What a beautiful sunny day today was! Big fluffy clouds everywhere, azure blue skies, and surprisingly I'm in a very good state despite waking up at 6 am.
After going to the hospital for my research, I went to my friend Mina's house to help out with her moving. I had my mom's huge 4WD so quite a lot of boxes fit in it. It was already near noon when I arrived at her house and my last meal was at 6:30 am - waaaaay too early for me to be up. My stomach soon started giving warning signals "FEED ME!".
So, off we went to Strathfield to have some yummy Korean food.
We went to Homemade Noodles next to Strathfield station. It's a tiny but cozy place. Quite popular among the Koreans, people even come by themselves to have a quick meal and lines can get pretty long during mealtimes. It has an old but authentic feel to it, as all of the best eateries in Korea look. Normally if you're travelling in Asia, the best places to eat have been either there for a very long time or passed on from generations, preserving the authentic flavour of Korean food. None of that Westernized stuff.
Everything on the menu is $10. The menu here is different to normal Korean restaurants you see around Strathfield or the CBD area. Even if you're a fond fan of the Korean BBQ and bibimbaps, the dishes here will still be unfamiliar. These dishes are 'true' Korean dishes, at home dishes that Koreans generally crave.
Their signature dish is the kalgooksu, or noodle soup. The stock is brewed from seafood - clams, seaweed and perhaps a bit anchovies. That's the traditional way to brew stock for Korean soups. This noodle can also be eaten in a funner 'sheet' form called soojaebi. If you want both, opt for the kaljaebi. It'll take forever to explain every dish so you'll just have to try for yourself!
Kimchi. The flavour will be different to normal kimchi they sell at Korean restaurants. This tastes fresher and has a cleaner aftertaste. I think this is made when needed, whereas normal kimchi needs to be fermented for a while.
My friend's dish, the yeolmu nengmyun. Nengmyun is a noodle dish soaked in cold broth made from beef stock. Yeolmu is a type of radish but it can also be made into a type of kimchi. Mixed together, these two create a wonderful blend of a cool and fresh dish. A lot of people eat nengmyun in the summer (as you can see by the ice floating in the soup) but it's really supposed to be eaten in winter to retain the energy in your body. Don't ask me how it works but it's an old belief that is still prevalent in the Korean society.
Yangpun bibimbap. I'm sure many of you will know what bibimbap is - a mixture of veggies, egg and rice. Healthy, simple but very delicious. This was one of the ways Koreans got rid of banchan (side dishes) by putting everything in a silver bowl and mixing it with chili paste and sesame oil. It brings the family closer together by sharing from this huge bowl.
The soup that accompanied my bibimbap. Normally this soup is used to make the broth in kalgooksu.
First you add the chili paste, then you mix. Easy peasy! I got full half way but I started digesting soon after so I finished it.
Unfortunately this restaurant is not on Urbanspoon and doesn't have a website so I couldn't add the Urbanspoon logo. But! It's really easy to find (located behind the bus stop), so give it a go if you feel like authentic Korean food!
And there's always room for dessert...
We went over to Moochi and ordered a mini each. Not my normal size but I had eaten past my limit and my stomach was bulging out. Nonetheless, I had to have dessert and Moochi was just around the corner! 
I tried the original this time with lots of granola. It's tangy and thicker than most froyos but it definitely tastes like yoghurt. Many people compare this place with Noggi at Macquarie Centre but their's is a lot smoother. I haven't had Noggi in a while so I can't really compare at the moment but so far, Moochi tops the froyo list.
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