You know the feeling of pride that comes with cooking a delicious meal? If you ask me, that feeling is why experiences like Korean barbeque and its Japanese cousins yakiniku and shabu-shabu are so satisfying. You’re close to the action and, unlike cooking at home, restaurant cooking is practically foolproof. Steven Lee, the director of the Plus 82 Group, knows that thrill and has trandformed his Norwood eatery CNB into a dak-galbi restaurant called 88 Pocha.
For head chef Hyemi Im, the fact that Adelaide has its own dak-galbi restaurant is a sign that the city’s tastes are evolving. When Im moved to Australia from Seoul in 2010, she says she was hard pressed to find a taste of home. Lee agrees palates here have changed. “We used to serve kimchi pancakes with aioli on top when Plus 82 Pocha opened in Adelaide,” he recalls. “We don’t need to do that anymore.”
From your first steps inside 88 Pocha, it’s clear this place is different from your typical Korean barbeque spots. Instead of smaller grill plates with draining systems, each table has a large, deep custom-made pan in the middle.
“[Compared to] Korean barbeque, where you cook the meat quickly, we want to keep the heat for a fairly long time [for dak-galbi],” Im tells Broadsheet.
For the uninitiated, dak-galbi is a dish that originated in the city of Chuncheon. Chicken – which is marinated in garlic, gochujang, onions, ginger and soy sauce – is brought to your table raw. Once your pan heats up, it’s time to transfer the meat across to the hotplate. Smells waft from the pan as the chicken sizzles and diners do their best to wait patiently for the dish to cook.
Beyond dak-galbi, there are side dishes including oysters, fried chicken, kimchi pancakes and cold noodles. Stick around for dessert to try hotteok, a street food favourite consisting of a shallow-fried pancake (filled with brown sugar, sunflower and pumpkin seeds) served with ice-cream and brown sugar syrup.
The restaurant takes its name from the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and there’s a late 20th century influence on everything from the restaurant’s signage to its lighting. Walls are lined with old advertising posters and the speakers play a pleasantly retro playlist of ’90s K-pop bands like Fin.K.L, S.E.S. and H.O.T.
88 Pocha
9/185 The Parade, Norwood
0410018282
Hours:
Mon to Thurs 5pm–10pm
Fri 5pm–11pm
Sat midday–2.30pm, 5pm–11pm
Sun midday–2.30pm, 5pm–10pm
