Now Open: Charim, a Minimalist Korean Restaurant, Brings Topnotch Banchan to Northbridge

After 18 years cooking Japanese food in Sydney, chef Hyun Cha has returned to his roots. “I haven’t cooked Korean food my whole career, but I’ve been eating it my entire life,” Cha tells Broadsheet.

Charim, which opened in November last year, takes its cues from Korean kisa sikdang – unpretentious, fast-moving restaurants designed for taxi drivers on tight schedules. In Northbridge, that translates to a stark, minimalist dining room with 12 tables, no reservations, and a focused menu built around hansang charim, a traditional set menu that lands on the table in one decisive swoop. It’s an approach that also reflects the restaurant’s name, which simply means “a table set for a meal”.

The centrepiece will be one of four Korean staples: futari Wagyu bulgogi, osam bulgogi (a sweet-spicy surf’n’turf of squid and pork belly), jeyuk (spicy pork), or bibimbap. Each comes with a bowl of rice, a bowl of yukgaejang (a rich soup of beef and vegetables) and seven banchan (seasonal side dishes).

Making banchan, as Cha will tell you, is difficult. It requires patience, discipline and a refusal to cut corners – skills Cha honed working as a Korean military officer before moving to Australia in 2005. There are the usual suspects: house-made kimchi and rolled omelette with fermented pollock roe, but also spicier, punchier entries, like raw Shark Bay prawns in a fiery marinade, seasoned acorn jelly, or crisp grilled mackerel, a dish so popular with diners that its temporary removal from the menu sparked an Instagram outcry. “Mackerel is Korea’s national fish, so people are very passionate about it,” Cha explains.

The set meals ($55 each) are generous, easily shared between two people, but for those inclined to linger, a short selection of supplementary dishes makes the decision easy. A thick golden-edged pancake speckled with local squid and prawns. A slow-braised pork jowl is served as part of a plate of bo ssam with fresh kimchi, crisp lettuce and house-made ssamjang. Marinated raw blue swimmer crabs are juicy, spicy and addictive.

Cha’s decades of experience running Yume, a chain of four sushi spots, are evident in the careful sourcing of Charim’s ingredients, particularly when it comes to seafood. “When I arrived in Western Australia, I was stunned by the squid here,” he says. “It’s more expensive than the imported varieties, but the quality is incomparable.”

This same precision extends to his kimchi. “I’m always on the hunt for the best cabbage. I want it to be as beautiful as possible, but too often the cabbage is too thick, too chewy. It takes time to find the right one.” His pursuit of perfection is relentless and evident in every dish.

Despite its sparse, minimalist aesthetic, Charim does not feel austere. The staff are warm, the room hums, and the food carries an unmistakable clarity of purpose. There are no distractions, no excesses, just a well-prepared table, as its name suggests.

Charim
Shop 7, 375 William Street, Perth
No phone

Hours:
Tue to Sat 5pm–9pm

@charim.perth