21 January 2014

Ugly Bob Stylish Korean Food ~ Market City Food Court - Chinatown

Ugly Bob. With this kind of name, we are bound to be interested. The first part of the name might be ugly (and we can't vouch for Bob), but the food lives up to the promise of stylish Korean dishes far superior for a humble food court offering.





Ugly Bob is a shiny new stall at the far end of Market City, replacing the crap-ish Naruto Ramen. The menu here is a corker, it's not huge but there's a bunch of dishes we've never tried before.



A serve of banchan (free side dishes) in a pretty platter is a most welcome surprise. The sweet yellow pickled radishes were the most fought over.



#6 Sun Bu Du - $10. Spice pepper seafood soup with silken tofu. A lightly spicy soup with flavours of korean chili paste. There's plenty of seafood for your dollar and a couple of big gorgeous hunks of silken tofu. A great version of one of our favourite dishes.



#26 Man Du Guk - $10. A white peppery soup with dumplings and slices of rice cake. This soup is way more filling than expected. There are a few pieces of well cooked beef to add a protein hit.



Kim chi fried rice with chicken - $9. This version has plenty of tangy kim chi  and some chunky chicken. Comes with a tomato-y soup and a little salad with a delicious mystery dressing.



Bulgogi - $10. Bulgogi is cooked a little differently wherever we go and it's always a must-try. At Ugly Bob's the beef is cut into thick strips, similar to those Chinese fillet steak dishes, and is served on a sizzling platter. It has smokey bbq flavours with a touch of sweet chili. Yum.



Bibim guk su - Cold noodle with veggies and red pepper sauce - $10. Like a veggie bibimbap with cool thin noodles instead of rice. Served with soup and Korean chili sauce on the side.



What a feed for only $10!



Nang myun - cold beef soup with noodle - $10. Thin, clean noodles with some chew in an iced thin beefy salty broth with slices of corned beef, fresh pear, cucumber and half a googie egg. Hot English mustard and chili paste are served on the side. This is wonderful in summer. Highly recommended. See more about this dish on Wikipedia.



Bo ssam - steamed pork with kim chi lettuce - $11. Plain pork belly served with lettuce and chili sauce on the side to wrap it up in.



Serving suggestion...



Dak gal bi - spicy pepper stir fried chicken rib with cheese - $11. It's the 'with cheese' bit that sold us on this. It's chook on a smoky hotplate with a handful of cheddar on top.



The cheese gets all gooey and stringy,and melts in with the bbq plate scorched onions and chicken.



Cheese is melted using a blowtorch. Fun!



Bibimbab - 5 colour veggies with rice and red sauce - $10. A vegetarian bibimbab. The red sauce is fantastic, it's like your classic Korean chili paste sauce mixed with tomato sauce. We've noticed the chili sauce varies with many of the dishes. Interestingly Ugly Bob doesn't do a classic beef bibimbab, that's because he is so stylish. Though we reckon he'd make you a beef bibimbab if you asked nicely. Or violently.



Don gas ramen - Korean style ramen with pork cutlet $11. A large deep fried crunchy pork schnitzel, like a Japanese tonkatsu, floating atop a broth tasting of Korean red chili paste, with noodles like spaghetti.

Ugly Bob Stylish Korean Food is at Market City Food Court, top level at Market City Shopping Centre, above Paddy's Markets, Chinatown.


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8 comments:

  1. lolol i'd go here on the name alone too! impressive that they give you panchan in a food court and i'm stoked i now have somewhere to get individual serves of bossam!

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    1. Individual serves are good, but a big plate full can be even better! The side dishes are wonderful, and there's quite a bit more on the menu we haven't explored yet.

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  2. Love how you guys review menus so comprehensively! (I get a bit sad when folks only review a few menu items, sigh)

    I almost ordered from Ugly Bob's late last year, but they were so quiet, I wasn't too keen to take the risk. Looks like it was my loss! Definitely going there asap... those dishes look awesome (and banchan too!)

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    1. Thanks, we do try and cover more than just a couple of dishes which means a lot of eating for two people. Try it out if you can.

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  3. Ooh, looks good! I've been living in Korea for almost a year and am seeking out places to get my K-food hit upon returning to Sydney.
    That bibimbap looks perfect, and it might interest you, bibimbap is typically served sans-beef in Korea.
    Thanks for the great post, guys!

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    1. Thanks for the info on bibimbap in Korea. We love the veg version, so won't be dissapointed if there's no meat.

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  4. In a bizarre bit of marketing they've changed their name to "Grain Bob". I asked them why and they said they thought "Ugly" wasn't a good word to associate with food. What a pity, it was a great name!

    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).