A restaurant that’s only open one day a week? That’s the idea behind Soban by Joseon. This Korean restaurant opens only on Sundays and serves a limited menu showcasing sotbap, a Korean rice dish. Find out what it’s like!
The idea was to hit two places at once: Costco and dinner with Laura. It was Sunday night and Laura and I wanted somewhere excellent because it would be our last meal before we were going away. She sent me her list and Soban by Joseon stood out. The restaurant is open all day Sunday for lunch and dinner. The duo behind the restaurant are longtime friends Jiggy Lim and Jim Kim who met 20 years ago.
Jim is the chef and Jiggy is in front of house and at 7am every Sunday they take over the premises of this expansive, minimalist cafe and turn out set meals of sotbap along with pastries, coffees and teas. The duo started as the fine dining Joseon Restaurant that was open twice a month, by reservation only. They had this restaurant for three years and when the lease ran out they decided to stay in the area and created Soban by Joseon which is a more casual concept. "The word 'Soban' means a small tray in Korean, it reflects the way we serve our Sotbap dishes," explains Jim. Soban has been running for three months now and requires booking ahead to guarantee a seat although they can accommodate limited walk-ins as well.
Laura and I order three drinks: an iced strawberry matcha latte for me, a Jeju matcha latte for Laura and a hot black sesame drink for both. The strawberry matcha latte is the favourite while the Jeju Matcha latte is quite mild in matcha and the black sesame latte is quite mild in sesame.
For the food, there are three sotbap set menus available and when you book, you have to specify which protein you want which reserves the selection for you. The three sotbaps are: fish, Angus beef and octopus. Laura picks the fish while I order the beef (neither of us really eats octopus although it looks like a popular choice). Apart from this they’re also sides three sides: a jumbo prawn fry, mandu dumplings and seasonal greens (the last which is sold out tonight).
The enormous giant prawns are exactly as described - gigantic with an creamy salad dressing similar to a Japanese nanban. The prawns are gloriously crunchy and perfectly cooked inside and we both love the sauce on top.
The mandu come as a serve of three with a have meat inside them, although they’re not particularly meaty. The flavour here is mostly of kimchi and vermicelli noodles. They come three to a serve with a dipping sauce. The mandu are made through a collaboration between Soban and Mirak in Eastwood who make them for Soban using Jim's recipe.
Our sotbap arrive on a tray. The Angus beef is large cubes of tender Australian Angus beef on seasoned rice. Jim explains, "When it comes to our Sotbap, we think the rice is the star of the show. We cook it in a beef broth with our house-made seasoning sauce, which is made by slow-braising chargrilled vegetables in soy sauce and other ingredients for hours to build depth and flavour." To the side are the different types of banchan from soy quail eggs, radish kimchi, potato salad and nori seaweed. As with all banchans, you can order more of these if you run out at no extra charge. The beef is wonderfully tender and succulent. It is also well portioned with a side of soup as well. It's very comforting and filling, especially with the the side dishes.
I try some of Laura’s fish and it flakes perfectly and is well cooked without being dry. It has a completely different flavour profile from the beef so it’s nice to try both and if you want more sauce they can bring more out (we both add extra sauce to our rice).
For their pastries, they have teamed up with Tenacious Bakery and Lode Pies and they also have three house-made Soban deserts. We try one of the Tenacious ube croissants covered with cake crumbs and filled with custard. The croissant is nice and buttery with a generous amount of custard inside.
The tiramisu is creamy with a nice hit of coffee. The three Soban desserts are made by Jim's wife Aness who makes the strawberry cream cake, tiramisu and burnt Basque cheesecake.
So tell me Dear Reader, which sotbap would you choose out of the three? And do you like going to pop ups like this?
NQN and Laura were guests of Soban by Joseon but all opinions remain her own.
Soban by Joseon
9 Murray Rose Ave, Sydney Olympic Park NSW 2127
Phone: 0450 313 944
Open 8am-7pm Sundays
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