Soul Deli, Surry Hills

What is up guys?! Let me start by saying that this is one blog post that I’m excited to share with all of you for 2 reasons. First being that the café that I’ll be talking about does amazing coffee and the second reason is that they serve Korean inspired brunch dishes. Y’all know that I love Korean cuisine in general.

 

The café is called Soul Deli and is in Surry hills. Soul Deli is run by the same team behind Soul Dining (specifically by husband and wife Daero Lee and Illa Kim). The space has a minimal and welcoming vibe. I also really like the touches of Seoul pixel artwork and the fact that they show case products of local designers and artists in the Korean community. The coffee is sourced from one of my current favourite roasters in Sydney, Primary Coffee. I went with Chocolatesuze and Noods a few weekends ago.

 

This is the first café to showcase a variety of kimchi choices from umami packed kimchi to vegan kimchi. They have mentioned that no fish product is used for the vegan kimchi, hence why it’s vegan.

 

If my memory serves me right, the Primary Coffee I had was from Bolivia. I ordered 2 cold brews because it was that good. It had notes of stone fruits and apple. It went down really well.

 

One of my favourite items was their pork belly kimchi cheese sandwich ($18), which has provolone & American cheese, fried kimchi, pork belly and served with house made pickles. Technically, it’s a toastie and a damn amazing one! Fried or grilled kimchi is the best guys! Try it if you haven’t, its life changing. It added smoky notes and extra umami to the toastie. The cheese was nicely melted and the pork was buttery.

 

The sweet corn kimchi pizza ($22) was not too bad but it came across more like a corn fritter than a kimchi pizza/pancake. I was expecting more of kimchi cheese pancakes you can get from Korean restaurants. I feel like it needed more kimchi and instead of feta, I would have preferred a combo of melted provolone and American cheese (like what was used for the toastie).

 

The Korean schnitzel ($26) was another winner! It was crumbed pork loin with Korean mushroom sauce and served with kimchi and rice. The coating was so crisped, and the meat was quite tender and juicy. The sauce was creamy with notes of umami and some sweet & sour hints.

 

My absolute favourite here was their buttermilk hotcakes ($16) that came with maple syrup and Tasmanian salted cultured butter. We also ordered KFC (Korean Fried Chicken) on top for an extra $8 since they recommend it and we love KCF. So why not right? The pancakes were so damn good and fluffy! The KFC was smothered in yangnyeom sauce (Korean sweet chilli sauce) and I would also recommended for y’all to order this with your hotcakes. The sauce was caramel-y and had notes of umami. The fried chicken has rippled crisped coating and was so juicy in the inside.

We ended out brunch with a massive scone that was sent to us by the kitchen on the house. It was nice and fluffy. We were also provided with cream that they wouldn’t normally serve with the scone.

 

Overall, we were quite happy with the experience. Coffee was amazing and most of the food were amazing, I would definitely come back here for more.

 

Soul Deli

Shop 1 / 185 Campbell Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010

Tuesday to Sunday 7pm to 4pm

 

Poly, Surry Hills

What is up everyone?! I apologise for the long hiatus in this blog. It’s been a really busy few months. Also, if you don’t know yet, I have started a Youtube channel (link here) and have concentrated on posting vlogs to get it started. If you haven’t yet, please support your boy Raff and subscribe to the channel and hit the notification bell to stay up to date with all my up coming videos. Also, the blog just turned 9 years old!

Now, let’s go to the main subject of this blog post. We’re here to talk about a restaurant that I have visited a few weeks ago and has become one of my new favourite restaurants in Sydney. Poly is a modern Australian restaurant and is located on Commonwealth Street (next to Paramount Coffee Project) in Surry Hills. It’s also by the same team behind another favourite restaurant of mine Ester. The space has the same elegant industrial vibe that Ester has. I also love the fact that when you put the two names together, it reads out as “PolyEster” (very witty).

First dish that we had was straight off the bat, AMAZING! I could eat their scarlet prawns, harissa and lardo on toast ($16 per piece) everyday! The combination of the umami packed prawns that had hints of sweetness, the complex spices of harissa and creamy lardo on toast was one of the most delicious things I’ve had.

The most premium way I’ve ever eaten potato chips is at Poly when we had their raw scallop, salted kombu and potato chips ($18). These were plump perfectly cooked scallops sandwiched in housemade potato crisps with salted kombu.

I can see why the fried potato and salted egg sauce ($15) is popular. It was like the most perfect golden hash browns shaped in cubes and elevated with umami from the salted egg sauce. I love the contrast of the textures of being fluffy soft inside and crisped outer layers.

I love the combination of cheese and mushrooms so we ordered the oyster mushrooms, stracciatella with beer and yeast sauce ($26). The oyster mushrooms just went so well with the stretchy stracciatella.

The koji marinated pork chop with corn sauce and smoked onion cream ($58) was easily my highlight of the night. The pork was fatty and tender with smokey notes and was packed with a lot of umami. The sweet and tangy notes from the corn sauce and smoked onion cream went so well with the pork meat. The meat was seasoned well and it came with a nice airy crackling.

The food and service is on par with their sister restaurant Ester. We were too full to try their desserts so we will definitely go back for that!

Poly

Address: 74-76 Commonwealth Street,

Surry Hills, NSW

02 8860 0808

polysurryhills.com.au

Opening hours:

Mon-Fri 5pm-late; Sat & Sun noon-late

Jazushi Ramen Lunch - Surry Hills, Sydney

What’s up fam?! Sorry for the long blog break. As y’all know, I was in the land of the rising sun for a while (posts of my Japan eats are coming on the blog soon). It’s only been over two weeks since we came back and I’m missing ramen already. Luckily, Sydney is not short in amazing ramen options.

Some of you may remember chef Shota Sato from Tokyo Bird and Osaka Trading & Co (also ex-head chef at Bar H). Since moving to Jazushi a few months ago to team up with his long time friend Yuki Ishikawa (owner of Jazushi), they have started doing ramen lunch sessions from Thursday to Saturday.  There’s shoyu ramen and tantanmen available on the menu along with some snacks like chashu nigiri and karaage chicken.

mmmmm se-abura

Shota’s shoyu ramen ($17) is pure comfort with a good dosage of umami. The broth is mainly chicken based with a blend of pork bones. The soy tare gives it complexity with a subtle depth and hints of sweetness. It also has the right amount of se-abura (pork back fat) for that extra layer of texture and flavour. The flat-ish noodles were cooked just right and the aburi chashu was smoky with sweet notes. It also came with negi, bean sprouts and a perfect ajitamago.

Their take on tantanmen ($17) is currently my favourite. Most tantanmen tend to be either too oily, too salty or so much heavy on the spices. Shota’s version at Jazushi is the most well-balanced and most premium tasting I have come across. The miso based broth though tends to lean slightly on the sweet side with nutty notes which is how I like it. It was also topped with flavoured pork mince and shiraga negi (or white hair leek as it resembles white hair).

Their aburi or grilled chashu nigiri here was amazing! Serving it in the form of a nigiri (3 pieces for $7.50) is genius.

The karaage chicken ($7) is one of the best that I’ve had. The coating was crisped and flavoursome whilst the meat was juicy.

*Ramen Raff was invited as a guest of Jazushi via Doq.

Jazushi

145 Devonshire St Surry Hills 2010 Sydney

02 9699 8977

jazushi@gmail.com

Ramen Lunch: 12pm to 2:30pm Thu - Sat

Goryon San, Surry Hills - Kushiyaki/Yakitori

The contemporary yakitori that we come across out here in Australia and other parts of the world is in actual fact Kushiyaki. Whilst the menu in a yakitori restaurant mainly consists of chicken based grilled skewers, kushiyaki restaurants covers all bases.

 

Head Chef Akihito Marui

The new Goryon San in Surry Hills is a Hakata-style Kushiyaki restaurant that offers a great range of grilled delights. They have 3 shops in Tokyo: Nishiazabu, Shibuya Miyamasuzaka and Shibuya Nanpeida. My friend Akihito Marui (ex Torikizoku Osaka, Yakitori Jin) is the head chef at the Surry Hills shop. Hakata-style kushiyaki specialises in rolled up meat skewers that are filled with either vegetables, seafood and even cheese seasoned with tare (sauce marinade) or shio (salt). But since it’s Hakata in origin, expect a lot of pork in the menu. There’s a decent range of sake, shochu and wine too.

Chef Yuto Moriue

The Surry Hills shop has counter seatings that lets you enjoy the grilling action (watch out for Chef Yuto Moriue aka the “Japanese Salt Bae”) as well as seatings for 2 people and big groups. The space is well lit with modern Japanese fittings and furnishings.

The grilled skewers menu is quite extensive and boasts quality:

The wagyu loin skewer ($10 each) was extremely tasty, tender and buttery. It also comes with some freshly grated wasabi.

The sukiyaki wagyu skewer ($8.50 each) is another hit! Crown daisy leaf & enoki mushrooms wrapped in tender Wagyu glazed with tare. It also comes with egg yolk for dipping.

King prawns ($7.50 each) wrapped in thinly sliced pork belly.

The buta bara ($5.50 each) is a pork belly skewer that is extra fatty and seasoned with shio.

A bunch of juicy (with a slight crunch) enoki mushrooms & pork belly skewers ($6.50 each).

The XL shiitake mushrooms ($6 each) are smoky and full of umami.

How can I say no to grilled camembert cheese ($5.50 each)!

What do I love more than tsukune (grilled minced chicken skewers)? Grilled cheese tsukune ($8 each) of course!

Then there’s the gorgonzola honey skewers ($6 each). Pungent and delicious gorgonzola cheese wrapped in sweet & smoky flaky pastry glazed with honey.

The scallop and bacon skewers ($7.50 each) were so addictive!

There’s a also a classic zuri or chicken giblet skewer ($5.50 each) that was smoky, sweet and tender.

Last but not least is the fatty and delicious bonjiri ($5.50 each) or chicken tail. Love the umami packed caramelised bits at the edges of the fatty bits.

Omedetou gozaimasu Goryon San on your first Sydney branch opening!

Goryon San Surry Hills
47 Reservoir Street
Surry Hills NSW
Ph: 9281 2228
https://goryon-san.com.au

Opening Hours
Dinner 5:30pm to 10:00pm 7 days

Ramen lunch (COMING SOON) 12pm to 2:00pm