KOFOO

So today I met up with a friend and her daughter. We did some laps of the local park before high tailing it with my superb navigational skills to Garden City. Surprisingly we got there in one piece and on time!

We decided to go to the sushi train at the lower level near K-mart. Its a dark little corner of the food court right besides Hanaichi. Like every solid sushi train, everyone speaks Japanese and is super enthusiastic to help you. The service is fantastic of course. The lighting was terrible, I remember it being quite dark. That aside, unfortunately I didn't take any pictures but I do recall what I ate. A chicken karaage plate, a tuna roll, a salmon and tempura chicken roll and a chicken teriyaki roll.

The chicken karaage was picked at the wrong time, it was the first dish I saw. Ideally never pick ANYTHING at the sushi train when you first enter, it sets you up for a bad time. You wait until you get to know all the food on the train or pick only what the chef has placed down. This level of vigilance ensures that whatever you pick is super fresh and hasn't been floating on the train forever. A slightly spicy, soggy from condensation chicken karaage, it came with a wedge of lemon but no kewpie mayo! Disappointing.

The tuna roll was your usual, pasty white, avocado and mayo roll. Nothing special and cheap as anything. It had those little tobiko, flying fish roe all over it. Delicious orange popping eggs.

The chicken teriyaki roll was a bit disappointing? I'm not really sure why. It was a bit too well cooked, a piece of solid, slightly dry chicken breast marinated lightly in a teriyaki sauce. Maybe that's where it went wrong for me, normally I liked my chicken teriyaki saturated in the sauce with a piece of dark meat like thigh,  guaranteed to be super tender and bouncy. It held up nicely though when bitten and dunked in soy sauce.

The main attraction for me was that delicious salmon and tempura chicken roll. It was done in fancy arse nigiri style, basically inside out so the salmon was on the outside like a fancy pink stripe. A layer of rice and seaweed, then on the inside was the tempura chicken. It was a silky soft salmon bite, the slight chewiness of the seaweed and the delicious crunch crunch of the tempura chicken. This was probably the tastiest roll I ate that day. I could have cheerfully eaten another plate or two while I was there but my friend was running late so off she went. I offered her my last segment but she wasn't keen. Different strokes I guess.

Overall. I would probably not go here again. The overall experience was neutral. The food was well presented, the karaage was a disappointment, the establishment looked good, the service was good. As per sushi traindom, the plates were cheap and well marked out so the price wasn't too bad about 12 and 14 bucks? Eh 5/10.

I sneakily called my sister, for a lift and she arrived about an hour or two after that. So I spent the time trying to look for knitting needles, comparing Coles and Woolies and trying to see if I could find a cheap massage place. I think I lapped the entirety of Garden City from end to end, top and bottom floor maybe four to six times?

We did some food shopping and then had to decide what my sister wanted to eat for breakfast. We were both keen for Grill'd but their mini burgers are 7.50 and they don't allow adults to buy children's meals. Not that it mattered cause she is a vegetarian. We ended up drifting away since my sister is a cheap uni student and I'm just cheap. We went to KOFOO in the main food court area instead.

KOFOO stands for Korean Food and apparently its modern Korean food that young Korean people like to eat. Or something, I'm trying to remember what I read from the brochure. The website is in Korean, even the English language side is in Korean which is very uh, unique. I dunno, I never seem to pick good Korean food whenever I go to Korean places. I've been to Maru, Madtongsan and some dodgy korean bbq place and still don't like the cuisine very much.

 I really do want to like it but I just don't. I remember David Chang, Korean awesomechef extraordinare of NY's Momofuku, saying that Korean food was all about preserving food for the long winter and rich, warming foods that made you happy and sleepy. That sounds right up my alley! I love winter! I love the cold weather. The wearing of big fat coats that make everyone look fat. The seeking of comfort foods. The socially acceptable fat gain of winter. Oh and the awesome winter produce, spinach! Fuji apples! Granny smith apples! Rhubarb! Broccoli! Cauliflower! Winter strawberries in Australia! Fuck yeah I love pickles! And yet I dislike Korean food!

My sister chose the vegetarian bibimpap and I chose . . . something rice cakes, fish cakes and a fluro red sauce. I can't remember what it was called, it was number 28 in the menu. Possibly ddukbokki according to my googlefu skills.

 Needless to say I hate it. I was disappointed with the small serving size. My paper bowl was filled halfway and that's so visually appealing, oh here comes my meal, it barely reaches the middle of the bowl? Isn't there smaller bowls for that so it at least looks like you're not being stingy? The rice cakes were mediocre. I can't complain, but they didn't have that slurpy, meltingly soft texture that Vietnamese banh trang or Japanese udon have, that almost raw gooey texture that dissolves with a harsh look or poke of the cutlery.

Instead these little radiation rods appeared all throughout my fluro red sauce of gochujang chilli paste. There were three lonesome paper thin slices of a fish take that tasted resoundingly of tofu that had had ice crystals appear and caused bloody huge holes in them. The gochujang sauce was spicy, as if the colour isn't indicative enough. I'd like to say I can tolerate a bit of a heat, I'm a solid medium for all cuisines, but this chilli paste made me reach for tissues, my all berry bang smoothie and try and ignore the burn that I was enduring. My face is scowling as I recall it. It also was super sweet, super weird.

Vegetarian Bibimbap

My sister's meal. I was really curious as to how they would approach this, since all the bibimbap we've had has been the dolsot bibimbap variety which is traditionally done in a super heated heavy stoneware bowl. Its so hot, no one would willingly touch it due to impending burns. However this heated bowl is sneakily coated with sesame oil, which serves to crisp and sizzle the ingredients creating a terrific crunchy rice crust and also cooking any ingredients that are raw.

I dunno it looked okay, but how hard is it to put rice in a bowl and pinwheel vegetables? My sister is notoriously lazy though, so that explain things. The gochujang sauce was hiding under the egg, you can see it in the corner. She is also OCD, so she ate each ingredient one by one, pretty much ruining the point of bibimbap. I'm pretty sure she was overwhelmed by the gochujang spiciness though, cause she drank her grapefruit green tea faster than I did for once.

She also received a complimentary broth. I'm not really sure what it was. It was clear and tasted like standard stock, she didn't ask. Probably because it would destroy her vegan powers if she did.

This was the damage. 14 bucks for the pair of us and half the food left over. This place was terrible, I wouldn't eat here even if a friend shouted me to lunch. Clean, a terrible menu of stuff that all seemed to look the same, terrible terrible food but friendly service and prompt delivery. 2/10?

Terrible. I suppose this is what happens when you're new to the whole blogging business = /. I'll try harder next time to take more photos! And decide on a cooler nickname for people!