Street food in South Korea is famous. You have your classics, and then you also have the wonderfully outrageous and delicious new creations as well. It seems like every month there’s a new craze that hits the streets of South Korea, and Sydney is lucky enough to have a few of them make it to our shores.
Today I’m showing you a few Korean street food eats you can get without taking a plane!
Here are all the details:
MIRA'S KOREAN STREET FOOD
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16 Railway Parade, Eastwood NSW 2122
Let’s start this tour with the classics. You can’t say you’ve had Korean street food without having Kim bap or Tteokbokki.
Kim bap is a traditional go-to snack that could easily be a small meal in itself. (A lot of the items today are big enough to be meals) It comprises of seaweed wrapped rice with various filling inside.
It can be vegetarian or include meat, but almost all have fresh and pickled vegetables.
Tteokbokki means “stir-fry rice cakes” but the rice cakes in Tteokbokki are actually simmered in Tteokbokki sauce. (weird trivial fact for you)
A spicy, slightly sweet dish with chewy rice cake, it’s the best winter comfort food. At Mira’s they serve their Tteokbokki with fish cakes as well.
Deliciously chewy, very appetising. Just great Tteokbokki.
ARIRANG HOT DOG SYDNEY
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8 Railway Parade, Eastwood NSW 2122
Now we’re go onto new creations that has hit the internet like a freight train!
Korean street food style corn dogs are so indulgent it almost feels like you’re doing something wrong. The hotdogs are dipped in a thick bread batter, dipped in breadcrumbs, deep fried to perfection and then you get to drizzle it with a combination of sauces you like.
But that’s just the Original Arirang Sausage . I also got the Half & Half.
And this is where Korean street food culture really shines.
The Half & Half is a corndog with potato cubes on the outside and a mozzarella stick in the inside to make the other half of your corn dog.
What you get is a crispy outside with potato soft pockets, stringy cheese with a filling bread coating from the batter. And last but not least the slight saltiness from the sausage.
Add on your Tomato sauce and you get a very indulgent (especially if you’re lactose intolerant like me) snack/ meal that’s also very instagram worthy.
TEN Thousand Eastwood
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1/77 Rowe St, Eastwood NSW 2122
Another recent craze that has come to Sydney is Korean toast.
Sounds unimpressive, but, it really is impressive.
Korean toast uses thick bread with butter to get a crispy outside but leaving the inside still soft and fluffy. The thickness of the bread also means, you can layer it up without it getting soggy.
I got their signature Ham & Egg Toast, which is what I normally get when I come here. It’s two slices of thick toasted bread with a generous serving of creamy scrambled eggs with ham.
Tip: You should also try their coffee if you’re here. I think they do a pretty good cup.
JEANS CHILI CHICKEN
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115 Rowe St, Eastwood NSW 2122
This is my brother’s personal favourite.
Their half and half is our go-to order where you get two flavours along with a few side dishes that also includes a flavourful seaweed rice. It’s 800g of chicken in total, so this really is a feast for one or a meal for two.
They give you gloves to get stuck in, which I really appreciate because we all know how messy fried chicken can get.
And it works great to make bite size rice balls. One bite of rice, one bite of chicken. And if you’re filling full, a bite of kimchi or pickled radish instantly makes rooms for more!
THE MANDOO
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2A The Boulevarde, Stratfield NSW 2135
Mandu, or dumpling in English cannot be skipped on my tour of Korean street snack food.
A lot of East Asian cuisine has multiple variation of dumplings, and each are different in filling, cooking method, wrapper and dipping sauces.
I ordered the more popular flavour, Kimchi with Pork dumplings, where they come 5 in a steamer basket. These are big dumplings, so 5 will already be enough for a small meal.
The dumpling filling has a lot of textures from the pork, crunchy kimchi as well as other ingredients such as glass noodles.
The dumplings come with a tart vinegar and pickled white radish which really keeps this dish refreshing and very appetising to eat.
