Moon Park

I was excited as I was walking into this mysterious, unmarked restaurant. The atmosphere was pretty tranquil, with seating for only about 10 small tables, and chilled jazz playing in the background.
The service was almost too attentive for my liking, with the wait staff constantly coming around to refresh your plates and cutlery.
The food started off good, and interesting. But nowhere near amazing or worth the $ 65 per person set menu. Some dishes were very mediocre, or sub par to the ordinary Korean dishes you can get from your local cheaper dinery.

These guys were on my list ever since I read about them in some Qantas magazine months and months ago. I finally made my way there just recently. And loved it! They take Korean food, jazz it up a bit and the results are brilliant. Had a number of dishes but the absolute standout was the fried chicken. It was sticky and crunchy and the soy marinade was packed full of flavour. Delicious! In fact, all of their dishes were pretty outstanding. Really need to go back and try more of their food!!!

Stunning Korean food. Perfect service and a very interesting wine list. Location might not be perfect, but the atmosphere, the food and the welcoming hosts make up for it.
The banquet menue is very good value for money!

When I think of Korean food in Sydney, I think of delicious overpriced peasant food. I’ve been holding off on trying the recent influx of «Modern» Korean restaurants because it seemed like hipsters just repackaging something to charge exorbitant prices for.
Well I was wrong.
Pretty damn wrong.
Rocked up on a Friday without any reservations around 6:20pm and was seated quickly with the condition we had to finish by 8pm. Whatever, that’s cool I eat fast.
As stated before, this place is «Modern,» so there are a lot of traditional dishes with twists on them. The twists were pleasant surprises, not tryhard abominations.
We ordered the bulgogi on sweet cabbage to start, followed by oxtail bibimbap, eggplant with egg custard, and a side order of shrimp brined fried chicken.
The bulgogi was tasty and interesting, very duck pancakeish. A+ would order again.
I’m not a big bibimbap fan, but I absolutely LOVED the oxtail bibimbap, might have been one of the best bowls of bibimbap I’ve ever had. A+++ sender provided great value and fast service.
I enjoyed the eggplant with egg custard, but my gf didn’t. She didn’t like the texture, I didn’t mind it, it’s very pudding-​like. A+ pleasure to deal with.
The fried chicken was delicious as expected, I didn’t really taste any shrimp either. It was juicy and tender, no complaints here. A+++ would do business again.
Will definitely come back to try the rest of the menu.

Refreshing approach to Korean cuisine and filled with the general hipster crowd
Four of us shared dishes recommended by a super friendly waitress.
Dishes to remember are the Fried Chicken, the John Dory with whitebait crisps and an amazing sauce

This is the best new restaurant in the hood, you’ve never experienced Food as good as this !

Eating here was a true pleasure.
This modern Korean menu offered up a plethora of exciting and original dishes — each full of an amazing range of flavours, textures and oral enjoyment.
I’d highly recommend the tasting menu for $ 65. Great Value and gives you a diverse range of dishes to try.
The Melona shaved ice was my favourite dessert on the menu. Eat it slow and sample each of the components for some mind blowing goodness. Thanks guys. Our night here was thoroughly enjoyable.

I think Moon Park has phenomenal food and is a great value.

We ate here for the first time last week, and decided to just go for it with the $ 65 tasting menu, assuming that they would know better than us what we should try. It was a really nice experience, timed well, and with an interesting range of flavours and textures. A weeknight was busy, but didn’t feel crowded.
It started with 2 banchan type dishes, a cucumber kimchi (made with the cutest little cucumbers), and tteokbokki (fat rice noodles cooked in chilli sauce), which had been rolled in pulverized peanuts. Super yum. And what a fun way to eat the tteokbokki.
Then second course was bulgogi beef shortribs and anchovy with a steamed cabbage wrap. So tender and succulent. I would have been happy if this was my whole meal. This was followed by sea urchin served on a seeded cracker with black garlic. This was amazingly rich and tasty. I thought it was like a seafood version of foie gras, in texture and richness.
Third course: King prawns in pinenut sauce, with poached chicken and a smear of charred ssam jang (fermented soybean chilli paste).The prawns had been marinated in something citrus-​y, so nice contrast of flavours.
Then came one of the most gorgeous dishes– noodles in corn and mushroom tea, fresh truffle, and baby corn. It was essentially a fancy ramen dish, but amazingly delicate and delicious, especially with the mushroom/​truffle smell wafting up from the bowl.
Fourth course was a sharing plate from a choice of three. We opted for the shrimp-​brined fried chicken. This came with a side of eggplant with custard, fermented garlic, and lotus root. I actually enjoyed the vegetable dish more than the fried chicken, as the brine in the chicken was just too salty. The chicken was a disappointing finale for this reason.
Dessert was a deconstructed moon pie: homemade marshmallow, white chocolate pudding, prunes, and ginger jelly with buscuit crumbs underneath. A wonderful mix of textures, but tooth-​achingly sweet. A less sticky, more tart fruit than prunes might have complemented the plate better.
Overall a delightful meal, and way more than enough food. I struggled towards the end, since I was already so full. Service was attentive and informal. A nice suggested wine (not yet on the menu), and OB beer.

Super progressive modern happy fun times…
… sounds like a Japanese game show, which is actually a bit of a red herring as this place is all about the Korean baby, and a modern take on Korean at that. It’s upstairs on a corner of Redfern St with a big ol’ babaloo balcony looking right out over Redfern Park, the kind of balcony you want to kick back and drink black rice wine and OB beer on until someone asks you to leave. Which probably won’t happen with Abby the hostess running the floor show, she’s way friendly, way up for a chat, and way helpful with explaining chef Ben Sears (ex-Claude’s) modern takes on Korean dishes.
Like ddokbeokki, crisp yet chewy rice cakes made with fermented chilli and rolled in crushed peanuts. Or clam with sea biscuit topped with nasturtium leaf. Or incredible sweet sticky sumptuous pork belly wrapped in another type of leaf I was too busy moaning with pleasure Meg Ryan-​style to identify.
Wanna come back to try the deconstructed Wagon Wheel dessert. Oh baby.

Korean: Not the cheap and spicy Korean takeaway you may know! This is something else.
Traditional Korean vs. Moon Park
Vibe: Minimalist, besides the tapestry on one wall and the cluster of pot plants under it — Its pretty bare. Think polished concrete floors, a few bare light bulbs and dark wooden tables. Very low key.
My boyfriend, Evan, and I went 2 Wednesdays ago (05.03.14) when Sydney experienced a beautiful sunny day and a very strange stormy night. It was pretty empty, however, I’ve been told that it’s usually filled with diners and chatter.
Will impress: Enjoy this one with those who like to experiment (hungry Evan, was not the right choice). I suggest entering with no expectations as it’s definitely not the cheap and spicy Korean take away you may know.
Spend: $$ We ordered a fair bit. 4 dishes to share, a dessert each + 1 glass of wine. The dishes are small but quite filling.
Dress code: It’s pretty casual. I would still wear heals though, it’s on the smarter side of casual.
Food: The food is an interesting modern interpretation of the Korean cuisines you may have tried before– some dishes are American-​esque. I thought it would be fun to show you what you usually get, compare to what Moon Park delivers.
Tteokbokki — Logs of deep fried spicy rice cakes rolled in crushed peanuts, really interesting, it has a thin crunchy surface but is chewy on the inside.
Bibin — Traditionally, it’s mixed rice with vegetables, chilli paste, a fried or raw egg and sometimes sliced meat. Instead we got sweet corn, barley, rice, crab meat, cured egg, nori with a gochujang chilli paste to mix.
Imjasutang — I was expecting a cold chicken soup but instead was served a beautifully presented poached chicken salad. There’s a lot of hype around this dish. I would say it’s definitely worth trying.
Korean fried chicken — Crisp, not too oily and covered in sesame seed, served in soy, syrup and picked radish. Evan’s Favourite!
For dessert we had the infamous sugared doughnuts, topped with Patbingsu fig leaf shaved milk (shaved ice) and condensed milk and red bean paste (basically ice cream), all resting on a bed of omija (five flavoured tea) and roasted pear. It was an okay dish compared to the Moon pie — my favourite dish! Soft flamed marshmallow meringue with pieces of torn ginger jelly, graham crackers and half-​moon pear rounds. It’s pretty sensational, I couldn’t get enough. The Moon pie is not a Korean inspired dish but in fact Moon Park’s version of a deconstructed American Moon pie (similar to a wagon wheel).
Final notes: Make sure you sit on the balcony across from the Redfern Park. Also there are no knives. Just a fork and chop sticks, but it works!
Love bangers x