Cafe Cya, Korean

Cafe Cya

G2 624 George Street Sydney

(In the alleyway between MacDonalds and the Metro Hotel)

Sydney

Do you like Korean food? I'm sort of going through a Korean food phase and Cafe Cya is one of my favourite Korean restaurants in the city. The food is always good however the service is sometimes questionable.. You've got to find your own table, ask repeatedly for water and chase up on your order as they are likely to forget/lose it. But the food is good and cheap so I don't mind. You get what you pay for right?

Complimentary side dishes

These are refillable and unlimited (by the way). OH and Cafe Cya is BYO.

Fish Roe and Tofu Hotpot

I love this! I usually order this when I eat Korean haha. The soup is sooo tasty and has just the right amount of chill without burning my throat. I love the texture of cooked fish roe.

Japchae with Beef

This is Korean potato starch noodles with beef and vegetables. I've actually never had beef japchae before but this was really yummy! There's more flavour than seafood japchae as the bulgogi sauce (I think its that?) is infused into the japchae. Really yummy

Chilli Marinated Chicken

This was really tasty and addictive! I don't know how they marinate their chicken but eating this reminds me of the happy feeling you get after eating a full blown MSG meal.

The Good: Cheap! Three dishes for $40. Yummy food and unlimited free side dishes

The Bad: Service is often reminiscent of an Government agency..

The Gu-E

The Gu-E

34/1 Dixon Street

Chinatown Sydney

9261 0888

http://www.thegue.com.au/En/

The gu-E is a brand spanking new 'Korean degustation' restaurant that's just opened up in the Dixon St complex. Gu-E brings something new to Sydney, as it offers itself as 'Australia's first Korean Fine Dining' establishment. To match Gu-E's ambitions, the restaurant's interior is sleek and modern. I was really surprised because most Korean restaurants are crowded and cheap.

Gu-E offers two menus, a Korean degustation menu and an ala carte menu. They even have private dining rooms and I think the minimum spend for a 10 person dining room is $150. We ordered off the ala carte menu this visit, but I think next time we might give the degustation a try.

Complimentary side dishes

Most Korean restaurants serve some kimchi, pickles, potato and seaweed just side dishes..

Angus Yukke ($22)

Seasoned raw 'yuk-ke' beef balls sitting atop pineapple rings

Sitting on top is a raw egg which you break and mix into the beef.

The menu description is a bit misleading as 1) its more like beef strips rather than beef balls and 2) the pineapple is actually pear. Also, the yuk-ke is slightly frozen. Oh and its really chilli (Korean style).

I enjoyed this dish. It wasn't what I expected as I've never had yuk-ke frozen or chilli but its actually really nice. Since the beef was frozen, it didn't have a raw meat texture so there was less 'yick' factor. Also without the chilli, this would have been pretty bland. Try it if you're game :)

Seafood Pancake ($18)

Classic crisp Korean style seafood pancake. The pancake was thick and crispy.

Bulgogi and tofu stack ($20)

Marinated bulgogi beef, pan fried soft tofu topped with balsamic mixed greens

To be perfectly honest.. this just tasted like lettuce with tofu and beef. Nice but not really worth $20 for four pieces..

Soy Short Rib ($24)

Ceramic pot braised beef short rib pieces, vegetable cubes and slightly caramelised soy reduction

This was really delicious.. We ordered two servings of this :) Its actually one of Gu-E's signature dishes and I can see why. The beef is tender and falls apart in your mouth. A must try!

Angus mince with rice cake ($20)

I didn't get to try this but its Angus beef wrapped around rice cake. Interesting hey? Presentation is very pretty.

Beef, Mushroom and Dumpling hotpot ($33)

We ordered the hotpot as a main course for everyone to share. This was great because the hotpot was pre-cooked and all we had to do was heat it up. We didn't have to wait 15 minutes for the beef to cook or worry about eating undercooked meat.

Overall I really enjoyed Gu-E. It sets itself apart from other Korean restaurants by providing excellent service and well presented good food. Most Korean restaurants fail in these two respects.

The Good- Private Dining Rooms, Reasonable Prices, Excellent Service, Clean and contemporary restaurant, Nice toilets (most Korean restaurants have shocking toilets) and wine list

The Bad- Doesn't have the 'usual' Korean food ie. kimchi fried rice, spicy chicken and etc

Arisun, Korean, Sydney

Arisun Korean Restaurant

1 Dixon Street Sydney

Arisun is a popular Korean restaurant towards the Town Hall end of Dixon Street. Its famous for its korean fried chicken which you must try if you come here. Its always packed and has a lively atmosphere.

We start off with some soju and korean sides. Normally most korean joints will offer you about 3-5 side dishes to go with your meal- usually pickled radish, kimchi, seaweed, beansprouts and sometimes even pickled fish. Sadly Arisun only had kimchi :(

Spicy Seafood Soup with Rice

We wanted something 'mild' but still chilli so we ordered this dish thinking that the rice will be in a separate bowl. But how wrong, the rice was at the bottom of this bowl and completely soaked in chilli soup. Only J managed to eat this- it was too chilli for the rest of us.

Black Bean noodles with seafood

Bibimbap

Omg so chilli! I only mixed in half the bimbibap sauce but my lips were like numb after eating a bit of this.

Beef and vegetables hot pot

This was slightly too sweet for me. But it wasn't chilli so I ate it anyways haha.

Spicy sizzling hot plate

This was incredibly chilli. Look at that bright red colour! I love how they topped this with bonito flakes :) So delicious.

Korean Soy Sauce Crispy Chicken

Yum! Highlight dish of the night. Perfectly juicy, crispy and succulent.

Seafood pancake

J, our resident Korean, thought it was incredibly cute how each slice of pancake had one prawn.

I love korean food- cheap and cheerful and you can never go wrong. Worked out to be $20 per person and we had too much food. Although only thing I dont like is bimbibap- I find it really plain. But if you like korean you must try Arisun :)

Arisun, Haymarket, Korean

Arisun,

1 Dixon St Haymarket

KFC, or Korean Fried Chicken, is delicious korean-spiced deep fried chicken. If you ever want KFC- there is only one place to go and there is only one thing to order. That is at Arisun and with the soy sauce deep fried chicken.

Its honey sweet, crunchy and absolutely delicious. I recommend that you go with a few friends as the serving is quite big and can feed 3-4 as an entree.