Korean Cooking SchoolKorean Cultural Office
255 Elizabeth St
Sydney
We haven't eaten at a lot of Korean restaurants but last year we were invited to a Korean Banquet arranged by the Korean Cultural Office and we got to see and taste the real deal - and loved it. Well we were invited back again - this time to experience the Korean Cooking School they run there under the watchful eyes of Chef Jay Lee who's pedigree is so impressive - having worked at Tetsuya's, est. and Sokyo and he was also the first Korean to be an Australian Young Chef finalist. Classes here are small and intimate with only six people in each session. Jay is not only an impressive chef he's an entertaining guy as well - we loved his stories as much as we loved the food!
The chilli pork was an amazing dish. Mlady isn't a huge fan of pork but she loved this dish. I had to agree as it was my dish of the night - and so easy to prepare as well (at least it looked easy as Jay did it all). This is one we're definitely going to have at home.
The sweet potato noodle salad was a lovely dish. Neither of us had ever tried sweet potato noodles before.
They are extremely hard before being cooked - I tried to bite through one and failed miserably!
Nevertheless once cooked and combined with all the delicious ingredients Jay had there, it was very tasty.
It was Mlady's equal favourite dish of the night, surprisingly being equal with the pork!
Whilst it was basically beef rib, potato and carrot the cooking process and the extras added while cooking moved this from a good dish to a great one.
We also had a selection of kimchi that Jay had prepared earlier. Kimchi is a selection of fermented vegetables that are served as side dishes with Korean food. These were great but my favourite was the fermented mulberry leaves as I grew up with a mulberry tree in my parents backyard and never knew the leaves could be eaten by anything other than silkworms! The stuffed zucchini was a favourite of most of the other people in our group.
Our other main dish was seaweed soup which combined seaweed, thinly sliced beef and sauces into another lovely dish - but still not as good as the pork (sorry Jay!).
We really enjoyed our visit to the Korean Cooking School. It's right in the middle of the CBD so it's easy to get to from anywhere in Sydney and it goes for 2 hours which of course includes eating what is made! Jay Lee, apart from being a fine young chef, is also extremely entertaining! This guy would be a huge success on TV with his personality and stories! (Please note we want a commission if this happens now!!!).
Big thanks to Jay Lee for a fun and delicious evening. Thanks also to Jason (from Quay) and Shirley who assisted him. Special thanks to Irene - Cultural Event and Media Relations Manager at the Korean Cultural Office for inviting us.
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| Shirley, Jason and Jay Lee |