Despite Korean food being right up there on my list of favourite cuisines, I hardly ever get to eat it. There aren’t many restaurants in the vicinity of where I live, and I’d say half the battle is in gathering enough people to have something worthy of being called a feast! So understandably I was keen on going to Stra Pocha for a friend’s birthday over the weekend, and it did not disappoint. The restaurant’s in Strathfield (aka Sydney’s own Koreatown) and I rarely go there, but definitely should more often! There are some cute cafes around the place, as well as lots of options for dinner. Not to mention, there’s a PappaRotti shop there that I really want to try, but that’s a whole other thing I won’t go into…
Oh. My. Word. Whenever I eat out for Korean I always forget about the banchan (or complimentary side dishes), so we ended up with so much food that there wasn’t enough space on the table! The first thing to come out was this spicy hot pot stew that involved ham, beans, sausages, rice cakes, assorted veggies, and more. To top it all off there were ramen noodles and a slice of cheese, and while I’m not usually a big fan of spicy food I really enjoyed it! It was pure comfort food, and I’m definitely going to be trying that cheese thing with my Shin Ramyun noodles now haha.
Japchae, or stir-fried glass noodles with beef and lots of vegetables. I can never replicate that bouncy noodle texture at home, so I always look forward to having the real deal whenever I eat out! These noodles were less oily than the ones I’ve had at other restaurants, which I liked. Although, the veggies were naturally the only things we couldn’t seem to finish…
Pork belly, before and after we barbecued it. Typically I feel really heavy after eating at KBBQ restaurants (especially if unlimited meat’s involved), but this was quite nice with the other dishes to balance it out.
Korean fried chicken is supposedly legendary, and I’m surprised I hadn’t tried it before this point! I didn’t eat much of the cheese, but if my piece was any indication it didn’t need it. The chicken itself was so juicy and tender that I would probably eat a bucketful if no one else was around, and it may even beat the amazing Lao fried chicken I have at home (sorry mum).
A not so great picture of the seafood pancake, but you get the idea! This is another one of those dishes that everyone loves, so naturally we had to get it. While this pancake had more batter than what I’m used to it still had a crispy edge, and was generously filled with seafood and vegetables. I’m salivating just thinking about it…
We thought we ordered rice cakes but thankfully decided against it, since we were stuffed afterwards! All in all the visit was pretty good value for money, and came to less than twenty dollars each for the eight of us. Not bad for such a satisfying meal, even though our table bell didn’t seem to be working and we had to wait a bit for service. Still, I’d definitely come back to try more things on the menu, since there seemed to be lots of choice. Now, if only it weren’t so far away from my house!
Afterwards we decided to have frozen yoghurt and cut the cake, as you do! We found the rainbow cake in BreadTop of all places, and it was a nice way to end the night before I went home to get ready for uni the next day. The joy of 9am starts on a Monday… Still, it was worth travelling the distance to catch up with friends and have a good time, just like we used to in the old days. Anyway, I hope you’re enjoying your week so far!
