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| The Korean side dishes at Oriental Dream |
There are quite a number of Korean restaurants in Chatswood that offer “lunch special” in their menus. The prices for the “lunch special” range from AUD10.00 to AUD15.00 which is quite reasonable by Sydney standard. We noticed that almost all of the restaurants that offer “lunch specials” have their own regular customers. As many Korean food lovers would know, there are always side dishes such as “kim chi” (spicy pickled vegetables), steamed or fried bean sprouts, spicy radish, spinach with sesame seeds, sliced fried bean curd that accompany the main course. These dishes are included in the main course and the customer can request for refills if they want additional helpings. The number of side dishes that accompany the main course will depend on the individual Korean restaurants. We had come across one that gave us 3 side dishes and there was one that offered 10 side dishes plus a complimentary fried tofu with egg! But the norm is about 4 to 6 side dishes.
For this posting we will share with you our dining experience at Oriental Dream (Korean Restaurant) which is located at Shop G3C at 7 Help Street, Chatswood. Oriental Dream is quite a small restaurant and gets pretty crowded during lunch hour. However, the server is attentive and prompt in taking orders. We ordered a variety of “lunch special” - “short ribs jjim”, spicy pork, wagyu beef teriyaki and soft tofu stew (seafood). Unlike my days living in Los Angeles where I used to frequent Korean restaurants, here in Sydney, they do not serve complimentary barley tea or any other tea for that matter, here the Korean restaurant serve only complimentary plain water.
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| "Short ribs jjim" |
Our first order was “short ribs jjim” which was made up of short ribs cooked in soy sauce with assorted vegetables and glass noodles served with steam rice. The beef was tender and well cooked that came attached to the rib bone. The meat was easy to cut and melts in the mouth. The only thing that we could think of that perhaps would make this dish better was to reduce the sugar in the dish. The “short ribs jjim” is one of the “lunch special” where the price is above AUD10.00. The “short ribs jjim” costs AUD13.00. We enjoyed the “short ribs jjim” and would rate it 8/10.
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| Spicy pork |
The second dish was spicy pork which comprised of stir fried spicy pork with carrot, onion, zucchini, cabbage, onions and fresh chilli served with steam rice. This is quite a colourful dish due to the various vegetables that added colour to the spicy pork. However, we found the meat to be dry and lost its flavour due to lack of moist. We will rate this dish 6/10.
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| Wagyu beef teriyaki |
Our third dish was wagyu beef teriyaki which comprised of stir fried wagyu beef in teriyaki sauce, red capsicum (bell pepper), cabbage, onions, some sesame seed and a fresh garden salad. The wagyu beef was nice and moist. The combination with the hot steam rice made it palatable and delicious. We rate this dish 8/10.
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| Soft tofu stew with seafood |
Our final dish was sofu tofu stew with seafood. The soft tofu stew came with a choice of pork, chicken or seafood. In view that we already had quite a few meat dishes, we decided to have the stew with seafood. The sofu tofu was cooked with chilli paste, baby clams, slices of fish and some squid -all combined and made into a hot steamy stew. The stew was delicious and it came with a bowl of hot steam rice as well. The best way to eat this dish is to put the hot steam rice into the stew and eat it as a hot and spicy stew porridge. We would rate this dish a 10/10, simply delicious.
In conclusion and based on our dining experience, we find Oriental Dreams a pretty decent Korean restaurant providing good service and wonderful food at reasonable price. As a matter of fact, except for the “short ribs jjim”, all the other “lunch specials” which we ordered cost AUD10.00 each. We will definitely make this one of our regular Korean restaurants.
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