Just Opened: Hongdae Pocha, Chippendale

Hongdae Pocha is a brand new Korean Pocha restaurant in Sydney's Chippendale. Pochas are casual Korean street food stalls that serve late night comfort food and drinks. This restaurant has all of that plus a whole Korean fried chicken with two sauces, hash browns with beef tartare and a ramen fried rice. Come along and find out all about the must orders at Hongdae Pocha.

The word Pocha comes from the word Pojangmacha that means covered wagon. It's a Korean casual style of drinking and snacking concept where friends gather around round metal tables and sit on stools. At Hongdae Pocha dishes like Fried Chicken or Samgyeopsal (Pork Belly) are designed to be paired with beer or soju. It is the newest restaurant from Vuza Hospitality who also have Funda and the recently opened Buttered. In fact Hongdae Pocha is located adjacent to Buttered in the Central Park complex in Chippendale. The Head Chef is Haeseung Choi who has worked at restaurant Jueun in Seoul and a Junior Sous Chef at Firedoor in Surry Hills.

The space can seat up to 172 and there's also an outdoor courtyard section (perhaps for warmer nights!). Originally the building was a brewery so there's still some of the historic equipment juxtaposed against bright neon signs.

The menu has everything from tteokbokki, Korean BBQ, Korean fried chicken and of course a range of banchan. We start with the banchan (kim chi, bean sprouts and pickled radish) paired with icy cold metal cups of Jipyeong Makgeolli, a very popular brand of Makgeolli or Korean rice wine. Until the 6th of July they also have half priced soju!

The stools have storage in them so once we warm up, we place our coats inside them. The chopsticks and spoons are in a drawer in the table. Ordering is done via a QR code but with a two sided menu and if you want service, you press a button.

Soon the first dish arrives. It is eomuk or deep fried matchstick-thin strips of crispy fishcake with wasabi mayo. These are highly addictive with a crispy umami quality that makes this a very moreish snack.

The Yukhoe or raw beef or Korean beef tartare is served atop a crispy hash brown and is one of my favourite dishes. The cold raw beef is flavoured with gochujang, pear and lots of white pepper and goes so well with hot, crunchy hash brown. The hash browns aren't fancy but it's a clever way to serve yukhoe and has a good level of spiciness to it. You do want to eat this quickly so the hash brown stays crispy.

We try a few Korean BBQ meats and they actually cook the meats for you so that you can sit back and not worry if something is cooking properly (or conversely, burning!). The Hongdae garlic bomb is beef rib fingers marinated and topped with a generous amount of garlic. This is their signature meat item and it is delicious and all you need is some vegetables to create a ssam wrap. I recommend the butter lettuce, then a shiso or perilla leaf, bean paste, marinated onion and pickled radish (both on the table) and then wrap and eat - it's tasty and fresh at the same time.

They also cook the boneless short ribs which are nice and have a slightly chewy texture to them.

But my favourite meat out of all three is the buchaesal or wagyu oyster blade aka the flat iron which is so luscious and melts in the mouth. There are three seasonings for the beef provided: wasabi, bean paste and a salt and pepper mix and I love the beef simply seasoned with the salt and pepper mix.

The poktan gyeranjjim is a Korean steamed egg or egg "bomb" that comes to the table fluffed up and jiggly like a savoury egg souffle. It's a great pairing with Korean BBQ and this one has plenty of spring onion for flavour.

If you're in the mood for Korean fried chicken (and really, I am all the time) then they have a spectacular whole fried chicken. Half of the chicken has a spring onion and mustard soy glaze and the other half is coated in yangnyum sauce which is a sweet and spicy glaze. They take to the chicken with shears and cut it up for us. It's delicious and I love that you can pick the chicken pieces that you like and it's good for people that have particular preferences for chicken cuts. It's also hard to pick a favourite seasoning as they're both good. This comes with cubes of pickled radish.

We also try a delicious black raspberry wine served in a bottle and drunk from little shot glasses. We find that Korean alcohol is slightly dangerous as the drinks don't taste particularly high in alcohol but they are!

Mr NQN absolutely loves the Doenjang Jigae made with Doenjang or fermented soy paste with beef, vegetables and big, soft cubes of tofu. It's wonderfully comforting and perfect for a cold winter's night.

In many Asian cultures, rice is often served at the end of the meal just to make sure that everyone is full and in Korean culture, fried rice or bokkeum-bap is often the final course. This is another favourite: they bring out an upturned ramen cup and remove the cup to reveal a timbale of fried rice and ramen noodles with grilled cheese on top. The fried rice is delicious and well seasoned with tiny pieces of pickled radish. It's the perfect end to the meal and designed to fill you up right at the end in the tastiest way.

So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever been to a pocha restaurant? And do you prefer it when they cook the bbq for you or do you like cooking it yourself?

NQN and friends were guests of Hongdae Pocha but all opinions remain her own.

Hongdae Pocha

5 Central Park Ave, Chippendale NSW 2008

Phone: 0451 829 778

Open 7 days 5-10pm