The contents of this blog are matters of opinion formed over one more visits. There has been some artistry applied and metaphors and similes should not necessarily be taken literally.
We had a pork based meal at this West Ryde Korean BBQ restaurant allegedly known for its beef ribs.
The banchan offering was diverse for 4 and included marinated raw crab, which neither I nor my Indian gastroenterologist friend were game to eat. Our Korean gastroenterologist and intensivist were game. Banchan was not refilled through the meal.
We had 3 servings of marinated pork rib ($29 each) between the four of us. Cooked skillfully by a Korean born Korean, I have no complaints.
Perhaps the only thing is that when I eat with these guys we only ever get multiple orders of the one meat. See related review of Stoneage BBQ, also in West Ryde.
The miso stew ($17) with a bit of clam inside was a nice thing that I never get to eat when I eat with my partner, because she just hates anything clammy. I’m told not bad with rice, but it was also not bad without rice.
Mapo GalbiKorean BBQ 999A Victoria Rd, West Ryde NSW 2114 (02) 9807 2278
Unlike Rockdale’s former Angry Gnome (RIP), a café named in keeping with the appearance of its owner, Little Couple’s small but cute space near the train station in Campsie is staffed by two seemingly extremely normal sized people.
I rarely post photos of spaces or decor on this blog. I’ve always felt that food always comes first, and that no amount of flowers or lit up branded signage can make up for bad food. However, I really liked how Little Couple was able to maximise the usage of their fairly small space, by providing a nice elevated seating area overlooking the kitchen, above what I presume is their pantry. The airconditioning was a nice reprieve from the 40 degree sun, and it was just a nice place to be. Sadly the mango smoothie ($7.50) pictured in this interior design review we honestly didn’t love. It felt a bit too sugary.
In terms of food we had this LC Beef Wrap ($15), a very reasonable sized toasted wrap with a large portion of bulgogi beef, spinach, tomato, cheese, and aioli. Each bite was juicy and yummy, and based on the quantity of meat supplied as well as the location of their shop, one local Korean internal medicine specialist we discussed the wrap with believes that they must be losing money on each wrap.
The K-Toast ($7) featuring buttered bread sandwiching a cabbage omelette and sugar and tomato sauce I loved less, mostly because I had misread it as a crab omelette. Taken on its own merits it was fine, but not something I’d get again.
Overall thoughts That bulgogi wrap, with this cafe’s prime location, has got to make a great grab and go for train commuters. I only hope their business model can sustain it, because local internal medicine specialist CJP thinks it might not be able to.
Little Couple Cafe 1/199 Beamish St, Campsie NSW 2194, Australia +61 416 302 724
I went out of my way between night shfits looking for some deep fried mini shrimp heads to bring to work, but could only find these deep fried baby crabs.
As deep fried baby crabs go, these certainly did the job. They had quite a nice seafoody umami taste, though were quite oily and would be really at the apex of any food pyramid as a sometimes only treat.
The only bad thing about them is how slightly freaky the little crab bodies look. I recommend first having a few with your eyes closed, so that you can enjoy them before you look at them.
Pork Over Flowers differs from most Korean BBQ restaurants in that it focuses on grilling a majority-pork based menu together with kimchi, bean sprouts, and shallots, allowing the rendered fat and meat juices to soak through the vegetables as they cook.
Banchan selection was broad, but was not refilled even though we fully cleared most of the plates.
We had the fresh pork belly set ($89) with an additional serving of pork neck ($26). The meat was cooked at the table for us, and just as advertised the rendered pork fat and meat juices did combine to add a umami flavour to the mix of kimchi, bean sprouts, and shallots. This was pretty good, and also a pretty novel experience for us three Chinese guys who hadn’t had broad experience in different styles of Korean BBQ.
The Kimchi Pancake ($25) was not as bad as people online indicated it would be. It certainly didn’t stand out, but reading what others hand said you would think that it was poisonous.
There is allegedly soft serve ice cream included for all customers at no extra cost, though the machine was not working during our visit.
One problem I do have is that I noticed while writing this review that this restaurant offers freebies for positive Google reviews, which I feel really defeats the purpose of the review process. It’s already hard enough to find nice places to eat with all the social media influencers with undeclared paid partnerships, but when the Google review system is gamed it makes it really unfair. (On that note we did witness like five Instagram girls spend an extremely long time taking photos of their mountain of food only to not eat it).
My partner was keen for some Japanese and I some Korean – from the outside, Hiroba’s little shop hugging the wall of Strathfield train station seemed like the perfect compromise.
Following in the tradition of Korean people serving Japanese food, Hiroba offers an extensive Japanese menu with the addition of some Korean restaurant staples. The Japanese izakaya style decor and Japanese translations on the menu provided an illusion that did not last long, shattered as soon as we unexpectedly received banchan upon ordering.
We initially pondered ordering a sushi or sashimi set, but decided on a la carte nigiri instead, making sure that our food was all thriller and no filler. The salmon, salmon belly, tuna, and snapper nigiri was all good and fresh, with thick and generous pieces of each. The tuna I thought was a bit expensive, coming in at $8 for two pieces, whilst the rest was reasonably priced ($5 for two pieces).
The mixed tempura (medium size) came with three tempura prawns and a mixture of what was mostly tempura tubers. Though freshly cooked, i thought the quality of the tempura was only middling, and felt that it was not as light and airy as good tempuras can be. We were saddened by the lack of variety in the tempura vegetables, with mostly root vegetables on offer. The only thing that really stood out was a single piece of tempura enoki – otherwise all of the tempura vegetables were quite samey.
I didn’t really like the flavour of the Ox Beef Soup, though if I’m being honest that could very well be more of a personal preference. The entire soup had a smoked taste, owing to what looked like sliced silverside beef on the inside. The overall theme of this soup could be described as wholesome feeling but not great tasting, though I did catch the chef having his own sit down meal of this soup. I assume the chef wouldn’t eat something not good, so it’s probably just our own preference that led us to not like this.
VERDICT While the sushi at Hiroba was indeed good, would I go back again? Probably not. Strathfield holds a huge untapped potential of East Asian cuisine, and Hiroba just didn’t stand out enough for me to go back. I’d rather try something new.
Hiroba 1 Albert Rd, Strathfield NSW 2135 (02) 9763 1222
