SEOUL 1946 ROASTERY
Cuisine: Korean
Address: 27 Barry’s Point Rd, Takapuna
Reservations: Not accepted
Drinks: Not licensed
From the menu: Kimchi fried rice $23; chi bap $24; tteokbokki $20; tuna rice balls $10; fried dumplings $15; frozen yoghurt $27.50
This restaurant is unlike any other and, though I can’t recommend
You’ll find it on Barry’s Point Rd, Auckland’s most comically named street [Note: since this review was published, a North Shore-based reader has been in touch to let me know that the name “Barry’s Point Road” is in fact not at all comical. I regret the error.] The strip is mostly panelbeaters and other industrial oddities but then sandwiched between a thrift store and a pet food shop is Seoul 1946 Roastery, which the internet claimed was a Korean eatery but revealed little else.
Seoul is of course the capital of South Korea. What does the 1946 refer to? I still don’t know. But they do roast coffee beans here, which explains the last part. In fact, this is arguably more of a cafe than a restaurant when you add it all up: counter service, a caffeine-based beverage selection and no sign of a liquor licence yet.
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Advertise with NZME.The table set-up is also unique in Auckland. They have bench seats around the outside of the room, with very small, knee-high tables for putting your food on. In the centre of the room is a larger structure – long, low and wooden, which the waitress encouraged us to sit on with our food for an authentic experience. I’m not sure if we got it right as we all ended up perched on the edge facing outwards, with wallets, keys and phones piled up next to our soft drinks. But I enjoyed trying something a little different and it’s not the sort of place you stay long enough to worry about lower back support.
The menu is extraordinarily appealing: mostly rice-based comfort food with optional add-ons and plenty of kimchi and chicken. They don’t serve the massive platters you get in some Korean bar/restaurants but the dishes are substantial – one main each plus a side or two will be plenty.
Each dish has a short description on the menu, and after supplementing these with even shorter descriptions from the nice woman at the counter I tentatively made my order. Without booze there’s not much to do but look around the room and wait for your food to arrive, though I did try to make a bit of chit-chat with the server.
“So this … used to be a coffee factory?” I asked her.
“It still is,” she said. “I think that’s the coffee roaster there.”
I turned around expecting to see a handsome young man in an apron but in fact she was pointing to a steel machine the size of a small car, dominating the centre of the dining room. If it isn’t for roasting coffee they should really find out what it’s doing there.
Presently the food began to arrive.
“We’ve given you a larger portion because this is your first time,” she said as she put down the first dish. “Please all give us your honest review!”
“Oh she’ll be getting an honest review all right,” said my 11-year-old daughter, who is old enough to know what my job is but not yet old enough to be normal about it. “She’ll be getting a reeeeally honest review.”
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The dish came with a plastic glove, which we were told should be used to pick up the mixture – rice, tuna, nori, corn, pickle, mayo – and mould it into balls. If there is not yet a Korean reality show where they film people doing this for the first time, there should be. Our balls ended up far from spherical and we got covered in everything, but it tasted good – the sort of simple and more-ish food you’d order for a toddler’s first restaurant visit. The whole dish cost just $10.
I’ve eaten plenty of bibimbap but this was my first time ordering chi bap, an equally delicious mix-and-munch combo of rice, slaw-style salad, scrambled egg and sweet chilli-glazed fried chicken. It was finished with big squiggles of barbecue sauce and mayonnaise and was just unbelievably good comfort eating.
My other favourite was the fried rice (yes I know I ordered way too much rice, I got nervous and choked under pressure at the counter, okay?), moulded into a dome with a fried egg on top. I’ve struggled to find a good fried rice recently – Thai or Cantonese, fancy or cheap, it never seems to hit the spot. But this one is wonderful – stained red with kimchi and studded with morsels of ham, it’s the sort of dish you can’t stop piling onto your plate.
We meant to leave room for their signature dessert but were pretty full when it arrived – and it is huge. I blanched a bit at the price – almost $30 – but it’s a work of art, and I reckon would easily serve four of you. Centred around a mountain of frozen yoghurt, it’s heaped with different textures and toppings: red bean paste, mochi rice cakes, chocolate chips, brownies and, are those … cornflakes?? For the right group, this will be the ultimate dessert. We boxed it up and are still nibbling at it days later.
This would be a great place for North Shore teenagers catching up over interesting food, or perhaps for a family who loved their South Korean holiday and want to experience something similar here. It seems to be open all day and may work even better at lunch, when the big front window and outdoor area will make this an appealing oasis in a greasy part of town.
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