Kobow

Its name looks like the sound an overfed comic book supervillain might emit when slapped upside the jowly head by a lean, mean food critic, but Kobow pulls no punches when it comes to what this Sydney restaurant describes as its three founding principles: Korean food, alcohol, barbecue. Found down Liverpool Street close to the intersections with Sussex and Dixon, Kobow does indeed offer classic Korean cuisine, soju and amusingly­branded beer, much of which gets barbecued tabletop (the food, we mean), but there’s also a little bit of fusion flair going on at this central business district site.

Fusion, you say? Yes, Kobow is a restless beast of a Sydney Korean restaurant, and doesn’t like to restrict itself to just gelbi and bulgogi, though of course your demands in those directions will be acceded to. Take, for example, this Liverpool Street eatery’s balsamic pork, best enjoyed with plum wine. Already, a collision between the Italian and the Oriental (which produces a sound best spelt Kobow). Then there’s the Japanese shabu- shabu menu, offering a multitude of ways to boil up thinly sliced beef and vegetables. Shabu­shabu is itself an onomatopoeic name, taken from the sound this dish apparently makes when cooking. Need to confirm? Book a table at this abnormally awesome quasi­Korean restaurant in Sydney’s central business district and hear for yourself.

By the way, if you’re hard up and looking for lunch down Liverpool Street, Kobow lay on a great buffet for just a tenner. But it’s their regular a la carte menu that really sizzles. Generous portions of Eastern standbys like boiled dumplings, seafood pancakes, spring rolls and a Korean­Chinese-Australian pork belly and avocado salad are tempting propositions, even before you’ve made it to the kimchi, tofu, Korean sausage, and (yes) beef blood jelly soup selection. Sydney CBD workers and lurkers will faint for Kobow’s grilled flathead, marinated boiled pork with oyster, and steamed pork with kimchi mains, while hotplate dishes try to distract diners from the platters of ready­to­barbecue meats on offer. Need a drink to steady your hand? Plum wine beckons, but you can also get yourself a plain and simple jug of VB to wash it all down, too.