Koryojung - Haymarket, Sydney

Red bean soup and daikon vichyssoise

-> I'm no expert in Korean food, but I've never tasted this kind of red bean soup before. It's actually more like a paste than soup - it's quite thick. I expected it to be sweet, but it's salty instead.

Rating: 6/10 (both)

Banchan

-> Quite a nice variety, somewhat not so boring compared to other restaurants.

Rating: 6.5/10

Denjang chigae

-> Korean tofu miso soup. It's nice - a little bit spicy and rich.

Rating: 7/10

Dinner at Koryojung is kind of pleasant - provided if you're a big fan of extreme privacy. What is extreme privacy, anyway? Well...think of going to the cinema to watch a film and finding out that you're the only audience inside the theater. How does that feel? Now my experience at Koryojung is precisely like that - my friends and I were the only people dining at Koryojung around 7pm on a Saturday night. The place is quite huge - there's about 30 tables that seat 4.

This place is recently-opened. About 3 months ago, to be precise. Understandably, business is still slow, but never in a million years would I expect it to be THIS slow. I've never been to an empty large restaurant at peak dining hour before. Actually, I didn't expect the restaurant to be empty when I reached the entrance - after all, loud Korean pop was blasting from inside the restaurant and the place looks bright. However, when we actually stepped into the restaurant, we were shocked to discover a huge, spacious place with no customer. We initially wanted to leave, but since we were very warmly greeted by the staff, we felt kind of bad to do so, LOL

I was totally nervous - because an empty restaurant can only mean two things - either it's very, very recently opened, or the food is extremely bad. Considering that this place has opened for a reasonable time, that would only mean one thing - bad food.
The reason why I was nervous was because my friends, who dined with me, are the harshest critics I know and I would surely get a huge bashing if the food turned out to be bad (since I was the one who recommended to dine there)

Bulgogi

-> Staple order when it comes to Korean restaurants. Simple, predictable dish. A little bit on the salty side (instead of sweet, which I prefer)

Rating: 6.5/10

Pajeon

-> Seafood pancake. This one is delightful. It's light (very important property of good pajeon) and tasty. One of the best I've tasted in Sydney.

Rating: 8/10

Tangsuyuk

-> Sweet and sour chicken. It's okay, but not great. The crumb is soft and chewy instead of the usual crispy texture. The meat texture is also kind of weird.

Rating: 6/10

Anyway, I was somewhat relieved to discover that their food aren't bad - it's not fantastic, but definitely far from being bad. We left the restaurant in an endless wonderment on why the restaurant was THAT empty. Perhaps they lack on advertising? Perhaps it's because of their very obscure entrance at a somewhat quiet street? Perhaps they should build more internet presence? (literally no information on this restaurant is available in English by the time I wrote this entry).

Anyway, for those who are curious to try this place, I'll give you the address (see below). I don't normally give out addresses of restaurants unless anyone asks. However, I'll make an exception for this one because I simply think that this restaurant deserves more customers.

Koryojung
Level 1, 8 Dixon Street HAYMARKET 2000