Funda

From the moment you enter Funda – a contemporary Korean diner in the CBD – the experience is immersive. You’ll pass through a curved two-metre-long LED tunnel broadcasting images of Korean culture and food, which gives way to a neon-lit space featuring a streamlined bar, and column features rippled like a body of water.

But chef Jung-su Chang’s menu doesn’t need an elaborate backdrop. The French-trained chef, who left two-Michelin-star restaurant Jungsik in Seoul for the opportunity to cook in Sydney, draws from classic Korean cuisine, Australian ingredients and Western techniques to create a menu that’s balanced and new.

When Broadsheet visited, we started with slices of raw bonito, served on a bed of green seaweed salad alongside pickled ginger and sprigs of micro-mustard. Beef tartare carried the sweet tang and spiciness of chojang sauce, and was served with pappadum chips and pine-nut foam. Soy-marinated raw prawns were served alongside the house burrata.

Drinks were equally innovative – the Funda Martini came with pickled kombu-infused gin, white miso amontillado sherry and kimchi oils. And the Open Sesame surrounded black sesame ice-cream with Johnnie Walker, cacao and bokbunja, a Korean wine made of raspberries.