Growing up as a 1.5-generation kid in Midwest America, pancakes were ubiquitous in my life. My family wasn’t particularly wealthy and pancakes were a way to make a dollar stretch.

On the weekends, my mum would make danbing, a Taiwanese egg pancake that’s savoury and sweet, with a bouncy, chewy texture known as QQ. On family-holiday road trips, my dad always made sure we ate at the hot breakfast bar of our motel, which – you guessed it – had pancakes. In school cafeterias, we’d get mini pancakes for breakfast, and when I got my driver’s licence, I’d frequent 24-hour diners with my friends for the all-day, every-day stacks.

During one of these outings, I had my very first haemul pajeon. The Korean seafood and spring onion pancake was familiar, yet foreign. It was similar to the danbing I grew up with, but texturally different: more crispy, with a briny tang every few bites. I became an instant fan, and now order it at every Korean restaurant that offers it.

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This is how I came across Park Bong Sook’s rice seafood pancake last year. It made its debut in Eastwood two years ago, when the chef-owner was developing a new menu and wanted to fry up the golden rounds in a way that would appeal to local Aussies. The end result is a Korean seafood pancake unlike any other you’ll find in Sydney.

Typically, pajeon is made by mixing fresh spring onion, chopped seafood, egg, wheat flour and water into a batter then grilling it in a pan. Park Bong Sook’s is turbo-charged in comparison. The pancake wins with a mix of fresh spring onions, carrots and sliced onions that pop with sweetness with every bite – and it’s fried to order. Instead of wheat flour and water, the team uses rice flour and a secret ingredient. There are chunks of squid throughout and fresh whole prawns riding on top, delivering Park Bong Sook’s signature look.

Balancing the savoury pancake’s slick saltiness is a mildly sweet-and-spicy dipping sauce. Think ketchup and fries. It’s a mix of Korean soy sauce, vinegar, scallions, raw onions and gochugaru (a Korean chilli powder). When your serve arrives, savour the pleasure of slicing it up with the scissors provided then liberally saucing your slice (rather than dipping it into the tray, which risks it falling apart).

No lie, a spectacular crunch reverberates in the back of your mouth as you bite in. It’s an experience I have to have at least monthly.

The last time I seafood pancaked, my 2-year-old daughter screamed out “pizza!” as it came to the table. It was her first time at Park Bong Sook – which now has outposts in Chatswood, Hurstville, Lidcombe and the CBD – and I couldn’t deny the similarities she’d picked up on: you cut it into slices, share it with others and there’s that polite tension around the table before the who-wants-it starts over the final slice. It reminded me of when I first tried haemul pajeon – that same combination of the familiar and the foreign. Even if you’ve had Korean seafood scallion pancakes before, I reckon you’ve never had an experience like the one at Park Bong Sook.

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