Sydney Madang - Koreatown, Sydney

It's been very busy time at work for me at the moment.  Usually, I'm the one waiting around for Cheesecake Boy to finish work but lately it's been the other way around and being the thoughtful boyfriend that Cheesecake Boy is, he will come by my office and bring me treats to keep me going some days.  On one of these days, Cheesecake Boy came by to drop of some  much needed Haighs chocolate.  Luckily, it turned out to be a much earlier finish than expected so got to head home together.  However, Cheesecake Boy thought dinner out would be better than cooking at home that night.

This is how we ended up at Madang, which has been a favourite of ours for a while.  However, we hadn't been to Madang for a while, as the queues get really long here, if you don't get in early enough. This is surprising, as Madang is hidden from the street front,  the only indication of it's existence is the street front signage on Pitt Street.  You have to walk through an alley way to discover this secret, and the first time I took Cheesecake Boy here a few years ago, he thought I was taking him somewhere dodgy.  However, after his first visit, this place became his favourite Korean restaurant.

Street front signage

As Cheesecake Boy and I were walking down the alley, we were contemplating to go elsewhere if the wait was too long.  However, when we got to the entrance, much to our delight there was no need to wait and we knew that cravings of deep fried chicken were going to be satisfied tonight.

The entrance

Fellow diners

We have our favourites and it was hard to decide as we wanted them all, but the portion sides are massive and we always have a tendency to over order.  We settled on three dishes and the sides come  out swiftly.  The sides consist of shreds of fishcakes, seaweed salad, kimchi and honey potatoes.  Now, I am a bit fussy and most of the time I never get excited by the sides, except when honey potatoes come out, but they were a bit too soft this time.  Cheesecake Boy loves kimchi, but he's never a fan of the kimchi here.

The sides: fishcake, seaweed, kimchi and potatoes.

We ordered the tofu and seafood soup, as this is a favourite of mine but we have never tried it here before.  Unfortunately, it's not the best one that we have tried.  The soup went down like a packet soup, it tasted of  chilli and water and the soup base didn't complement the tofu and the overcooked seafood either.

Soft tofu and seafood soup, $13

The seafood pancake here takes me back to my uni days, when on Friday night's my uni pals and I would come here and order the large portion of this and eat the night away.  Cheesecake Boy and I ordered the entree size and it's huge.  The seafood pancake is still as good as we remembered.  The crunchy batter tasted so good with the balance of shallots and seafood.  The dipping sauce is a perfect match for this pancake, just wish there was always more sauce. 

Seafood and shallot Korean pancake, $12

Whenever, I use to have a chilli chicken cravings I would come here.  As the sauce is slightly sweet but then you get a chilli hit.  I have seen grown men sniffle due to the hit of the chilli oil used in this dish.  This time though, the crunchy chicken bits were sweeter than usual and we missed our chilli hit.  It was still nice and enjoyable but we still wanted that kick.

Deep fried chicken in spicy sour sauce, $26

Happily stuffed we decided that it was time to go.  As we left, we noticed that the early dinner wait is coming along, and it's only a Tuesday night.

We'll come back for our favourite Korean BBQ, next time when I dress accordingly, so I won't mope when my clothes smell.  However, we'll need to bring more people with us for our next visit,  as the servings here are generous.  It's really the only way you can eat a bit of all your Korean favourites here, or you may very well have to roll out of this place.  

Happy eating, Dumpling Girl.


Sydney Madang
371A Pitt Street
Sydney  NSW  2000
Ph: (02) 9264 7010