced with chilli flakes, adding a bite of heat and a chewiness that's quite resistant to the teeth.

Needless to say, these were gone in about a second.

Sweetness is another flavour dimension added to the other side dishes, which are salty and chilli in flavour. These beans are soft but retain a slight chewiness, and dressed in a slick coat of syrupy sauce.

Tasted a bit weird to eat with my meal with its short sugary bursts, so I treated them as dessert :)

Jayusigan Dining Space

Small, quiet but private - it's like we booked the place to ourselves!

...

Admittedly the restaurant felt deserted and the lack of customers/staff did not make it feel particularly inviting. Upon sitting down I took to Urbanspoon (as you do...) and was hit with no results - but felt very confident that it was going to be a good meal :) But to this very day I'm very surprised at its mediocre ratings, either this place has headed downhill or the people of Perth are just too hard to please...

Small eats are also available for purchase from the hot baine marie inside. The portions spoke value for the prices charged and honestly, the food quality was quite on par with what you'd find elsewhere. And unless I'm just too easy, I found it good, and it was a happy, successful divergence from Taro Taro.

The new interior of Jayusigan is clean, uncluttered and polished. It boasts fresh, non-sticky tables and the choice of orange colour provides a vibrant look for the dining area. (And my photos!) After being ignored for a while upon entering, service was efficient and swift. Speaking limited English, the staff are still friendly and helpful through all the pointing and awkward smiling and nodding used to communicate :)

I quite like it here.
And the reason may or may not be because we went home with 2 free frog placemats as part of their grand opening gift :)

***
(08) 9470 1372

Monday - Sunday: Lunch and dinner
Closed Tuesdays (at time of enquiry)

*Location is actually on Leonard St, off Albany Highway

***

Took Begi

Whenever I get Korean cravings, I like to satisfy myself in the maximum possible way.
The best way is to go all out and make a hole in your wallet by splurging on Korean BBQ buffet, a surefire way to refill and overfill the hole in your stomach.


But at times when you feel a little fat, or feel a little poor, there are other delicious cheaper means to please.
So once you learn to tame your innate animalistic instinct to opt for the endless meat buffet meal, you will start to appreciate the other relatively animal-friendly side of Korean cuisine.


It took me a while, but I eventually got there.

Assorted Side Dishes

The thing I love about eating Korean is the generosity of it all. Your meals are always paired with little endless side dishes that you can keep asking to be refilled, without getting rejected.
Where else could you get that luxury?


The assortment of side dishes goes by a rotational variety, with this particular visit bringing dishes of soft marinated bean sprouts, crisp pickled cabbage and carrot shreds, sticky sweet slices of lotus root and a bitey kimchi which I took for a swim in my drinking cup before I ate it.


And these are the perfect solution to when you are not hungry but not yet full by the end of the meal. Or conversely, if being full is not enough and you rather be stuffed.

Hot & Non Spicy Marinated Thin Sliced Prime Soy Beef Stew - $19

A perfect dish to counteract the chilly weather outside is a hot, toasty and comforting bowl of soup that warms you from the inside out. The simmering soup section of the menu involves Korean traditional clay pot dishes, served with a trusty bowl of steamed rice.


This is a bit pricey at $19, but it's got the goodies. Laden with tofu, vegetables, soy beef and sweet potato noodles in a beef bone broth, it's a Winter warmer and gives you a full facial steam while you eat it.


Being served in soup however, the beef would benefit from stronger flavours and the interesting sounding sweet potato noodles being just glass noodles were a personal let down.


But rice in soup has always been a childhood favourite, because I didn't have to chew.
Oh yes. I was beyond just lazy.

Stir Fried Soy Chicken Bibimbap - $13

Bibimbap is a nourishing home style type dish, full of simple ingredients that don't lack in taste. Crisp seasonal vegetables of bean sprouts, zucchini, carrots, spinach and shiitake mushrooms are decked out on top of steamed rice, crowning a mound of stir fried soy chicken adorned with sesame seeds.


Best destroyed with all the ingredients mixed up, with each mouthful a perfect balance of protein, vegetables and carbs like a healthy balanced diet should be. As yummy as it already is, Korea's signature dish is missing the ubiquitous fried egg I longed for!


Egg - the humble household kitchen staple. How much of an grumpy chap would you be if your breakfast fry-up didn't have an egg in it!

How hygienic does this seem?

Before there is even food served on your little table, it's highly likely that it will already be messily cluttered with various items. The metal eating utensils are wrapped and sealed with paper and are definitely not the wooden/plastic disposable kinds, yet unwrapping your own cutlery is a rare occurrence nowadays and makes it seem pretty sanitised and clean (regardless if they really are or not!)

Water is served in what actually look like actual water bottles, the type you'd take around with you. It is cute, and reminiscent of my kindergarten days where I was proud of my very unique (or so I thought) drink bottle.


Which I found out a few wiser years later, was actually a clear squeezy sauce bottle complete with nozzle and cap. I HAD BEEN USING A DAMN SAUCE BOTTLE AS A DRINK BOTTLE FOR YEARS, DAMN IT! It must be quite hard to beat my parents' ignorance!


...

A journey to "discover the secret to authentic Korean dishes" will lead you to Took Begi in Perth's CBD. I am no expert, but it sure is a crowd pleaser judging by the inability to just get a table straightaway here. Part of it IS due to the limited seating however majority of it is probably because of its popularity amongst diners, and you really can't jam any more sardines in a can.


Somehow it is always crowded, even into the later hours of the night. Luckily, whilst waiting outside we noticed the banner on their window offering a takeaway offer of buy 2 get 1 free or buy 1 get 50% off Bibimbaps. A smart strategy, and one enticing enough to make the idea of eating in the car seem at least a bit better!

Staff are quite polite and the kitchen is pretty efficient. Ambiance wise, they're here to please your appetite. Some of the seating is a bit of a tight squeeze, as after my meal I literally turned around in my chair to pay the bill at the counter right behind me. Guess you could call it intimacy! The place is brightly lit, flooded with fluorescent lighting with a no frills dining room. Though I don't really care about how you look, I only care about how I'm treated and how well you feed me :)


Pricing is fair for what and how much you get, with a menu variety giving ample choices. Jumping on their takeaway offer, the portion seems a tiny bit smaller but of course, the price is even smaller and could be a contributing factor to that. However despite the small plastic containers your meat is compacted into, it becomes quite an acceptable portion when you mix it through your Bibimbap. That is some well vacuum-sealed protein!


Now, if I could vacuum pack my stomach...


***
(08) 9225 4557
Actually on Pier Street, a walk up from Miss Mauds.


***

Seoul Buffet Korean BBQ & Steamboat

So how much room do you leave in your stomach for buffet?
A bottomless pit would be desirable, but the next best alternative is a very empty stomach.
My brain and appetite switches to wild mode and my poor tummy deals with weight gain as a result. And by the end, I swear I'll treat buffets with caution and never overeat again...


UNTIL THE NEXT BUFFET!

Meat Corner

This is a vegetarian's nightmare and a carnivore's dream, desire and ecstasy all in one. I'm happy to say it is an ongoing dream for as long as you stay at the restaurant as these trays are constantly replenished with endless supplies of meat meat meat!


There is ox tongue, there is pork belly, there is liberally marinated cuts of beef, chicken and pork everywhere, ready at your disposal and all with heavy, liberal use of marinades.


Then there is a splash of random greenery among a sea of reds, pinks and bloody meaty tones. A single tray of lettuce, looking lost and oddly out of place.

Meat & seafood corner

Fish fillets and octopuses adorn the other corner, along with about 5 different sauces to choose from to smother your meat with. Korean BBQ is big on sauce, I am big on sauce. We are a perfect match. Naturally!


Chilli sauce, chilli paste, some sauce resembling satay, a sweet soy-type sauce, and the oh-so-delicious! sesame oil and salt concoction that is more of a perfect match with Korean BBQ than me. Meaning its pretty damn perfect!

Seafood and vegetable corner

I deem this the healthier corner, which showcases more steamboat-ey type ingredients, but it never stops how you decide to cook them cause now you are your own Masterchef.
And also your own judge.

UFOs

Despite how fancy or the effort these take to keep food hot, they don't even come close to keeping food remotely warm. They do shield food from the various fruit flies I spotted that were hovering around the uncovered buffet meat/vegetable section though. Because who isn't attracted to meat!

Cooked ready-to-eat food

Unveiling the large round shiny covers is an assortment of cooked foods including fried-but-now-soft gyoza, toppoki (excuse me if I'm wrong) - stir fry rice cake in a bitey sauce, spring rolls, beef bulgogi and some marinated chicken dish among other Korean staples.


The buffet section features a small salad section featuring your standard bean sprout salads, seaweed salads, marinated potato salad and the one of course it's there kimchi. All of them are simple but that's exactly why they're good, light accompaniments to an otherwise heavy carnivorous dinner of meat, meat and meat. I even think my beansprout to meat ratio consumed was close to 1:1! I ate my veggies :) There's my good deed for the day!

Hotplate

Then it's down to serious business when the gas burner is turned on and the hotplate is cranked. The hotplates are good cause they don't stick and the meat cooks fast but can burn fast if you're not fast. Everything on the hotplate (and the hotplate itself) first turns a delicious brown and then to a horrid black.


I learn that if you pick up the tongs and prod the meat first, you are pretty much assigned the role of designated cook for the night. I've learnt my lesson.

Happiness

There's something about cooking your own food at a restaurant that takes away the effort and replaces it with fun. Especially when you're in a not-very-well ventilated room, the aromas and sounds of sizzles and splatters fills your senses because they have nowhere to go. As such, they cling to your hair, your clothes, your nose...but really, isn't the scent of food just so attractive?! :P


I reckon a big plate of this would easily replace a big bowl of ice cream as this will make me feel better food. It's sweet and juicy and can melt in your mouth, everything that ice cream is capable of plus even more - IT SMELLS SO DARN GOOD. I couldn't ever get sick of this.


You are in control of everything here, cook everything just the way you like it. My kind of happiness is the kind that sizzles on a hotplate.

Steamboat

On the same table format is an inbuilt platform for a shallow steamboat dish, which you fill with your choice out of beef or chicken stock. My first time here involved some confusion, as you are given a metal jug of liquid when you are seated, and which I thought was stock - the very very very plain tasting type. Turns out it was indeed very very very plain tasting - water. Doh!


Fish cake, fish balls, noodles, veges, whatever you want to boil instead of throw on the barbeque but really, I reckon everything that goes in here tastes better barbequed anyway. Healthier this way, but really, you might as well give up even thinking of being healthy at Korean BBQ.

Meat reload

You'll find yourself getting a lottttttttttt of refills. I could probably drown in the amount of ox tongue I eat. The meats are sliced thinly (esp. ox tongue) and shrink a lot during their cooking process (definitely ox tongue) so you can tell yourself you're actually not eating THAT much (OX TONGUE!!!!!) :)
Some positive reinforcements does wonders for your guilt, but not so much on the waist.

Dessert

Not much of a dessert selection, but that's understandable at a Korean BBQ buffet where marinated meats are your entree, main AND dessert. If you have room for dessert, you have room for more meat and haven't eaten enough of it.


Having said that though, they have tubs of strawberry, vanilla and chocolate ice cream. These always run low but they have a very thoughtful sign saying new refills are certainly available. Even when I'm not a fan of conventional ice cream flavours, there's something about these that makes me eat about 5 scoops in one sitting.


There is also a big glass punch bowl of coconut milk with sago and watermelon dessert as well as a very convenient DIY coffee machine that spits out all your coffee and tea preferences. You can make everything yourself - really really handy for satisfying your Affogato cravings!


...


If you judge a restaurant by how busy it looks, Seoul ticks all the boxes. It is ALWAYS rowdy, always bustling towards full capacity, staff are always kept busy, always full of smoke and fumes (a good sign in this circumstance!) and even with efficient staff trying to keep this to a minimal by constantly changing burning hotplates with smoke coming out of them, the rate at which us diners burn (or cook) meats is definitely faster.


Staff should be commended though, on how they scoot around and are extremely vigilant about blackening hotplates. Upon sitting down you are asked if you know how this whole Korean BBQ thing works, and to which I lied and said no once, how they run you through and introduce you to all the details is very impressive. We're always the last table standing sitting whenever we dine out, to which they had no problems with and just proceeded to clean around us instead of hinting at us to leave.


The layout of the tables and chairs is quite compact, and maneuvering through the chair and people maze is quite dangerous if you're balancing plates of meat mountains on your hands. The tables themselves are also quite low on space, needing to accommodate plates, bowls, chopsticks, cutlery, water jugs, cups, tongs, scissors, sauces, excess plates, yada yada yada. Everything is a bit squishy and cramped, first needing to navigate through people and furniture then needing to navigate through your own table.


But of course, it's quite fun to have your own cooking station. Meat not done enough? Chuck it back on the hotplate! Hot food gone cold? Chuck it back on the hotplate! Feel like chucking something on the hotplate? Chuck it on the hotplate! This is (my) ultimate freedom to be an (incompetent) Masterchef.


It's a buffet, you will most likely over eat, but with all that rich and tasty marinade caramelising on the hotplate, it's silly to expect any sense of self discipline.