It's time for a new Sydney suburb crawl and this one takes us to Lidcombe, the Western Sydney suburb that has a preponderance of wonderful Korean eateries. There is everything from including Korean fried chicken as well as its newer cousin Korean charcoal chicken as well as noodles, crispy pancakes and bingsus. Come along as we discover some amazing restaurants!
Laura and I arrive in Lidcombe just after 2pm on a Sunday. Alas, a few of the places we really wanted to visit are closed Sundays. This meant that our rather unwieldy list of around 10 restaurants was easily whittled down to 5 eateries. All had different types of Korean food and all are within easy walking distance of each other. Laura brought along lots of tupperware and ziplocks so we could take leftovers home and the restaurants had some takeaway bowls for the soups.
Basak & Jogumja
It's raining when we head to our first stop Basak and Jogumja. We are the only non-Koreans in this small restaurant and service is friendly and helpful. The banchan is brought over - it's some spring onion and kim chi in a gochujang based sauce. We make fast work of the cabbage salad with mayonnaise on top that is simple but moreish.
Basak and Jogumja is also known for their Korean fried chicken, particularly the honey butter chicken. This chicken has less of a crunchy shell (basak means crunchy or crispy) and the drumsticks and wings are coated in a honey butter sauce. We love the chicken dipped in the mayo of the cabbage salad too.
The rain calls for beef short rib soup with slippery sweet potato noodles. A pot of metal rice is given and you can add this to give the broth but it's lovely sipping on the soup and watching the rain outside.
Tip: you can ask for as many servings of the banchan as possible at no extra charge. We got a few of the cabbage salad.
Jeon and Kalguksu
A few minutes walk away, Jeon and Kalguksu specialises in two things. Jeon is Korean for pancake but pancake can mean anything from an actual pancake to a small fritter. Kalguksu are knife-cut wheat flour noodles. Jeon and Kalguksu isn't easy to find as it doesn't come up on google maps (just put in Shop 16/2b Vaughan St, Lidcombe). The restaurant has indoor seating and a few outdoor tables. Service is friendly and we start with banana Makgeolli rice wine served in a golden teapot with a chilled golden metal cup.
The tri colour pancake is a must order. A crispy Korean pancake is divided into three with kimchi, shredded potato and chives and tiny prawns. Dip this into the pancake sauce and you’ll be rewarded with a crispy, crunchy savoury bite. We both enjoy this so much that we pretty much finish the whole pancake crunching and nibbling away happily.
If you’re feeling more in the mood for comfort, try the clam soup. The slippery wheat noodles have a wonderful texture and are served with a generous serve of clams, shredded carrot, nori in a wonderful broth in a cavernous bowl. I’d suggest splitting the pancake and noodles among two people.
The prawn pancake is not really a pancake but deep fried tempura style of prawns with a pancake dipping sauce arranged in a circle. It’s good, but doesn't quite reach the same heights as the other two dishes.
Tip: The assorted pancake isn't a range of pancakes, it's an assortment of 7 types of fritters (meatball, fish, zucchini, skewer, perilla leaf and beef bulgogi mushroom). Also check your bill, we were charged twice (I don't think it was deliberate).
Sutbul Chicken
Our lovely waiter at Sutbul is super worried about us. He’s worried that we can’t take the spice of their spicy charcoal chicken. While Korean fried chicken is omnipresent, charcoal chicken is its newer cousin. Sutbul means "charcoal fire" in Korean and the restaurant has imported a charcoal grill from Korea to create this Korean style charcoal chicken.
The chicken comes in two varieties: salt or with spicy sauce and you can get a half half which we order. The spicy chicken has pieces of tteokbokki and is hot but it’s not unreasonably so if you like regularly enjoy spicy food you should be fine. The salt chicken is best dipped in the salt and pepper mix or the honey mustard sauce.
Pair it with the rice balls ($14) that are sticky and delicious delights that you shape yourself using a gloved hand. And make sure you get some delicious laver seaweed bites filled with noodles and dip those in the spicy chicken sauce as the waiter recommends.
For something delicious and filling try the spicy pork with rice. The thin pork slices are combined with vegetables like carrot and cabbage on a sizzling hot plate with a serve of steamed rice. The sauce for this dish is so moreish and we dip the tornado potatoes in them to season them.
Tip: the tornado potatoes feature on a few posters but we didn't really think they were anything particularly special.
Tonight
Right near Sutbul chicken is modern Korean bistro called Tonight and our last savoury stop of the night. Tonight's chefs wear baseball caps and this restaurant caters to a young crowd with plenty of outdoor seating with a view of the park across the road. They bring the cutlery with some moreish wonton crisps and a wooden cube with the QR code to order. We go with one of the set menus and an extra dish.
They have a few signature dishes and perhaps the number one is the Rose Ma La Xiang Guo. "It is like everything you would order in a malatang hot pot," says Laura and she's right. It comes in a creamy spicy sauce and you can add extra spiciness to it for a Szechaun kick. There's everything in there from prawns, quail eggs, king mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, sweet potato noodles, tofu skin, bok choy to squid and enoki mushrooms in a delicious, spicy creamy sauce.
The truffle potato is like a hash brown or pommes Anna with grated pecorino and crispy onion and a tangy truffle mayonnaise style sauce. They're crisp and delicious and we love the texture and flavour of these (they could be hotter though as they're a bit lukewarm).
If you’re a fan of Yakult, then make sure to order the giant Yakult bingsu (it was part of the set menu) which is featherlight shreds of Yakult ice. It’s a refreshing end to the meal and if you come between 5-7pm, you can order it as part of the Happy Hour set menu.
Tip: Some people raved about the prawn toast but we weren't quite as taken with it. Also there is a choice to add chilli or numbing peppercorns to the Rose Ma La Xiang Guo. We added chilli to our Rose Ma La Xiang Guo but we ended up with numbing peppercorns. No big deal, we still enjoyed it.
Gangnam Bakery
Our last stop is nearby at Gangnam Bakery for a drink to take home with us. While there are lots of desserts available here, we feel like we had our fill with the bingsu and we had spotted the Earl Grey thickshake when walking from Sutbul to Tonight. There are lots of interesting Korean drinks from banana coffee, sweet potato latte and black sesame latte. We decide on three drinks: the strawberry latte, tiramisu coffee and the earl grey thickshake.
The strawberry latte is basically strawberry syrup with milk. It isn't the most exciting and I probably wouldn't order it again. The tiramisu coffee doesn't really look like the picture they put on Instagram (that one looks a bit nicer) but it is a delicously creamy iced coffee with a hint of tiramisu from the milky coffee and chocolate on top. The earl grey thickshake flavour is good but it's not a thickshake, it's a semi frozen milkshake that once melted, is quite thin. However the flavour of the sweet Earl Grey syrup is definitely on point and this is both of our favourite drink. And at 8pm we head back home, tired but happily full.
So tell me Dear Reader, do you ever go on a suburb crawl? Which stop did you like the look of the most?
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