Trevor Pepys reviews Haru Asian Kitchen
While I can’t say that Korean has always been Trevor’s go-to port of call when it comes to the delights of Asian food, there are some fond, if a little vague, memories of those wickedly aromatic sizzling concoctions being wheeled out from the kitchen into the vast and sparsely furnished barns that seemed to constitute most of the first wave of Korean restaurants in our cities.
Well, at least the one where Trevor toiled Monday to Friday in his near-forgotten youth, and although we lunched fairly heartily most days, we welcomed the start of the weekend at one on Fridays by marching out of the office and into a rowdy restaurant, there to remain until buttons popped and vows were broken and, yes, we all drove home. A favoured venue for these Friday debauches was the Korean BBQ joint in Dixon Street, Chinatown, a part of town where political differences were sorted in the alley, not front of house or in the kitchen, except maybe sometimes.
Anyway, we all liked the Korean because the tucker was pretty good and it was so noisy that the people at the next long table couldn’t hear us swearing. And the beer was cold and the tallies kept coming.
So the other night when the missus flat-out refuses to cook him dinner, Trevor huffs and puffs his way to the Junction and beats a surly path up Arcadia Walk, looking for something spontaneous and cheap. Like you’re going to find that in Noosa these days. “What about that one?” says she who will not obey. It’s the Haru Asian Kitchen (aka Korean Kitchen), which Trevor had previously noted but not got around to visiting in the several years it’s been operating in what has become the Junction’s cool eat street.
There are a couple of empty tables, the food smells from the pavement are promising, and Trev suddenly recalls those hazy, naughty Fridays long ago, and reasons that a hit of Korean comfort food might snap him out of his foul mood.
It sort of does, but not before he chucks a bit of a wobbly while looking at the limited wine list, which starts at $39, which is, I concede, better than the $50 plus of some other places reviewed here recently. I won’t revisit my ongoing campaign for the return of house wines, other than to say that Haru is the kind of place that should have one at $30 or less. It doesn’t, so Trev dug deep for the Continental Platter Pinot Grigio ($39) from the Mornington Peninsula, and found it a reasonable quaffer.
By the time we order, the place has filled with holidaying family groups, laughing kids, doting parents who seem oblivious to the decibel output of their brood. But there he goes again, old whining Trev, shutup and eat your dinner because here it comes.
The missus insists on the beef bibimpap ($25) because of its low chilli rating, Trev opts for the super-charged spicy pork bulgogi ($23). We’re supposed to share, but she finds the bulgogi too hot to go on with, so Trev eats all of that and half the bibimpap, which is more or less a nasi goreng with the egg whipped in rather than sitting on top, but the beef strips are tender and tasty and lift the dish above the ordinary.
Trev’s bulgogi is the star of the evening, a scintillating stir-fry of succulent marinated pork with genuine spice flavours, served with excellent black wild rice. This was a Korean dish to bring a tear to the eye, and not just because of the spice. If this is standard at Haru, no wonder the place was full.
The verdict: Simple d¨¦cor, friendly service, a basic menu that delivers. Trev will return.
Haru Asian Kitchen, 2B Arcadia Walk, Noosa Junction. Bookings 5447 2249.
