Another Sunday, another dinner with parents. This time though, I got my wish of exploring my neighbourhood so that's how we ended at Strathfield. For those not familiar, Strathfield is also known as Koreafield, where every 2nd shop is a Korean restaurant, cafe, bar, karaoke, hair-dresser, market, clothing shop... among other things. We decided on an early dinner so we could go home and sleep in preparation for the world cup final. Well, I think everyone else had the same idea because when we got to our first choice of restaurant, Ceci (what a great name!) at 6:15pm, it was packed to the brim and there was a 20 mins wait for the table. That's how we ended up at Won Jo Hae Jang Kuk, a what seems like newly opened place. We're not really sure because everything was written in Korean and the wait staff don't seem to possess much English skills.
Food
Woohoo, there's actually some sort of English on the menu, albeit very brief. 3 dishes are described as "Fried Korean sausage", then there was "special Korean sausage", as well as numerous other combinations of beef, sausage and pork.
We used the look and point method of ordering, as everyone else seemed to have big stove tops with big pots of boiling meat and hot-plates of orange looking things, and we wanted the same. First up though, we juggled the tradition series of side dishes (kim chi, radish, green chilli and some other chilli thing that I can't identify). that appeared, along with water, bowls, rice, silver chopsticks and spoons. The side dishes tasted similar, only differing in texture. Like all other Korean side dishes I've had really.
Not long after, ourSoy bean soup ($9) arrived. A slightly spicy soup filled with pork, soybeans and noodles, it was tasty, if not very filling. That left room for the Korean beef hot pot ($25), which came with the portable stove. It had slices of marinated Korean beef, carrots, onions, new year cake, mushrooms, vermicelli swimming in a slightly sweet and slightly spicy broth. This was my favourite dish. The beef marinated just right, the soup cooling to the other chilli dishes and the vegetables hearty and warming on a winters night. Last but not least, our Fried Korean sausage ($25) arrived. It came with its own stove for the ingredients to sizzle on. It turns out that Korean "sausage" is actually vermicelli wrapped in intestines and set with blood, it actually doesn't contain any "meat" at all. The meat in the dish was provided by the little strips of pork belly. I have to say the Korean sausage and the pork belly are both acquired taste. I didn't find them particularly exciting, but this dish was spicy! Conclusion? Koreans like vermicelli and chilli a lot, and if you want to warm up on a cold winter's night? This is the cuisine to have.
Rating - 6.5
Atmosphere
Strathfield always has that air, it's like being in another country almost. The place looked like it was newly opened, there were a couple of those bouquets around. Everything looked very temporary and new. The walls were pretty bare except for the menu and picture put up.
You can seat at the table, but you can also dine Korean style, i.e., seating on the floor. The fact that the place was filled with Koreans meant that the atmosphere was lively.
Rating - 1.5
Service
The waiters definitely need to scrub up. When we walked in the door, everyone ignored us, we had to approach a waiter ourselves before they even bothered setting us on a table. We had to ask for everything ourselves, the menu, the water, the bowls. When it came time to pay, they weren't very responsive either. There are a lot of waiters for a restaurant this size. The only excuse I can give them is that they have to keep bringing those little side dishes to all the table, otherwise they were prob watching TV out the back?
They weren't very good at explaining the menu to us either. At least everything came in good time and they didn't muck up on anything. Still, a bit of a smile won't hurt.
Rating - 2
C-factor
$59 for 5, no extras of any sort charged. And I got to watch Slokky's reaction after eating a chilli, priceless really.
Rating - 1.5
Brownie Points - 11.5
Info
33A The Boulevarde
Strathfield
NSW 2135
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