Kimchi Hut

Kimchi Hut is a newly opened Korean restaurant on Coleman Parade in Glen Waverely. It is next to the La Porchetta which you can see from Springvale road. Korea Gardens in Clayton used to be my bench mark for good cheap Korean food in the suburbs. But after eating at Kimchi Hut twice and trying 13 dishes, I have to say that Kimchi Hut are now my favourite.

The first time I went there with a group of 10 friends. We ordered a lot of our usual favourite dishes off the menu. We got things such as Beef Bulgogi, Spicy Pork, Jap Chae, Rice Cake with Spicy Sauce, Seafood Hot Pot, Bi Bim Bap, Seafood Platter BBQ, Seafood Pancakes etc.

All these dishes were done extremely well. You can judge how good a Korean restaurant is from their Beef Bulgogi. If they can't do that classical Korean dish well, then there's not much hope for everything else. The good thing about Kimchi Hut is that their traditional dishes do not taste like every other Korean restaurants. The sauces on all their BBQ dishes tastes a lot better. Take the Seafood Platter BBQ dish as an example. The sauce isn't just spicy and that's it. There was a hint of other flavours that lifted the dish.

They also have some other dishes like the Cold Noodles, Fried Sweet Chilli Chicken and Rice Cake with Spicy Sauce that not all places have. These dishes help to create more variety and choice.

The ambience and interior is good. The clean wooden tables are surrounded by posters of fresh produce that a friend said looked like it had been taken straight from Safeway. There is a huge LCD TV that broadcasts concert DVDs all the time. The noise levels do not get too high and you can hear your friends quite easily.

The service is ok, no worse than any other Korean restaurants. You do have to order the food clearly and its best to point to the dishes on the menu. The grasp of English of some of the wait staff is not fantastic.

Price wise, this place is even better than Korea Gardens, which is a feat in itself. You get a free bowl of rice with every dish, which is very good. It worked out to well under $30 the first time, which included desserts and lots of drinks. The second time, it only cost an ultra cheap $11 since we had free tea.

Overall Rating: 15/20, Food is very good and prices sensational.

Scores: 1-9: Unacceptable, don't bother. 10-11: Just OK,some shortcomings. 12: Fair. 13: Getting there. 14: Recommended. 15: Good. 16: Really good. 17: Truly excellent. 18: An outstanding experience. 19-20: Approaching perfection, Victoria's best.