Oriental Spoon (Korean Restaurant)

254, La Trobe St., Melbourne, VIC 3000

Given its location, this could easily have become a student hangout (nothing wrong with that) but the pricing puts it just above your average student joint. Instead it is a contemporary restaurant that's affordable for all while still maintaining relatively high standards of food and service. With 85% on Urbanspoon from over 1000 raters, this looks like a pretty good bet on several levels. Time to acknowledge my inferior chopstick skills and go for it once again.

The Place
This has great understated contemporary oriental deco and doesn't feel cramped like some other places. They still fit a lot of people in but somehow maintains a feeling of ample space (probably because of the higher ceiling). The noise level is always bearable despite the size of the restaurant. It's not a great place for children though and parking is pretty much your Melbourne Central high cost car park. The risk with many Korean places that offer the BBQ option is that you come out smelling like one of the marinaded meats. It's not so bad here at Oriental Spoon - though it is nearly impossible to go unscathed - the ventilation here actually works rather well and by and large, you tend to come out with only a hint of the BBQ aroma. So, overall, a rather pleasant place.

Not a great picture of the place... sorry

Things to do Nearby: Literally across from the revitalised Melbourne Central and the State Library is not far away.

The Food
I have been here for lunch for the Bibimbap (traditional Mixed Rice offering on Stone Bowls), Bulgogi (Sweet Marinaded Beef on a Hot Plate) and even Bento boxes. However, dinner is the real treat here. This time round, we went for the Combination BBQ and the Mixed Dumplings Casserole (Hot Pot).

The Combination BBQ includes beef, spicy pork and chicken, and mushrooms, which they cook to the side table (as pictured above), so that the smoke is not in your face. It is rather tasty though it does lack the punch of some of the places around town. Don't get me wrong, it's really quite good but it's just not as spicy as some of the places around if you are into spice. I did however, find the beef rather a tad sweet. As a person who tends toward the savoury, I preferred the chicken and the pork in this instance.

The Mixed Dumplings Casserole (pictured above) comes with hidden gems of small bits of pork belly and rice cakes. So yummy and the spice here is as hot as you want it to be. This is tasty without MSG inducing thirst and great with a serve of rice. Great for the coming winter months.

The one thing that was slightly disappointing is that for a cuisine that is so well known for the thousands of condiments, they only offered up three on the night, though, they were very happy to refill it when needed.

The Service

Bulgogi

From the booking over the phone, to the welcome at the door, to the serving of the food, the service here was really friendly and generally attentive. This place seems to be run by exclusively young Korean staff who know they menu inside out. They do pay attention to their customers' needs, which is great. As an example, we were seated a bit further away from the main crowd, and the waiter actually indicated with a smile that while we are 'far away' we will not be forgotten -however, if we did want immediate attention, to please raise our hands and he'll come to us immediately. That was nice. And we never felt neglected. The service was friendly and non-intrusive - one of the best in the city.

Overall
Overall, I think this is a good place for introduction to Korean cuisine for newbies because it has a good range of food and a great vibe. One thing I really noticed as I was walking out was that there were so many smiles amongst the diners. You can tell when people are happy and enjoying their food. This place really had a great buzz and the wait staff run effortlessly amongst diners with no fuss.

Cultural Moment
Service across the world is vastly different and people have very different expectations of what good service. Most of the time, this is culture dependent. In places where tips are the norm, wait staff almost want to prove they are you best friends and will sometimes be quite intrusive, especially if you are not the kind to chat with strangers. In Hong Kong, unless you speak Cantonese and know the maître d, you are almost an inconvenience that just has to be served to get you out of the way. In Japan, it's as if you have arrived at a friend's house and they will try to do their best to see to your needs (some might find this too much). In Malaysia and Singapore, good service is defined by basic courtesy but then being left alone until called. In New Zealand, good service is a chat amongst friends and a natural interest and curiosity.

This brings us to Australia, what is good service here? Anyone who uses reviews on Urbanspoon can get a sense that there's a multitude of expectations but the biggest complaints seem to centre around perceived rudeness and lack of engagement. In Australia, we seem to want a bit of banter (not too much or it would be considered intrusive) and and genuine interest in the customer. Unfortunately, you don't always get this even from the so called 'fine dining' spots. In particular, with Asian restaurants, some of them bring their own cultural standards without seeing the needs of Australian diners - most unfortunate. Others just struggle with English and therefore lack the ability or confidence to engage in casual Aussie banter, yet many diners expect this even at Asian restaurants. Should they expect this? I think they have the right to, with a bit of leeway for room to grow... what I like to see is an effort made to engage rather than hiding behind the order pad. I don't think that's too much to ask, but maybe I have been here too long.

Guhng (The Palace)

19, McKillop Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000

http://www.guhng.com/
This is arguably the Korean Barbeque place that sets the standard for a quality feed in Melbourne. It's also the priciest and doesn't apologise for it. Located in a street that's positioning itself to be the higher end of dining - this is not surprising.  The restaurant has 2 seatings in the evening and I would always book (just in case).

The Place
This is a well appointed restaurant that makes a real attempt at creating a pleasant ambience for dinners. The dim lighting is not so dark you have to guess what you are eating. It has an intimate feel without feeling cramped. They also manage their ventilation really well for a barbeque place and you (generally) don't come out smelling like a bbq pit.

Things to do nearby: Bourke Street Mall is not so far away and Collins Street is about 8 minutes in the other direction.

The Food
The food here is not cheap. One can get carried away quite easily and end up paying fine dining prices - in fact, this is likely to be the case 90% of the time. Even a set lunch for 2 is about $45.

For dinner - I would always recommend going with a group of people so you can order from the banquet menu. It usually comes with a range of condiments (as one would expect from a good Korean restaurant), hot pot (soup), a range of meats and some vegetables. However, the highlight for me here is always the marinated Pork Belly - yummmm.

At the same time, I have never felt bloated from over eating at Guhng (or left wanting more) - because the portion always just seems right with the banquet - they know their stuff.

I do have one comment about their desserts - the only way to describe it is Asian-inspired fusion of your range of ice-creams and panna cotta, oh! And green tea tiramisu - nothing traditional about the desserts here ... all not bad but dessert's not what I am here for generally. I am here for the quality meats and dishes.

The Service
Generally, the service here is above average, friendly and accommodating. However, ocassionally, you might get a newbie wait person who is less confident (and a bit nervous) and one of the others would usually step in to help. They also take time to come to your table to help you with the cooking ocassionally.

Overall
I would go here more often if it was less expensive - then I might get sick of it. So, it's probably a good thing, and a special place to get to every once in a while. It's a good place to take a small group of friends to share a pleasant evening. However, with 2 seatings, be aware that if you go at 6pm - they want you out by 8.00pm.

Cultural Moment
Chopsticks - can you use them? The Korean chopsticks are the real test as to whether you have it or not. I know this because I fail dismally - that's right. No one ever taught me how to use a pair of chopsticks properly. So while I am completely proficient in using it the WRONG way of crossing the chopsticks and am usually able to pick up the most slippery morsel, it doesn't change the fact that I am using them incorrectly.

Chinese and Vietnamese chopsticks are similar (longer, thicker with a blunt tapered end) and easiest to use. Some are squared while others are rounded sides. Japanese chopsticks are shorter and less thick (always rounded), and usually end in a point but are still relatively easy to use, if a bit more delicate.

Korean chopsticks are a completely different story! They are half moon shaped, as if someone decided that 1 chopstick was enough and then split it length wise into two - and voila - your pair of chopsticks - now, try to use them... I can't - primarily because I need to cross my sticks to pick anything up and Korean chopsticks can't be crossed. The best I can do with them is poke at something. I am a failure.

Seoul House Korean Restaurant

234, Russell Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000

The Place
Scoring 73% on Urbanspoon, I think you either like it or it's not the right thing for you.
The buffet experience in Melbourne is not well developed unlike the metropolitan cities of Singapore and Hong Kong where it is an art form. Don't expect a sophisticated venue - it's an all you can eat place that can get rowdy with students and smoky with fumes from the barbeque when the crowd gets going. It's on the first level (and I am not aware that there's a lift to get up there)

Things to do Nearby: Diagonal to QV and situated on Russell Street, it's a busy area.

The Food
So, Korea - the land of a thousand condiments. I believe that Korean restaurants should be judged on not only their mains but also their condiments and variety of kimchi. Having only been here for the buffet (though an ala carte menu is extensive), I can only comment on that. There's not a whole lot of variety of condiments. Amongst this, the potato noodles and basic kimchi are nice.

The buffet is great for carnivores like myself. There're all sorts of meat (pork, chicken, beef, calamari) as part of the package. The challenge is that by the time all the meats are put together on the bbq plate - they start to taste similar. The food is ok but the variety is limited and it's not quite spicy enough for my taste. Having said that, it doesn't stop me from having copious amounts of it when I am there.

I would suggest avoid the spring rolls and the fried dumplings - they are not great and take up unnecesary calories and space!

Hence, for the quantity wolfers - this is fabulous - without totally sacrificing the quality either.
This is probably why groups of students are often there from 7pm to 9pm.. and not just any students, Korean students too.
This is also a fully licensed restaurant.

The Service
No fuss, polite, understated and ready to bring out more food.

Overall
I would go here for a cultural experience of sharing a space with many other strangers who enjoy eating lots. More important - please do not take people who eat to live, rather than live to eat (if you know what I mean). If you are there for the buffet, you'd want to take people along who can really EAT.

A Cultural Moment
Kimchi Refrigerators - not all fridges are equal. In Korea, a fridge with a Kimchi compartment is arguably the most sought after white good for the household. The specialised compartment accounts for different types of kimchi and fermentation processes and protects the other parts of the fridge from being infused by the pungent aroma. This is important as there are many different kinds of kimchi and different kimchi for different seasons, dependent on available vegetable.