A Korean delight – Hallah

Another great night out with the girls and Mister. We started out at Miss Libertine where Ms K’s man was DJ-ing that evening. And it was the first time I caught up with Ms C since she came back from Singapore 5 weeks ago. After a couple of bottles of wine, we were hungry and decided to take short walk to North Melbourne to check out this Korean restaurant – Hallah (268 Victoria Street, North Melbourne).

This place was recommended by a Korean friend of Misters. There was a 5 minute wait as the waiting staff cleared a table for us. The Korean BBQ is located on the 2nd floor and ala carte is on the ground level. The service staff are all Koreans so it is promising. Very promising.

As usual, soju was the first thing we ordered while we prowled through the menu. The menu consists of a good selection of stews, hotpots, stir-frys, Korean style tapas and Korean BBQ dishes. The portions were usually made for 2 persons to share. The Korean waitress had to stop us from ordering too much! We cut down from 8 dishes to 6.

First up, we were served the infamous Korean condiments. The Kimchi and the pickled cucumber had a definitely chilli kick! It did wake us up slightly from our intoxication from alcohol. And the pumpkin condiment was just natural sweetness & refreshing.

Kimchi

Spicy pickled cucumber

Sweet pumpkin

One of the speciality here was the Dragon Chicken. It a chicken coated with chilli paste and deep fried. It is definitely a must have for those who love their chillies. It also comes in a rather odd version – Dragon Chicken with cheese. Unfortunately, this signature dish was sold out by the time we arrived. Instead its place, we ordered a half serve fried chicken that is accompanied by a pickled radish and 2 hot sauces. One of the hot sauce was a really spicy chilli paste and the other was a spciy mayonnaise. Fried foods always taste so good after having a fair bit of alcohol. The sauces were addictively hot and the radish cools off the heat. Perfect combination.

Fried chicken with radish condiment

Fried chicken with 2 hot sauces

The next dish that arrived was the Spicy Marsh Snails. It is Marsh snails with green salad and carrots covered with a hot sauce and served with pretty rolls of thin rice boodles spinkled. The sauce tastes very similar to an Indian rojak dish. Ms K described the texture of the snail as mussel-like. I am not a snail expert but I felt that the snail was perfectly cooked and had a nice bounce to it when eaten. The thick sauce was sweet and spicy. It was a well balanced dish. Delightful!

Spicy Marsh Snails

Dolsot BiBim-Bab is a very popular rice dish that consists of mixed vegetables with marinated beef topped with an egg and served in a stone bowl. For all of us on the table, this is the absolute winner. Packed full of flavour and I could have the whole bowl to myself! I love this dish. Absolute favourite and the highlight of this meal.

Dolsot BiBim Bab

After the punchy Bibim-Bab, the Squid & Pork Bulgogi was a tad disappointing in flavour . Bulgogi is usually served with marinated beef but in this case, it is served with squid & pork. The pork was a little too fatty and they were a stingy with their squid.

Squid & Pork Bulgogi

The dish that we had was the Beef & Mushroom Hotpot. It was served in a clear broth and a gas cooker was used to heat up the broth and to cook the thinly sliced beef, mushrooms and the generous helping of julienned vegetables. It was a perfect ending to the meal. And the sweet broth was very cleansing after the rather spicy dishes that we ordered.

Beef Mushroom Hot Pot

All this food and 4 bottles of soju came to a total bill of $150. Great food and very affordable. I will be back here again to try the infamous Dragon Chicken and to try the Korean BBQ upstairs.

My girlfriends and Mister

Thanks to my lovely old friends and Mister. It was great to catch up and always so fun to hang out with all of you. And the photo says it all.

Double YumUP!