With many great restaurants around Market Square and Sunnybank Plaza, it is sometimes easy to forget that there are plenty of dining options from afar in the Sunnybank suburb. Sometimes, even when specifically searching in that area, you inadvertently come across a great find such as Seoul Bistro. A fair bit down one street off the main road it can be found, not too easy to miss.
From the outside, the look is more or less like any suburban shopping strip, though it is on the corner area so it gets some more space to be creative. Inside is characteristic. The major aspect about it was the K-pop playing on the television. At one point or another it is bound to get your eye for a bit; there is a different flavour to it distinct from other kinds of pop music that are around. But I digress.
Inside is a kind of simple that is above minimalistic, and doing something to give itself character. It has elements of traditional eating - the table my dad and I were at was a plain wooden squares and the chairs are wooden stools. The best way to describe it in brevity is casual.
At Seoul Bistro, I saw some service which was brilliant in the attention to detail that the waitstaff possessed. Immediately when walking in, they seat you and then proceed to bring out all the necessities with precision - the serviettes, the cutlerly and each menu to peruse. Any needed queries, such as extra rice during the meals, will be gladly dealt with. It is also helped by the amount of politeness from the waitstaff, very. They are so willing for people to come back that they gave me a loyalty card at the end.
Seoul Bistro don't really have one menu, but they have several menus which they happily give out to each client. Throughout each one of them, the typical food on offer is mostly Korean, with some focus on Japanese. On Friday nights, there is a fried chicken buffet which comes with various optional sides, and the fried chicken has a fairly notable section on the menu. If you are having a hard time deciding, and are in a small group they have arranged a few set meals to order (which was more or less the motivation for coming here with my dad). They used to have a pizza menu, combined with usual options and some more creative Eastern-influenced varieties, which has been discontinued.
Also, there is a drinks menu - and this one is really big. The crew at Seoul Bistro are a creative bunch, and the options for drinks include creations such as frappes, smoothies, bubble teas and cocktails as well as the usual suspects of teas, coffees, juices and sake. That is only a sample of what is available; it is almost guaranteed that you will find something that appeals to you.
Looking at the extensive menu, I began the meal by ordering a Hong Kong-style coffee milk tea. As per usual, this was a tasty drink. With a contrast of the sweetness from the condensed milk base, and the strong, astiringent flavour of the coffee combined at a chilled temperature, it is hard to resist and has a smooth and creamy texture. It is the perfect combination between having coffee-flavoured milk and a cold press coffee, plus extra sweetness. That is always a winner in my book.
Being one who doesn't mind a good bargain when he sees it, my dad decided that the lunch specials would be a steal. Therefore, most of the items were ordered from there. Most lunch special menus are fairly limited; Seoul Bistro are generous and offer many of their stand out dishes plus entrees. It helps get the uninitiated with Korean cuisine to know what from the "greatest hits" to order and get a feel for the food. From tasting it, if it were not apparent yet, this is somewhere I am tempted to come back to many times.
Starting off, it was getting a couple of entrees. The two selected choices were takoyaki and the vegetable tempura. Takoyaki is one of those little snacks, that always works a treat when done right. It was as such here, and pipping hot with small bits of octopus within the crumbed balls. On top were the usual garnishings of the characteristic sauce, mayonaise and delicious tempura scraps. This is one food that I have not had any trouble with yet.
The vegetable tempura took a while longer to come out, and arrived just before the main dishes. This is a good thing. They came with a vinegar-based dipping sauce, and were pipping hot. Within the mixture of vegetables, there was onion, potato, carrot and all other sorts. It all up was a generous serving, and taking into acount that it was merely an entree, I would say very generous. The batter was pitch perfect, the vegetables an equilibrium between crunchy and well cooked with moisture.
Going onto the mains, the one that I ordered was called "kimchi stew". This was a simple dish, a bit of a combination between a stew and a soup, and contained onion, plenty of pork belly and - of course - kimchi. This came with a side of steamed rice. It was not a bad dish, simpler than a lot of Korean dishes that are out there. There was quite a bit of pork in it, good quality and generous with the fat and the amount of kimchi was fairly modest - keep in mind, a little goes a long way. It was quite plesant, a bit sour and a wholesome dish worth a small look.
My dad ordered another dish, in which the name of it currently eludes me. It had glass noodles, with sweet potato and bits of beef mixed through in a soy-based sauce. This was really tasty, and was easily the better of the two. The sweet potato was soft and almost at a creamy consistency, the beef was obviously quite a decent cut and it was well presented on the plate. It irks me that I can't remember the name, because this would be a meal that I will be looking out for at future restaurants if I could.
Apparently they do really good desserts here, however unfortunately the cabinet was fairly empty at the time. With the guarantee that I will return, next time I will certainly give one of them a go (plus try them on their coffee, non-negotiable).
Seoul Bistro is one of the most brilliant finds hiding in Sunnybank's surrounding streets. It is a combination of great management, fantastic food served in generous quantities. a tempting array of all sorts of options, a good, casual atmosphere and being pretty easy to get to, especially comparing the competition down the road. One day, that fried chicken buffet will be tackled.
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