Korean Food Archives - One Piece Left

We were recently invited by Little Oscar to come check out their restaurant and were of course delighted and accepted! Thank you again Little Oscar for the awesome food and great hospitality, let’s get straight into it!

Little Oscar is very new and only opened a couple of months ago in Brunswick, specialising in Korean-American fusion. Yes, you heard right! Our interest was piqued, and boy were we pleased!

We loved the layout of the place as soon as we entered. From the rustic bricks, modern wooden decor and ropes woven throughout the restaurant, to the live band that was performing; it had a really chilled out vibe about it.

Our waitress was super friendly, talked us through the menu and took our orders. The food also came out really fast. We ended up ordering the Little Oscar Burgers, which consisted of a wagyu beef patty, cheese, lettuce, onion jam, pickles, tomato and their Little Oscar sauce, the Gangnam Style was the Korean influenced burger with fried chicken, Asian slaw, kimchi and roasted sesame seeds. Both were mini burgers and served in lots of two. They were both really nice, the wagyu beef patty was well flavoured but the fried chicken burger stood out for us. They do their chicken exceptionally well, crispy on the outside whilst soft and moist on the inside.

So of course we had to get their popular KFC (Korean fried chicken) which was sooo good! Again it was crispy and moist but the flavours of the seasoning was just spot on too. It wasn’t overly salty or sweet so we could devour heaps of it. We also got their Little Oscar’s battered onion rings with their special chilli creamy sauce. They were probably the best onion rings we’ve ever had! They were freshly deep fried and so crispy and flavoured, we couldn’t stop eating them! To complement the mains, we ordered the sweet wekame (seaweed) and organic silken tofu salad which provided a healthy acidic touch to our meal. Tofu was silky and textured.

Finally for dessert we ordered the Hwarang which had sweet wekame seaweed and sesame jelly with mango, coconut ice cream with pomegranate and desiccated coconut. Again it didn’t disappoint and we scoffed this dish up pretty quickly! The combination of fresh fruit and sweetness was perfect.

Overall we were really happy with the food, service and vibe and would highly recommend this place to anyone. Staff were so nice and Lorance in particular was so great and informative to chat to. Little Oscar is a young but upcoming place to eat good food, drink and chill. They’ve got all the core elements in place to make a successful place blossom and we have no doubt they will do well!

Little Oscar
Approx $25 AUD per person
Website: www.littleoscar.com.au
Address: 41 Lygon Street, Brunswick VIC 3056
Phone: +61 3 8383 3165

Last weekend we were hungry but we were feeling too lazy to travel far for a good feed. So while we were driving aimlessly and naturally heading towards the city, we suddenly thought of the travel cooking show we watched earlier on South Korea and had a sudden urge for Korean food. So we turned off into Carnegie knowing there would be a few options there. Mrs Kim’s Grill stood out as a bright modern place amongst the other restaurants so we were naturally drawn to it. I discovered that it had only opened in 2013 by a Korean migrant who has been using traditional methods of marinating meat and who has been wanting to share her traditional food with everyone. She started off marinating meats for events and BBQs and when she gained a loyal, regular stream of customers, decided to open her own restaurant.

The interior was also furnished with modern decor and it looked really clean and spacious inside. We were seated upstairs and handed nice modern looking menus to peruse. The first thought that popped to mind was that prices were quite reasonable for Korean BBQ compared to others we’ve been to, particularly in the CBD. They have the a la carte menu where you can pick from a range of Mrs Kim’s marinated meats, or you can also choose from their set menu options where you pick the meat of your liking and it is served with a salad, soup of the day, butter vegie parcel and rice. Each set menu is $39 and is for 2 people. We settled on the Moo set which consisted of the marinated Gaibi beef ribs (350g) and skirt steak (250g). We also ordered an extra serving of the chilli marinated chicken (200g). Of course we can’t forget the unlimited complimentary side dishes that always comes with Korean food.

The staff were very efficient, fast and friendly. They brought out the BBQ equipment and cuts of meat pretty fast and started cooking and cutting the meats for us. The side dishes particularly the kim chi was quite good and the rice was super moist. But the highlight was of course the meats. The meats were so nicely flavoured and SOFT! They practically melted in my mouth. I was quite impressed with the quality of the food and overall service. Not to mention the reasonable price for the quality that was served. I also like the story behind the opening of this restaurant so we’ll definitely be back when we have another craving for Korean!