Patbingsoo

What a delightful find in South Melbourne. This place certainly holds its own when compared to the many good Korean restaurants in Melbourne. This was our first visit and we cannot wait to go back. We had:

Galbi beef rib bibimbap - marinated beef short rib, sautéed zucchini, kimchi, kale, bean shoots, toasted seaweed on Korean rice. It was a modern looking bibimbap, everything worked well together and the short rib was tender and delicious.

Korean fried chicken - chicken pieces coated and crisped with spicy sauce and daikon kimchi. Mixture of chicken ribs and wingettes. Very well cooked but wish there was more sauce and the batter was a little heavy. Still, a good sharing dish.

Green tea bingsoo- soft rice cake on sweet red bean with green tea snowflake. The snow ice machine is excellent as the texture throughout the bingsoo was good. Light green tea flavour mixed with the homemade red bean lifted this humble dessert.

Raspberry kombucha - a raw fermented chilled tea, full of natural probiotics and immune boosting benefits. Interesting drink, slightly tangy not unlike an apple vinegar drink with a slight effervescence.

Service: :star :star :star :star :star:

Quality of food: :star :star :star :star ½
Value for money: :star :star :star :star 

Type of venue: Modern Korean

Worth a return visit? Yes. 

Address: 128 York Street, South Melbourne VIC 3205

Ayam Penyet Ria

Simple but delicious Indonesian fare in South Melbourne.

We had just come back from a holiday in Bali and discovered this place by chance and have been back here multiple times. It is definitely the best Indonesian restaurant in Melbourne as we have tried a few different ones in the CBD and also in South Melbourne and South Yarra.

Ria serves simple food options that are quite reasonable. Favourites include the smashed chicken or beef ribs, soto ayam or gado gado. Rice can be added as an optional extra for $2 and the sambal that comes with it is quite spicy but so good you just want more of it. The food photo is of the smashed ribs with rice. The ribs are twice cooked and are very delicious.

The counter next to the cashier also sometimes has plastic containers of little sweet or savoury goodies available for sale.

Only downer would be the limited seating so when it gets busy it can be hard to get a table. The upstairs seating is not recommended as it is dirty and not well ventilated.

Service: :star :star :star  (self service)
Quality of food: :star :star :star :star :star
Value for money: :star :star :star :star :star

Type of venue: Casual,  Indonesian

Worth a return visit? Yes.

Address: 248 Clarendon Street, South Melbourne VIC 3205