Fusion fare can be a hit and miss but reviews for Moon Park have been mostly positive. I suppose when one half of the culinary couple is Korean and the other Australian, the fusion would be pretty authentic, would it not? Well, to find out what their food was like, we had to go to try it ourselves.
This was a while back so their current menu is a different one (apologies for the super delayed sharing of this meal).
While waiting for food to be served, we chilled over some choya and munched on some nuts...
First off was the cucumber kimchi with fresh nashi and perilla. XW being the cucumber freak, loved this dish. The kimchi, apparently, was the Korean half's grandmother's recipe.
When I saw the word "ddokbeokki" on the menu, I had to include it in our order. I know we are not on the streets of Korea but hey, nothing could go wrong with deep fried rice cakes with gochujang and peanuts. I could have two plates to myself!
Spanner crab and black garlic on seed biscuit was sized to be just right for one mouthful. I loved the combination of flavours, especially the biscuit.
There was a plate of Spanish breakfast kimbap, which we thought was nice. Not wow, awesome nice but just nice.
The bossam of pork belly, anchovy and pickled celery had us all scratching our heads wondering what all those different flavours put together would taste like. Verdict - amazing!
We were expecting actual broth to come with the chilled broth of bonito and mustard with cucumber and apple and so were not sure if this was it but it was... still happy with the presentation.
The beaksuk, which is the poached holmbrae chicken with turnip and pine nuts was tender and we liked the sauce that came with it.
There was also a side order of freshly shucked clair de lune oysters for them. Me, not a big fan of oysters.
The portion of the barbecue rangers valley beef flank, pear and pine leaves was considered big, we could not finish the whole plate even thought it was tasty and juicy.
The charred eggplant, mung bean jelly, zucchini namul and cured egg was absolutely delicious, especially for the eggplant lover in me.
The mubap, a bowlful of white and green rice with mussels, radishes, sweet corn and burnt butter was not only a feast for the eyes but also the tastebuds. This was so fragrant.
And I think our favourite was the simple, sinful but oh so yummy shrimp brined fried chicken with soy and syrup.
The iced sikhe, chrysanthemum and granny smith was a refreshing explosion of sour flavours, which we all gave the thumbs up to.
The meal was capped off with the Moon Pie, an adorable plate of prune, maesil marshmallow, white chocolate pudding and ginger jelly. While it took them some getting used to, I took to it immediately because of the ginger jelly.
34b Redfern Street, Redfern, NSW 2016, Australia
Tel: +61 2 9690 0111; E-mail: info@moon-park.com.au
Tuesday to Saturday 5:30pm to late
Sunday 12:00pm to 3:00pm
