Stra Pocha - Strathfield

Stra Pocha

For a cozy meet-up between just a few friends, Korean at Strathfield was suggested. My friend suggested Stra Pocha, a busy little Korean joint on Everton Rd. To slightly rescue our clothes from reeking of korean barbeque smell, we chose to sit outside in the semi-darkness by the roadside. Good spot for a cozy chatty catchup. Bad bad spot for photos.

As per usual, we got our plentiful side-dishes. Due to my bad dim-light photo taking skills, only a few photos came out unblurry - so they will have to do. We got kimchi and sweetened potatoes and kelp-like salads, and other little salady side dishes. Though there wasn't much on each plate, each side dish was authentically yummy (as far as I could tell).

Side dishes

To prove how authentically Korean the place is, the first waiter we got spoke pretty much NO english. He nodded and smiled and looked sincere. Tried to be helpful. Failed. Went in and got someone else to serve us. His english was no better but nonetheless, we got our orders in.

We opted for a total of three dishes between the four of us. Coming in huge portions, I regretably admit that we failed to finish. Our bbq meat choice was the marinated juicy pork ribs ($38). One of my friends is a fake vegetarian (one who eats meat, but doesn't really normally eat meat). When a huge plate of raw meat was plonked in front of her, her eyes went wild with shock. Not only had she not been to a Korean barbeque place where plates amongst plates of bloody raw meat is the norm, she probably had not seen so much raw meat on a plate in her life~ We saved her and kindly removed the marinated ribs from her sight. Luckily, she did eat this meat when cooked though (I think). The meat was thicker cut than usual. That, coupled with our dying coal pieces meant that it took AGES for the meat to cook. It was well worth the wait though. It was very tasty and mostly tender.

Marinated pork ribs - $38

We also ordered dumplings with veggies cooked in casserole ($40). This was essentially udon and dumplings and veggies in a pot cooked in front of you. I think we must have left the fire on for too long - or we took too long to eat it - and the entire thing went kinda slushi. I happen to like my veges super soft as I believe it soaks in the juices. However, slushi dumplings were a different story. In essence, this dish tasted alright but looked far from appetising.

Dumpling with veges and noodles - $40

Our last selection for the night was the marinated beef with veggies and noodle ($30), again cooked at the table. There was a HUGE chunk of beef and lotza yummy veges, not enough potato noodles and super super sweet sauce! Extremely yummy and extremely (almost overbaringly) sweet!

Marinated beef vege noodle hotpot - $30

Normally, Korean food is full of chilliness. However, since my fake vego friend and I tolerate very little chilliness, our dishes were all non-chilliness. Overall, the food was alright, and the service was friendly though almost uncommunicatable. There was, however, one english-speaking waitress that did end up tending to us. And despite our efforts to sit outside and save our clothes, we went home smelling slightly of Korean bbq. Oh well... sacrifices we make for food :P

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 28/40

Stra Pocha
19-21 Everton Rd
Strathfield
NSW, 2135
tel: (02)9534 8117