Autumn Menu Launch
Jung Sung Contemporary Korean
Chippendale
❤️ I was so lucky to be invited by to Jung Sung’s Autumn menu launch. Launching this Thursday 10th March 2022, I am so grateful I was one of the first to try this amazing menu.
👀 Located at Kensington St in Chippendale on Level 3 of “The Old Rum Store” just a 12 min walk from Central station. We took the lift up and the door opened up to an industrial vibe restaurant styled with black furniture, black woodgrain tables and a concrete bar. In Korean, Jung Sung means sincerity or true heart.
💥 The exclusive preview of the menu was for a selective group of food content creators there were only 8 tables of us. We were treated to the 6-course degustation that puts a twist on traditional Korean food with a native Australian touch.
🍷 We tried a range of drinks including Korean Premium Soju paddle including Hwayo Soju 17% / Bokbunja (Raspberry Wine) Lee Gang Ju / Plum Wine / Seoul Night / Ginseng wine, which was so fun I loved the ‘wine’ sojus, such a great value for $38. I also had a ‘Curvy Bae’ cocktail which was a Hwayo Soju / Dry Vermouth / Korean Pear Syrup / Sparkling wine / Fresh Lemon super refreshing and lovely. Mojito and Kloud (beer) for Tim, he said the beer was good!!
🍝 Now onto the what we are all here for…the food. To start was an Amuse Bouche, any restaurant that sends out an Amuse Bouche gets big, big points. It starts the menu off with in such a good space and sets the tone of what we are in for the rest of the menu. To start we had the Puffed Pasta with mashed potato and herbed butter. This was a crunchy delight with a soft, mashy taste on top. It was the pop of crunch we needed to start the menu.
Alongside was the Seared scallops with parmesan, mushroom, tomato water and herb oil. The raw slice of mushroom was a bit random and kind of ruined the consistency of the dish but the scallop itself was so fresh paired with the herb oil and tomato water.
🍣 We were excited to officially start the degustation, the waitress would laugh with us because we were SO excited at every dish. Kingfish sashimi with citrus soy sauce, horseradish, garlic shoot, apple discs and wasabi leaves. We were given chopsticks as an option to eat this and thank goodness because it felt wrong to use anything else. The pieces of kingfish were so thick and generous, paired with the freshness of the horseradish and apple discs was that burst of fruit/veggie needed. This was Tim’s favourite dish of the night!
👾 Next up was my favourite dish of the day Moreton Bay Bugs Two Ways. One: Deconstructed Bibimbap soy marinated bug, puffed quinoa, buckwheat, egg yolk, egg white, white onion and homemade sesame oil. Two: brown butter poached with crustacean jus and gochujang aioli. The presentation of this dish was perfect, the hot poached bug was infront of us and then on an elevated table was the cold bibimbap with an interactive element of the homemade sesame oil to pour on yourself. I love bug, more than lobster I love bug, so I was so excited for this dish and it exceeded my expectations. We ate the warm brown butter poached bug first, it melted in my mouth and there were a few generous bites I didn’t want the dish to end. The crustacean jus just took it to the next level, it didn’t even need the gochujang aioli, but that’s what makes it Korean so I understand it. Onto the crunchy bibimbap each element of this dish was amazing, Tim mixed his all up and I wanted to try each element separately first. Each element complimented each other so well and it was so enjoyable to eat.
🐟 The Catch of the Day for us was the Hapuka charcoal grilled, braised radish, Jerusalem artichoke, pork skin. So spoilt with the fish dishes today and I love me some fish. This was beautifully cooked and the pork skin on top brought the salt as it wasn’t an overly salty dish.
🦆Next up was mains and we had one of each but we shared of course, 10 days dry aged Aylesbury duck tomato gochujang, butternut pumpkin, black garlic, perilla, tangerine honey. Three pieces of perfect duck breast and the leg was perfectly cooked, the sauces were nice and the pumpkin as a side isn’t normally paired with duck but was delicious.
🥩 Look at that juicy, juicy steak. MB9+ Wagyu Beef, 10 years old soy, brown rice vinegar, grilled artichoke topped with shaved hazelnut, Bulgogi with rosemary stick and carrot purée. Absolutely spoiled!! This highly rated wagyu melted in my mouth, it was cooked to perfection and I closed my eyes when I ate it. That’s how good it was. The cute little rosemary handled bulgogi used the same beef minced, it was so delicious. The little artichoke with shaved hazelnut onto of a pool of the soy sauce was so soft and a perfect side. The carrot puree with the nasturtium leaves was such a nice accompaniment to eat with the steak, it had a strong carrot flavour and the puree was so bright orange it gave that pop of colour to the plate.
There two mains also came with the KBBQ style sides like lettuce leaves, gochujang cauliflower and kimchi, so you could eat it traditionally.
🌽 Now time for perhaps the most famous dish from Jung Sung, I had always been intrigued and I was about to experience it. Sweet Corn mousse, sweet corn custard, fresh kiwi, coconut flakes, soy sauce caramelized pistachio. So it is a mousse!! I have always looked at that dish thinking it looked like corn but it also looked sweet. We spooned into the mousse and it tasted sweet and fresh with a hint of corn flavour. It was a thick mousse with dense layers inside. On a bed of coconut flakes and fresh kiwi with caramelised pistachio, this crunchy base was such a nice texture alongside the smoothness of the mousse.
🍯 Tasmanian Honey & Walnut Fig, yuja, native fingerlime. The honey was in the form of ice cream with a walnut mousse. We opened the ‘honey pot’ to a fresh, sweet dessert. The fresh figs were absolutely delicious drenched in the mousse. The Yuja is a Korean citron tea and brought the dish all together. We also found chunks of honeycomb throughout the pot. I love finger lime so to top with this dessert caviar was beautiful.
✨ When you come to Jung Sung, I would recommend doing the 6 course degustation, if I had missed out on that Moreton Bay bug dish I would have been devastated.
💁🏼♀️The service was exceptional, big thank you to the staff at Jung Sung, you are all amazing. Thank you to the girls at the best agency in the industry Salt Sydney. <3
