Korean restaurants aren’t new to Sydney. Most of us have sat around a table of charcoal, deftly flipping slices of beef and oyster mushrooms while sinking a tinnie of Cass or two. Even outside of the Korean barbecue world, there have been mainstay traditional Korean restaurants in all pockets of Sydney (largely Strathfield aka Little Korea) for decades. What we’re seeing now, however, is fine-dining, classically-trained chefs going back to their roots. Here’s where you can you get a taste.

Bar SOUL

SOUL Dining, SOUL Deli and now, Bar SOUL, the SOUL Group is another Korean hospitality powerhouse shaping the Sydney dining scene. SOUL Dining has received high accolades since opening back in 2019 and most recently has come Bar SOUL. Opened in mid-May 2023, with head chef Sunny Ryu at the helm, guests can expect a really special experience. He brings with him a wealth of experience acquired over his career from acclaimed Michelin starred restaurant Ryunique in Seoul, to his tenure in some of Australia’s most distinguished culinary institutions, such as Bennelong and Quay.

Soot

Recently opened in the dining precinct of Barangaroo, Soot is the newest venue from Sydney’s Korean-focussed hospitality group Kolture, led by David Bae who’s father Donald Bae brought Korean barbecue to Australia in 1992 and has owned Kogi since 2018. Soot is the group’s seventh venue in Sydney and is Barangaroo’s first Korean barbecue offering. The concept may be traditional but the point of difference is the attentive service and seriously quality ingredients like dry-aged marble 7+ wagyu, and even a raw bar serving up Sydney rock oysters with mandarin balsamic mignonette, and assorted sashimi with gochujang vinaigrette.

Tokki

Is it a bar? Is it a restaurant? Tokki on Foveaux Street is of that new ilk of hangout that is both and neither. If you’re at Tokki to drink, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a Japanese bar, with whiskeys, beers and plum wine featuring heavily (alongside local biodynamic wines). On the other hand, if you’re snacking, the roots are firmly in Korea. Chorizo with tomato gochujang; egg jjim spiked with anchovy brown-butter; and butterflied king prawns glazed with doenjang do a very convincing impression of a modern Korean eatery with a few pits-stops in Spain, France and the Yarra Valley along the way.

Allta and Funda

Opening later this year on the corner of George and Pitt Streets comes two venues in one with some heavy-hitters on the pans. First is Allta, a 15-seat Korean omakase fitted out with gold and marble. The soon-to-open restaurant has lured Jung-su Chang, executive chef at South Korea’s two Michelin-starred restaurant Jungsik Seoul, to Sydney so you’ll be in good hands at the degustation-only diner. Next door will be sister restaurant Funda. More casual than Allta, the bar and eatery has scored chef Dongha Kim, a graduate of Melbourne restaurants Supernormal and Gimlet, and more recently Ester and Firedoor.

Kobo

Kobo is a fast-paced omakase-style culinary adventure. The menu changes regularly and celebrates particular regions of Korea. The theme at Kobo right now is Jeju Island, South Korea’s largest island and a popular tourist destination. It’s also famous, the menu tells us, for female abalone divers (“who dive for hours without scuba gear”), delicious pork and sweet mandarins.

Jung Sung

Equally impressive in both location and styling, Jung Sung is perched atop a Chippendale terrace with muted and matte navy-blue walls, brass industrial finishes and a sleek private alfresco area. This degustation-only modern-Korean restaurant is a seriously elevated experience where you’ll often find caviar and truffle on your plate right alongside Mareema duck breast cured in nuruk, or the raw fish dish of hwe with yeolmu kimchi.