There’s perilla leaf jangajji and oysters with makgeolli, snapper with gochujang and lamb rib gamjatang.

For a city that’s only recently got its head around kimchi, Shik is nothing if not bold. It’s Korean, but with neither a barbecue flue nor fried chicken in sight.

After working restaurants here and in Sydney, then hosting a weekly pop-up dinner series called Dinner by Kimchi, now Peter Jo (aka Kimchi Pete) has opened his first restaurant.

It has a CBD laneway locale, a fridge full of natural wines and a playlist set to ’90s hip-hop that’s played wilfully loud to a cool crowd of millennial hospo workers here for a bit of David Chang-channelling ’tude food. That means pig skin terrine to start, super-textural chewy slices of ear in aspic, and funky ‘monk’s kimchi’ – kohlrabi fermented in raspberry vinegar – to wrap in lettuce with a tasty-but-chewy cut of Ranger’s Valley beef, and slices of fermented pumpkin (or jangajji).

This is a vego/vegan/fructose intolerant-free zone, where Jo’s admirably singular – if divisive – vision of Korean plays out in an austere 60-seater with marble tabletops set with gold chopsticks for a bit of bling. The flavours, unapologetically sharp and powerful, won’t be to everyone’s taste.

Pungent anchovy sauce tops oily bonito in a fiery broth, chrysanthemum leaves adding a grassy note to a sucker punch of a dish. Crunchy pork and kimchi pancakes, and vegetable jeon – lightly fried mushrooms and zucchini with a spring onion pancake – take a more sedate path until dunked into gochujang (Korean chilli paste).

OB Korean Pilsner is a good bet, unless you want to hock the house and delve into the interesting but pricey wine list.

You’ll need a dictionary and a spirit for adventure, but those up to the challenge will be rewarded with Korean cooked with soul.