Dae Jang Kum ~ Korean BBQ Restaurant - City\Chinatown Fringe

We take the focus on Korean food away from fried chicken and BBQ and explore some other dishes (and renew some favourites) at Dae Jang Kum on Goulburn St Sydney.



There's so much press about Korean Fried Chicken we thought we'd balance it out with a look at some other great Korean dishes. While we love Korean BBQ (especially at Jonga Jip in Eastwood), we wanted to explore a few other rice bowls, cold noodle soups and more. We chose Dae Jang Kum on Goulburn Street for our re-education.

Ah, the wonders of tiny bowls of food. The ban chan serve here is generous for two. We are always fascinated by the mystery selection of side dishes at each Korean resto we go to. This time new dishes for us include lightly pickled onion and chilli, sweet and soy salty, reminding us of English style pickled onions.

The ban chan comes even if you eat in by yourself, which makes a lunch alone a real wild ride of different flavours.

We tried a couple of 'traditional drinks' from the soft drink section of the menu:

• #1 Sik-Hye - Korean sweet drink made from fermented rice ($3)
• #2 Su-Geong-Gwa - sweet drink made from honey, dried cinnamon, ginger and pine nuts ($3)

These were amazing at first taste, especially the big cinnamon hit in the Su-Geon-Gwa. Both drinks were sickly sweet by the end of the mug, but are definitely worth a try for the beverage curious.

#72 Mul neng myun - cold noodle in ice broth, spicy - $12. Iced noodles with beef slices, veggies and some spicy gooey paste. The soup broth really is icy, you need to crack through it a little to start mixing the noodles and sauces together. The separate components of the meat, egg and vegetables provide a balance of crunch to the bite and soft textures, spice and sweetness.

These noodles are famously difficult to chew in this dish, scissors are provided and recommended. Mr Shawn has been digging on this dish up at Ugly Bob's Stylish Korean Food in the Market City Food Court.

#40 Fish roe and vege in hot stone bowl - $15. This is the dish that lured us in here. It arrives smoking hot (careful, burnies!). Mix it all together and it tastes like a slightly fishy fried rice, only healthy.



Classic bibimbap, cold rice and sides of cooked spinach and fresh greenery with beef and a soft fried egg on top, $12. We never get tired of this dish. Note the single serve ban chan in the background, it all makes a fab lunch for one.



Squirt red hot pepper sauce (gochujang) to your hearts content, a favourite addition to the bibimbap. Mix together and enjoy, coating the beef, rice and assorted veg with the runny egg yolk and some of the chilli sauce. (Bibim means 'to mix' in Korean, its what makes the dish bibimbap so special.)

If you want something a little different to a regular bibimbap, try one with a raw beef and egg topping. The beef is deliciously sweet and a little sesame oil sprinkled, while the raw yolk adds an extra smooth and silky coating. $15 (including ban chan).

Dae Jang Kum Korean BBQ is at 30-37 Goulburn Street, Sydney. Phone 9211 0890. Note the old Supermeal resto under reconstruction in the background, now Jiangnan.

Super at lunch, service is fast and you get the full ban chan works, even for one dish.

www.daejangkum.com.au