SATURDAY NIGHT SEOUL FOOD
Is Korean the new Japanese? This is the question I find myself asking as I visit another new Asian eatery in Hobart — this time tucked behind the fabled flannelette curtain.
With two of my favourite people in tow, tonight I am strolling through Moonah en route to the Seoul Korean Restaurant. When I spent my tender years in the lead-laden loveliness of Lutana just one suburb away, the Windjammer was the place to go in Moonah and Laetare Gardens was booked solid for weddings, sandwich luncheons and leavers’ dinners.
Thankfully, getting out and about in Moonah these days is a much more cosmopolitan experience with St Albi in a funky warehouse space in Albert Rd and the Texas Pantry on the main drag among the growing list of attractions. Seoul, on the corner of Albert and Main roads, has been recommended by a friend with a new baby who recently managed to escape the house after a prolonged period of eating-out abstinence.
“We have left the house for a meal, which is newsworthy in itself, but we have gone to our new local in Moonah, Korean BBQ, which is really amazing,” she says in her Facebook messenger missive from Moonah. “You cook your own food on a hotplate at your table … if you are looking for something, I can suggest this place!”
And so it is we arrive for a Saturday night of Seoul food in what was formerly known as the Hub Café. The last time I ventured through the door it was Cullen’s Bakery, run by celebrated chef Paul Cullen who has since had his organisational fingers in a multitude of pies including the Taste of Tasmania, the Wooden Boat Festival and, most recently, the Australian Antarctic Festival.
We pass a few other small groups including a table of three by the window nibbling on chicken wings. I note there is a hand basin on the wall, no doubt to help diners deal with sticky wing or spare rib fingers. Slipping into a booth, we crack open our BYO bottle of wine as we check out the menu. The smells emanating from the kitchen are encouraging and an Uber Eats bag sits on the counter awaiting collection.
Although there’s a DIY grill in the middle of our table, we decide to give the BBQ option a miss and instead order a couple of entrees and mains to share. Before too long a plate of crispy spring rolls, intriguingly served with a side of coleslaw, and the seafood pancake arrive.
The pancake is by far the pick of the two, filled with zucchini, carrot, mushrooms, shrimps and mussels and served with a tangy soy-based dipping sauce. Cut into triangles and arranged in a star configuration, the pancake looks positively festive on the plate.
Next comes the pork bibimbap — a sort of Korean poke bowl filled with rice, meat and assorted vegies and topped with a fried egg.
The waiter, a friendly chap clad in navy tunic with red piping, also brings a large squeezy bottle of chilli sauce and sesame oil to add flavour to what otherwise would be a fairly bland dish. He urges me to add more chilli but my lips are already tingling.
The table favourite is the pork belly and squid served on a cast-iron plate. It smells great and is still sizzling away as it hits the table. The dish is coated in a sticky sauce with just the right amount of spiciness. The bulgogi beef doesn’t hit the same heights and, by the time it arrives, we realise we have again committed the sin of ordering much more than we can possibly eat. Happily the bill comes in at just over $25 a head, putting it firmly in the realm of cheap and cheerful.
On the drive home, we pass the bustling Kalbi Korean restaurant in North Hobart and I note the appearance of yet another Korean eatery where the Pel ice cream shop once was in Elizabeth St. Is Korean the new Japanese? Well, not quite, but it’s certainly gaining traction.