Friday, February 28, 2014

Moon Park - Redfern

My colleague recommended this Korean restaurant in Redfern which served a modern take on traditional Korean dishes. As I love Korean food, I couldn't wait to test this place out!

Being only two people, the waitress recommended 2-3 entree dishes and 2-3 main dishes. We took that into consideration, but we ended up ordering 1 entree with 3 mains. It was a very difficult choice to make as everything on the menu seemed amazingness!

For starters, we were given complimentary home made rice crackers. This was really tasty. Thin and super crisp with just the right amount of saltiness. Very addictive indeed!
housemade rice crackers

The starter that I picked was the zucchini pancake with mussel and calamari ($12). This was quite a big serving with noticeable calamari scattered all around. The pancake wasn't overlly floury - it was more potatoey and slightly lighter than normal - which really, is to my liking. There was also a spiciness to it which seemed to come from kimchi? but the pancake wasn't red in colour... So I guess in conclusion, I'm not too sure what's in this other than mussels, calamari and ample strings of zucchini. I did quite enjoy it though!
zucchini pancake - $12

A main dish that my friend chose was the Imjasutang ($17). This was a cold chicken dish - the chicken seemed to be poached in a broth that made it tasty and tender and was served with thin slices of mushroom, pinenut, date and pickled rose. The taste was more subtle compare to the other dishes of the night.
Imjasutang - $17

I couldn't resist but to try the modern take of the Jjajangmian ($18). This was a small but heaps tasty dish of both noodles and thin calamari strips all mixed in a blackbean sauce. Snowpea bits and kombu were scattered throughout. My bias towards noodles made me enjoy this dish muchly.
Jjajangmian - $18
The other dish that my friend ordered was the Bibim ($22), a modern play on bibimbap. In the bowl was rice and pearl barley, corn, crab, cured egg and nori. When mixed with the gochujang, it was a good balance of flavours. The crab was more delicious than I expected - it was really sweet and added much to all the flavours of this dish.
Bibim - $22
My friend loves desserts, so we couldn't do without. Unfortunately, we were both heaps heaps full already so we decided to get one dessert to share. We decided on the Patbingsu ($13). This was brown sugar ice cream with brown rice milk shaved ice, mixed berries and sujeonggwa - which is a korean fruit punch. The flavours worked well. The brown rice milk shaved ice provided an interesting flavour at first, but I warmed to it after a few spoonfuls. And the little donuts? I enjoyed that more than I thought I would.  I guess Koreans don't really do desserts superbly - but they did try their best!
Patbingsu - $13
I really enjoyed this meal. The decor of the place was plain and simple - nothing much to it. With the hard walls and floors, it did make it slightly too noisy and less conducive to conversation, but the quality of the food made up for it I think!

Ratings:
Food - 9/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 6/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 29/40

Moon Park
34B Redfern Street
Redfern, NSW 2016
Tel: (02) 9690 0111

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