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Seoul House
234 Russell St, Melbourne
Ph +61 3 9663 8883.
On Saturday night we went out with some friends for some Korean food. There are a surprising number of Korean Restaurants here in Melbourne, although lately I noticed a few have disappeared.
After discovering Seoul Garden on Exhibition St is no longer open, (and the building has probably been flattened by now) we walked back a block and spied the sign for Seoul House, upstairs on the corner of Lonsdale and Russell.
We climbed the stairs from Russell St, which opened into a seating area with the bar situated at the far end. But Seoul House is deceptively large. The kitchen seemed to be in the middle of the floorplan, with the dining area around three sides. We followed the waitress to a table in the second eating area (which would overlook Lonsdale St if there were windows).
Menus were presented, and drinks orders were taken. As your average Korean menu isn’t overly large, we decided fairly quickly what to order.
We ordered a Korean BBQ Meat Platter, which consisted of Chicken, Beef and Pork, marinated in various Korean sauces.
The waitress advised the platter normally feeds three, so we paired it with the tersely descriptive Squid in Spicy Sauce. (There was also Octopus in Spicy Sauce but the waitress said it was the same thing?)
We also ordered the asian staple - a (bottomless) bowl of steamed rice each.
Louis ordered a Korean Beer - a “Hite”. So now we’ve tried a Thai Singha, Japanese Asahi and a Korean Hite.
One of the things I like most about Korean Restaurants are all the different side dishes that come with the Korean BBQ. And they’re bottomless too! Oh no, run out of kim-chi? Ask for more! Egg roll all gone? More please! That i-dunno-what-it-is (*points*) was kinda tasty, more of that too please? Sweeeet.
Service was fairly quick, and we were soon cooking up a storm.
Squid in Spicy Sauce ($16.00)
Korean BBQ Meat Platter ($39.00)
More Meat, lots of sides
One of the things you need to be careful of when BBQ-ing your meat is that you don’t overcook it. It gets tough. Although sometimes the meat used isn’t the best quality, and it can be tough regardlesss of how you cook it.
The meat we were served was decent, though overall the flavour was lacking - I think they had watered down the marinade a bit too much, or perhaps it hadn’t been sitting long enough to absorb the flavour.
Sides were fresh and tasty, most important of all they didn’t taste like they came from a jar.
Unfortunately the squid was seriously chewy, and wasn’t all that spicy either.
The vents worked well, so we didn’t leave the place with clothes smelling of smoke, though a certain amount of the aroma still says ‘I’ve been to Korean BBQ’ if you sniff closely.
All in all, it was a pleasant dinner, but I would still prefer Korea Palace in Market Lane. We’ll do a review on that soon.
