For a friend’s hens night, a bunch of us had dinner at Soju Girl. This Asian fusion restaurant and bar focuses on modern Korean, Thai and Japanese cuisine. I hadn’t been to Soju Girl since its renovations and was sad to see all the cool manga print on the walls were gone. I was happy to see that the manga wasn’t all gone and there’s still a lovely print on the menu covers.
Our table was in one of the side wings of the restaurant where there was a lot more room and plenty of lighting. There were 3 mocktails on offer and I chose The Healthy Option of lychee juice, peach juice, green tea sugar syrup and peach bitters ($12). I must say this is one of the best mocktails I’ve had! The sweet notes of lychee and peach were fresh, and not flavoured. I loved the entire mix.
The banquet was the easiest option at $43 per person. First out was the betel leaf of papaya, smoked trout and chilli cashew dressing. Vibrant colours, a decent portion of smoked trout, all with a tangy edge. Crunchy and fresh, this readied my taste buds for the rest of the banquet. One of my friends doesn’t like smoked trout so I got to have her portion too!
Next were the zucchini flowers with sticky rice, Korean pickle, tomato capsicum compote and soy mirin. This was a beautiful sight.
The zucchini flowers were huge and completely stuffed full with black sticky rice. Black sticky rice, or black glutinous rice, is sweeter than regular rice and commonly used in Asian desserts. It is also a wholegrain rice which made it less carby (to me anyway). It’s sweetness with the tart pickle, and tomato and capsicum compote provided a well balanced little package. I am absolutely in love with these. Fantastic flavour combination and it left me wanting more. I might go back and just order some zucchini flowers as my next meal. Seriously that good.
The eggplant pickle with goma sriracha paste and sesame crisps was another impressive sight. The eggplant came two ways – fried and pickled. I enjoyed dipped the oversized sesame crisps into the paste topped with the eggplant. These were crispy and flavoursome – a similar texture to prawn crackers. Another great vegetarian snack.
The handmade gyoza were plump and juicy with an appropriate thickness of dumpling skin. I was wishing for more of these but it seemed like there were about two per person.
The tuna futomaki, seaweed salad, sweet soy, wasabi emulsion was served as sushi, however these were lightly fried tempura-style providing crunch when bit into. I was impressed with this dish and the quality of the dark pink tuna sashimi. I loved the tempura around the sushi, not to mention the presentation was exquisite. A superb dish that I would order again.
The chicken katsu, honey and sprout kimchi, pineapple caramel was the last dish of the banquet served with bowls of steamed jasmine rice. The chicken breast was crispy with a well crumbed coating. The flavoursome dressing in the salad was sweet and filled with the strong flavours of Asia without being overpowering. There were very generous servings of katsu, half of what came out didn’t get eaten as we were all too full by then.
The $43 price tag is on the pricey side but for the quality and amount of food, I think it’s worth it. Service is professional and friendly. Our waiter took drinks orders, explained the concept behind Soju Girl to those that hadn’t dined there before and knew the dishes on the menu well. Dishes are meant to be shared, so the more people at your table, the better!
Soju Girl is open Tuesdays and Saturdays for dinner, and Wednesday to Friday for lunch and dinner. Bookings are recommended. It’s located in the Melbourne building on Northbourne Avenue in the city.
Foodgasm 9/10
Value for money 8/10
Service 9/10
FPJ score 26/30
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