Restaurant Gangnam

A great lunch spot. Actually, everything in the Level 3 of Carillion is. This place does excellent lunch deals every day and mine was the bread with bulgogi — not much to say other than it was tasty, great service, generous, great value and pretty prompt. Can’t go wrong!

To be honest when he said, «I’m going to take you for lunch at the local shopping centre,» I was not impressed. Life’s too short to spend a nice sunny day in a dimly lit food court enduring some over-​priced limp kebab. He smiled a knowing smile and took my hand. We slid into a funky booth in this hip little Korean restaurant and he ordered me the tofu bibimbab. I didn’t even know what it was but he assured me I’d like it. A big hot stone bowl arrived, balanced on a wooden tray. I peered down at the steaming vessel & saw it was piled high with delicious short grain rice and a colourful rainbow array of tofu, shitake mushrooms, carrot, spinach and bean sprouts. It looked fresh and super comforting. The staff kindly pointed out which sauces were vegan (the soy based one is fine but the chilli contained shrimp paste). Dousing the whole bonanza with sauce, the stone sizzled making all the contents taste amazing, all toasty and nutty and aromatic. I should not have under-​estimated him. I gladly ate bimimbab and humble pie. Little did I know that running errands at the local shopping arcade would turn into a culinary adventure.

LOVED this place! I lived in South Korea for a year and this is really authentic — I got the pork bibimbap (rice, sauce, pork and veggies.) and the Kimchi, which was only a dollar, was amazing as well. I’d recommend this to anyone, really good serve of food for $ 12.

I was quite impressed with this place! Especially by food court standards. They must’ve opened not too long ago as they were still doing «grand opening specials» when we went for lunch today (any meal for $ 8.99 or meal & drink for $ 9.99).
I had to try their Beef Japchae and enjoyed every bit of it. The dish was also full of fresh veggies, mushrooms and topped with shredded egg. Beautifully presented, good-​sized portion and it tasted wonderful. My friend ordered the Beef Bibimbap, which came with a bowl of soup and she was happy as a clam.
Upon leaving, I spotted some fried chicken. Def having those next time!

Gangnam was an extremely welcome find for somebody who works close by and loves Korean food.
It’s located on the top floor of Carillion on the left as you walk into the food court there. The service is friendly. The meal options are reasonably priced for CBD food court prices. The food is tasty and looks really colourful because it is bursting with a variety of fresh ingredients.
If you do not partake of the meat (like me), there are quite a few vegetarian options: kimchi, tofu or mushroom bibimbap and mushroom japche. Bibimbab is a bowl of rice with lots of different ingredients piled on top. Japche is clear sweet potato noodles stirfried with veggies (and meat if you so desire). I feel like I’ve had a balanced meal when I eat here.
My only gripe is that I don’t like Gangnam’s kimchi, which you can order separately for a mere dollar if you are of the kimchi-​eating persuasion. I usually would be. In fact, I’m generally a kimchi-​eating monster, but the kimchi here doesn’t do it for me, and that makes me very sad. For those new to Korean food, kimchi is bright red, spicy pickled vegetables (usually cabbage, radish, radish leaves and the like). If you are hoping for the usual crowd of side dishes that comes with Korean food, you will be disappointed, but this does prevent gluttonous lunchtime behaviour, which is a bonus in my eyes!
PS You may need to ask for chopsticks if you are Caucasian. :(

OMG this lunch spot blew my mind! I had the spicy pork bento which came with miso soup. I can’t wait to bring all of my friends here :)