A very hidden place
Located in a basement of a four or five storey building along Swanston St, and with no visible sign indicating its presence, Korean restaurant, Joomak, is one of those blink and miss places.
It’s been a while since I sat down for an average Korean meal. The last time would be Hansang during the Lunar New Year holiday back in Singapore. While I had Korean food during my house hunting trip in Melbourne, it was a disappointing dining experience that I was about to swear/write off Korean food here in Melbourne.
But thankfully, Joomak restored this battered confidence a little.
When we reached there, it was a full hose and we told that there won’t be a table until 8.30pm. But after negotiating with the wait staff, we were allowed to have dinner at the bar counter which turned out to be quite a good idea.
The menu’s fare is pretty standard. Nothing really outstanding that caught my eye.My dining partner and I ordered three dishes to share. The first was a kimchi stew with tofu and pork. The stew had a robust flavour and I could not help but to lap up the liquid. The portions of meat silvers were pretty decent. It was a comforting dish on a chilly, wintry night.
The next dish was something called braising chicken. On checking with one of the staff, he told my partner and me that the chicken is cooked and simmered in a sauce. It came with a spicy or non-spicy option. As my partner could not take too spicy after the kimchi stew, we stuck to the non-spicy option.
The chicken wasn’t bad. The chicken drumlettes were cooked in a soy type of sauce I believe and was serve with potato and carrots. It was pretty decent, but nothing to shout about. I would have preferred the more intensely flavoured Peranakan-style Pongteh instead on a cold night.
The kimchi jeon (pancake) with seafood sealed the deal for me. I love Korean style pancakes after discovering it in Sydney. The best Korean pancake I had ever eaten would be at Sydney Madang. I am salivating just thinking of it.
Joomak’s version is decent. It was crispy on the edges even though it was rather thick – at least thicker than a thin-crust pizza; the crisp remained even though it was left untouched for a while as I focused on the other items. It wasn’t oily and there was no taste of batter or flour due to the pancake being undercooked.
One gripe I have about Korean restaurants here in Melbourne is the lack of banchan or side dishes. My experience so far with the Korean restaurants is that they serve two, maybe maximum three side dishes, one of which would be the standard cabbage kimchi. It’s refillable of course, but compare to the four of five side dishes I receive in Singapore, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed.
Nevertheless, Joomak did leave a fairly good impression on me, in part due to the pancake and the stew and I would be willing to try the other items on the menu in the future.
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