Such a nice atmosphere and beautiful decor. Soul dining definitely delivered the experience and beautiful food. Must try their truffle menu!!
Recommended dishes: wagyu tartare with nori crisps (truffle as an addition), kingfish in kimchi water & basque cheesecake
Soul Dining provided us with attentive customer service all night. The food was innovative and involved a variety of textures and flavours. The Truffle Mushroom Cream Tteokbokki and Eggplant Parmesan was the highlight dishes for me, would come back just for them!
However, I didn’t quite experience the whole “korean fusion” from the restaurant - there were some korean flavours mentioned on the menu, but they didn’t seem to deliver as such on the plate.
Overall a good experience.
What a find! Amazing - and memorable (in a good way!) - food. Lovely service. Cool but warm atmosphere. I will definitely be back.
Baz Juan Pablo Sanchez
+4
What a wonderful experience. The staff were absolutely wonderful and made us feel really welcome and comfortable. The food was fantastic and boasted bold strong flavors. A must for a great night out
First time trying a Korean fusion restaurant and it did not disappoint! Everything was so good!!!!
We visited this place for my partner’s birthday. We ordered the tasting menu with drinks. They were great and creative dishes. As soon as we finished the dessert dish, the owner or manager came to our table and the next table to ask to pay and vacate the table. He wasn’t rude, however we were bit disappointed. Because there were empty tables. Still we would like to come again for the dishes, but hopefully he doesn’t ask us to leave.
This is a really great modern Korean restaurant. To start they provided complimentary bread made from rice flour which was really nice. All the dishes that we ordered were really good so I highly recommend the curly corn on the cob, chicken cream tteokbokki and the barbecue short rib. The gnocchi fried as a side was also really good and filling. Definitely stay for dessert as the fusion of Korean flavours into the dishes were done really well. My favourite was the cinnamon doughnut but the crepe parcel and the milk semi-freddo were also really good. The staff were also very friendly and helpful. Great place for small and large groups too. Happy to come back again!
I loved the interior and seating was very comfortable. Every dish was amazing except the kingfish - there was no wow factor to it like the other dishes. The beef tartare was so delicious with some of the beef being cooked from the torching. The corn was very nicely flavoured and pairs very well with the pistachio. The pork was pulled at the table while the lovely waiter explained the dish to us. It smelt so good and tasted amazing.
The dining experience here was absolutely amazing. We came here for lunch and we were the only customers there for a while lol. It's true that good food takes time, especially in SOUL. We waited for beef ribs for ages but it worth waiting. The ribs were tender without too much seasoning, but truly spot on. Every dish was impressive, even the complimentary rice cake was also quite yum. Highly recommend this place!
This my first time came to Soul Dining and i love their food. I tried wagyu tartare, corn on the cob, bbq beef short rib and crepe parcel. it was amazing! Friendly staff, excellent service. i'll definitely come again.
Great ambience, good to visit on date night or with a small group. Variety of tasty cocktails, soju mixer was a crowd favourite. Decent range of dishes at a reasonable price point, best to share a few amongst the table. Favourite dish would have definitely been the braised short ribs (not pictured as we dug in almost instantly!) and wagyu tartare. Will definitely be back to explore the rest of their cocktail options!
Does My Bomb Look Big In This
+4
With an ellipse of yellow light looping overhead against theatrically blacked out fittings, distressed charcoal concrete walls with splats of exposed bricks, and a serpentine logo that summons caped crusaders, Soul Dining has an edgy, contemporary feel. It’s a first restaurant for Illa Kim and Daero Lee, with a menu that reflects their both their Korean heritage and their personal pathways to Sydney, which included time in Germany for Kim, and time as head chef in an Italian restaurant (Criniti’s) for Lee. Explaining the origins of dishes, and their connection to Korean cuisine, causes their old friend and third partner in the business, Hyunchul Kim, to giggle to himself more than once. From the substantial back bar in the rear, I kick off with a kimchi-brine enhanced Bloody Mary ($20). It reminds me...
Susan ChocolateSuze Thye
+4
Have you ever been to a restaurant and been so blown away by everything that you’ve immediately made a booking to return before the meal is even over? This is what happened when Angela and I dined at Soul Dining in Surry Hills for my birthday and we immediately msged Isaac to join us a few weeks later so this post is a mashup of the 2 visits.
I read about Soul Dining in Urban Village and was surprised I’d missed it. It’s been open 8 months already, though our host, Kim, explained to us that with the construction on the light rail meant business was dead for the first 3 or 4 months. But that’s one of the things I was impressed with, on a Friday night: I may have managed to get a reservation easily but the restaurant was packed, and had a buzzy feel about it.
Such an amazing contemporary korean restaurant by Koreans. The food is the perfect fusion between traditional Korean and contemporary food. One of my favourite restaurants to date.
We thoroughly enjoyed our first dining experience at Soul. The food was delicious and thoughtfully prepared. Kim was an excellent host explaining the preparation of the dishes. Will definitely go back again.
AMAZING food and EXCEPTIONAL staff! I cannot recommend SOUL enough. Every single dish is uniquely delicious, if you are looking for something different than SOUL is the place to be. From the moment someone steps inside the cosy restaurant, they are now apart of the SOUL family and are not seen with a dollar sign above their head. This is what sets SOUL apart from many other restaurants. I have great feelings about this place.
Thank you so much to all the staff at SOUL for creating such an amazing dining experience every single time.
With their moody and romantic interior, Soul is bringing something different to the white-washed, exposed brick of many Surry Hills restaurants. With street-style at the forefront, Soul Dining has a mixture of elements from the backgrounds of Illa Kim and Daero Lee, the couple running the restaurant with their team.
So glad I found this place ! I was referred by a friend because I was craving some good soul food for awhile.
This place has great for a drink with friends and even with my family
Cant wait to go back !!
Service is very warm and welcoming.
The food , I must say, is just simply beautiful. Ashed chicken and Curly corn was really delicious.They were all in harmony with cocktails.
Totally coming back soon~~~~~~~~~~~
My bf found this place in broadsheet, we went their to celebrate our anniversary last Sunday. Environment is really impressive, two head chefs were really helpful, walked around to serve customers. Definitely a place to go back.
Food was absolutely delicious, I live close by and always walk past this restaurant. The staff prior to visiting the restaurant were already friendly and this was no exception once sat down. The menu and food was well explained and confidently backed by his opinion. Very nice ambiance and a great place to take a date or a couple of friends.
We discovered Soul Dining just before the last Sydney lockdown back in 2021. We went there twice and liked their food. Now we have been back for the third time recently and it was great to know they have kept up the high standard. Soul Dining has been consistently good and their wine list was excellent. We have enjoyed their food and wine on every visit.
However, the small menu has not changed at all and after three visits, we crave something new.
Enjoyed the tasting menu. It was my first taste of Korean-Australian fusion and I look forward to more.
Great vibe and ambience. We liked the wagyu tartar, king fish, bread starters, octopus (v tender).
Chicken was a slight disappointment though as the flesh was not permeated with flavour though it had a good surface taste + sauce.
Not sure why it is only one ‘$’ though. It isn’t a cheap place but is good value
Such a great experience tonight. Hadn't heard much about Soul dining before but would return. We had the tasting menu and they tailored it for me due to dietary requirements and I was amazed at how effortless that was. I'd recommend the tasting menu as you get to try so many items from the menu. My personal favourite was the prawn tteokbokki - I will go back to eat this again and again!
Had the tasting menu, food was nice except the fact that the first four courses were drenched in olive oil.
Service was alright but perhaps attempt to maintain perfect professionalism resulted in a cold and robotic service through out the evening.
Interesting take on Korean cuisine, especially when its rare to see it in fine dining form in Sydney. The highlight was the entree which was one of the best bread thingies ive had in my life. The Gochuchang Chicken was amazingly cooked and very filling! The dessert with the sweet potato was also mind blowing.
Food was amazing, especially the wagyu and the chicken from the tasting menu. Great value, good service and scrumptious food. It’s a place you will want to go back again and again.
Soul Dining is definitely a treat. I've dined here three times and I'm always excited to try new dishes and revisit my favourites. The drink selection is broad and the cocktails are inventive. The interior is cosy and service is friendly. Very much recommend for special occasions and catch ups with friends. Book early as its popular!
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Really looked forward to dining at Soul Dining. Strong hit and miss on the food we had. Dark ambience - dark that a table had to use their mobile torch for the menu, could also barely see much in the bathroom 😂.
Anyway, for the food, we started with the complimentary rice bread with the anchovy butter and sea salt. Very different texture (sticky - like rice cakes), paired with the butter 👌🏼 - could have a few more of these. Next, we had the wagyu truffle tartlet ($15/piece) which was amazing as well - tartlet was made with dumpling skins and were thin and really crunchy. Tartare was so balanced from the sweetness of the pear.
Corn riblets ($16) were a miss for me, purely because it was really sweet (though good). Just didn’t think it was followed well after 2 really savoury dishes. Felt more like it belonged in a cantina.
Kyu-a-sang ($32) was also a miss for me. Brown butter sauce was amazing but wasn’t a fan of the mandu itself. Didn’t think the ratio of dough to filling was right and felt like every bite had a different taste to it. If I’m right with the herb, had some parsley too course which just took over most of the flavour in some bites.
Prawn tteokbokki ($36) was decent - pretty much a ‘chilli crab’ sauce tteokbokki with prawns. The sauce was amazing - cleaned the plate. Prawns was slightly over cooked. Tteokbokki was slightly chewier and didn’t soak up as much of the sauce. Definitely need a spoon for this dish to scoop the sauce together with the tteokbokki.
Claypot rice with Glacier 51 toothfish ($68) was dish of the night for us. Loved the flavours. Literally an umami bomb with the truffle oil, ikura and the fish itself. Rice was a tad bit moist for our liking. Fish was slightly overcooked - felt like the fish was a tad bit dry and lost its natural oiliness. But still a great dish nonetheless. Also loved the crispy bits at the bottom!
Finished with the truffle makgeoli bingsu ($25). Loved it! No complains at all - probably one of the best desserts we’ve had in awhile. Really balanced on the sweetness for a dessert.
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