Gangnam Pocha

Haha creative use of a viral video to utilize as a restaurant theme… even though the food theme comes from the idea of «korean street food» from the city of Gangnam, Korea, the restaurant décor is tackily inspired by the song «Gangnam Style» by Psy.
I came here on a Sunday for lunch, and the place was empty. Like legitimately nobody was there besides the waitress and the bartender (?). Despite them being quite good friends or possibly more than that, she was always attentive to serving me and I was seated, given a menu, and served quickly in a courteous manner.
I ordered the tofu and kimchi dish as well as the braised beef stew. The tofu dish was a bit strange, but still pretty good nonetheless. Their kimchi is really good :) The tofu was just really hard and curd-​y, which I’m not used to, but it was still ok. The braised beef stew was good as well, very generously portioned and I took home ²⁄₃ of it home as leftovers since I couldn’t finish.
Overall, pretty good ambiance (dark and sophisticated from the previous tenants, with tacky paper taped decorations) but the vibe in general is just nice and quiet. Food is pretty good too, but prices are just a bit steep for my preference. :)

It’s not often that I can have a 3 course meal that is seafood, seafood, and seafood but I did manage to do this here. Those who associate Korean with kimchi and other mostly spicing food will find that there is much more on offer here.
I had a seafood and spring onion omlet that may just be my new junk food in place of pizza. Similar texture without all the carbs.
It is a bit jarring to be in a place with such elegant decore while be served fast and ready food. The service was great and the staff are keen to please so if you are walking pass I suggest giving it a try.

This place is awesome.
I had four other guests with me, we had number of dishes including tofu&kimchi, braised beef ribs, sweet chilli chicken, fried prawn and calamari, and US Army stew.
Dishes were neatly presented, in good servings enough to share amongst five adults. Tastes really good — not too spicy, or not too salty — unlike many Korean food that can have strong flavours.
Service was very good from the initial call to book and asking for extra space to allow a guest on wheelchair.
Overall had a lovely time and I’d take any friends or guests who wants to have decent and neat Korean meal.

The service is good — the waitresses that we had serve our table were polite and on point with a sense of urgency with everything they do.
But the serious let down was the food. Went in for dinner after glancing at the menu a few times earlier in the week. Originally i thought that the food was reasonably priced — roughly about $ 15 – 25 a dish, which is pretty much standard for Korean food. But the food was terrible. Although i can’t exactly remember what we had as none of the dishes were cooked in a traditional way and were given a token name that has absolutely no meaning in Korean, one item that I do remember is the «boiled pork with kimchi». I’m a big fan of boiled pork with kimchi, known as «po/​bo ssam» in Korean but the one at Gangnam Pocha was horrible. The pork was cold (traditionally it is warm) and I could tell that they had cooked it a while back or put it in the fridge because the pork fat had already congealed. Furthermore for only three small pieces of pork for over $ 15, I thought that was more than overpriced — almost criminal.
There are plenty of other Korean restaurants around to goto instead, or if you are looking for good drinking food, just pop in next door to Hachibeh. Don’t waste your money here.

Very welcome change in the CBD for lunch. In the space that Alexander’s Grill used to be in. Lunch options all sub ten bucks. The korean hot dog may not get a lot of love locally, but they serve it in all its glory, covered in bulgogi and kimchi. My lunchmates got the hot dogs (and loved them) and I got the straight chicken bulgogi on rice ($ 7.80). Delicious, super fast, great service. It feels a bit odd to be in a former high-​end restaurant with massive wine racks and mahogany walls eating street food while surrounded with pictures of PSY, but weird is my jam. Great kimchi. Will be back many times.

Gangnam Pocha is definitely a place of contrasts — colourful (almost tacky?) glowing sign on the street and Psy’s face on the other advertising… but a relatively classy interior with plush chairs and warm-​ish décor (definitely not what I was expecting based on the outside???). There’s a full wall with K-​pop vids playing along the back wall, which adds to it all.
Staff are extremely welcoming and attentive, and, while they were still working out a few kinks on this first night of business, I think they’ll do just fine.
The food was great — really loved it, actually! Extremely (!) generous portions, nicely presented and well prepared. If I had to describe it, it would be Korean street food with class. Tried several things from across the menu and the spicy seafood rice cake dish was a standout, though everything was really good.
Tip: great place for seafood lovers.