20 July 2012

Kozy Korean Barbecue ~ City / Haymarket


You want food in laneways? Don't wait for the hipsters, get out and find yourself a back alley near George St and there will be a Korean joint already waiting for you.



Stepping off the main drag of George St and it's cinema complexes in Sydney nowadays means finding Korean food in laneways and side streets. What used to be Spanish places along Albion Place is now Korean fried chicken and barbecue, there's more along the side of the Metro nightclub, Madang is in a laneway at the back of Pitt St and tucked in behind the Star Bar on Wilmont St is Kozy Korean Barbecue, a typical BBQ on the table, hot pot and kim chi joint.



Kozy is a bit more roomy than the name implies. There's room for bigger groups, which is perfect for the Korean style of food sharing.



It's also perfect for the Korean style of beer drinking and the sharing of rice wine. Order your beer in a tall frosty glass for the coldest beer you'll find this side of the Arctic, you can even turn it into a beer slushy. We happen to sit next to the owner who generously shouts us a bottle the white stuff when he finds out we've come all the way from Newtown to visit, what a gent.



We start off with Mul Man Du, $10. Steamed dumplings with pork and vegetable, light and tasting of fresh greens.



They had finished with the kimchi pancake for the day, so we ordered the next best thing, Hae Mul Pajeon ($12), sizzling Korean style pancake with seafood and assorted. Assorted what, we don't know. The dipping sauce was simple and added to the flavour, we suspect chilli, vinegar and soy.



Instead of getting BBQ which we often have over at Jonga Jip, we decide to order a hot pot. Thinking we ordered a squid and pork belly number we end up with a seafood one. It was still good, fresh burdock leaves on top, mussels and prawns and squid inside. Just no pork. $40 for a big steaming bowl of ocean critters, vegetables and enoki mushrooms with a few udon noodles thrown in for good measure.



Squids n stuff



The side dishes here are tasty, lots of greens, sprouts, kimchi and potato salad. No risk of scurvy here.



The one item on the menu we all wanted was to the tofu kimchi ($15), steamed tofu with stir fried kimchi and pork. The tofu was the harder pressed variety, a nice change to the silken style we often prefer. The kimchi and pork stewed together made both even more delicious.



After hearing so much about Korean Fried chicken lately we decided to try the spicy version. The red sauce made it taste much like a lot of the other dishes with a hint of sweet and sour. The sides with it helped diminish the fried-ness. Sliced cabbage was coated in mayo and what we suspect was plain old tomato sauce which didn't work so well. Lightly pickled cubes of daikon were the best bit. Perhaps we should have ordered the plain version.





Kozy Korean Barbecue menu...



Kozy Korean Barbecue menu...



Kozy Korean Barbecue menu...



Kozy Korean Barbecue menu...



Kozy Korean Barbecue menu...



Kozy Korean Barbecue menu...



Kozy Korean Barbecue menu...



Kozy Korean Barbecue menu...



Davatronix and Miss Economical Bihun highly recommend the Hokkaido cheesecakes from 85 Degrees on George Street for desert. Yum.




Kozy Korean Barbecue is at 7 Wilmot St, Sydney. Wilmot Street is a small alley/street of George Street opposite the cinemas, Star Bar is on the corner. Phone (02) 9267 3533.


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7 comments:

  1. Somebody finally got around to blogging about these alleyway Korean joints popping up! I discovered the laneway containing Sydney Mandang by accident a few weeks ago and I was surprised to see not one but two busy Korean restaurants, in addition to a few Korean shops. I've been walking down Pitt Street for years had no idea it existed, you would never know it from the street.

    Gotta love Sydney, so many nooks and crannies :)

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    1. The laneway places are so much fun to find. Madang often has long queues and there's so many other great places around. We love the way Pitt St morphs through Japan, Korea then Thailand, with lovely hidden side bits.

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  2. Looks yummy. I want to go out to lunch with you guys again, but I don't know when I will hit the big smoke alone again...

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  3. All the way from Newtown hey? We'd probably get a free keg if we ventured in from Parra! A beer slushie - sounds like fun.

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  4. And they have great lunch specials at $8 including all those side dishes (or at least they did last time I was there, which was several months ago unfortunately). Great blogging, by the way. All your posts are interesting and informative, and cover the sorts of places I love. Unlike a certain other blog which has gone "up-market"!
    Stan.

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    Replies
    1. I didn't know about the lunch specials, will be checking that out, thanks!

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  5. I've gone past this place so many times! Should definitely check them out, what a great find :) Cafe C'ya is also nearby in the side streets opp the cinemas too, food is pretty good there as well

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comment joy - please keep your musings happy - if you want to complain about a restaurant please do it on a restaurant review site (or your own blog) - we're all about celebrating cultural diversity and the great eats that come along with it :-)

Our ethics: We pay for all our own meals and travel (though sometimes Mum shouts us).