Park Bong Sook is a very popular Korean restaurant with several branches across Sydney and one in Adelaide. The newest one is in Sydney's Hurstville. Come along as we see what the hype is all about with it and find out what dishes they're known for. Also is this Sydney's best ever crispy seafood pancake?
"I’m afraid I’ve over-ordered," I say to Mr NQN seriously. There’s no surprise in his response as he shakes his head.
A warning Dear Reader: Park Bong Soo is popular. You either need to come early or you need to come at 7:30 to get a table. Peak hour seems to be from 5:30 to 7:30pm on a Saturday night in winter and all seatings are 90 minutes max. We waited for 30 minutes for our table with around 7 tables ahead of us. My friend Sophia recommended Park Bong Sook to me. A crowd gathers outside waiting for our names to be called. Inside there's a complimentary coffee machine and some rice crackers for those waiting for a table. I'm in the middle of trying to figure out how to use the coffee machine when they call our name.
There are two rooms in the restaurant - the front room as well as a back room with a lot of booths for a larger groups. Service is friendly and efficient. Ordering is done via the QR code and the food arrives quickly. There is a jug of tea on the table already but we ask for water. Within minutes of sitting down the banchan arrives there’s the usual offerings of house made kimchi pickled, pickled radish cubes and onion and soy sauce but there’s also sweet black beans that have a hint of saltiness. I enjoy the variety but my favourite is the japchae glass noodles.
We barely have time to sample the banchan before all of our dishes start arriving in quick succession. They are not messing about here. I had come here with a "hit list" of items to order because I knew what was very popular here and the first item is not on that list because the online venue differs slightly from the book menu. It’s pork hock on rice. It looks good in the picture and was marked new and popular so that’s why I ordered it but I didn't love it. It was mostly very fatty pork hock but mostly fat and not a lot of meat so while the flavour was nice I ended up leaving most of this behind.
But not to worry, we’re back on track with the pork ribs with tteokbokki. The spicy gochujang based sauce coats the tender pork ribs well and the tteokbokki is satisfyingly chewy. They've also given us gloves to eat the ribs with and I don one, pick up a rib and enjoy.
Everyone talks about their seafood pancake or haemul pajeon and one glimpse and you can see why. It comes out laden with huge pieces of seafood. It’s crisp and delicious and delightfully chewy when you get a whole piece of calamari or a gigantic prawn. It is best dipped in the soy, vinegar and onion dipping sauce for extra flavour. This is one of my favourite seafood pancakes ever and yes probably the best in Sydney as it is so generous with the seafood.
By now our table is full and the staff are doing their best to juggle everything. Gone is the extra cutlery and the tea as we shuffle things to make any space that we can. They put down the bowl of the pork bone soup, which is also what Park Bong Sook is known for. It is piping hot and will stay piping hot for the entirety of the meal. The soup is spicy with lots of warm cabbage wilted on top. I had a little rice to thicken it and it’s tasty and this dish is pure winter comfort.
Last but not least is the Korean fried chicken. There’s a few varieties of Korean fried chicken available and I was intrigued by the "extra crispy" one. The chicken is boneless and comes in a hot and spicy sauce. It’s hard to tell if it’s extra crispy because I have nothing to compare it to as we only ordered one type but also once it has the sauce that takes off the crispiness somewhat but I will say that it is absolutely delicious, especially with the steamed rice with a sweet salty glaze on the juicy chicken. I end up eating several pieces of this and chasing each bite with a cube of pickled daikon. This is delicious the following day as leftovers.
We have a lot of leftovers but we order a few takeaway boxes (one day I will be coordinated to bring my own but I'm always running out because I give baked goods to friends and neighbours). And we end up taking away everything for Mr NQN's lunch the coming week!
So tell me Dear Reader, do you ever visit a restaurant with a hit list? Do you veer off it and regret it?
This meal was independently paid for.
Park Bong Sook
372 Forest Rd, Hurstville NSW 2220
Phone: 0401 789 120
Open 7 days 10:30-9pm
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