Some friends and I had dinner at Rogane Chimac, a small Korean restaurant in Dickson. I have walked past Rogane Chimac countless times and was happy to finally dine in on a cold night. There were a few people already dining in, and by the look of it, they were all Korean which canโt be a bad thing.
The menu was quite extensive with so many dishes I wanted to try and Korean drinks Iโd never heard about. We decided to share a vegetable and kimchi shallot pancake ($15) which was the size of a small pizza. It was slightly crispy on the outside, filled with mainly onion, carrot, cabbage and scallions. It quickly became very greasy from all of the oil and I couldn’t taste any kimchi either. Perhaps a better choice would have been the seafood and kimchi pancake.
One of my friends suggested we share some Korean fried chicken and I was quick to agree. There were five types of fried chicken available โ original, sweet and spicy, sweet soy, chilli, and ‘snowing cheese’ which could be ordered on the bone or boneless, in either a half portion or full portion. We were going to order two half portions so we could try two different flavours, but after seeing the size of the shallot pancake, we quickly changed the order to just one half portion of the boneless ‘snowing cheeseโ fried chicken ($21). The interesting name was the main reason for ordering โ we all needed to find out whatย snowing cheese represented. Boneless chicken is only an extra $1-2 which is good value if you donโt want to pick out the meat from the bones. The fried chicken was completely covered in a dusting of this โsnowing cheeseโ fine powder so it really was appropriately named. The snow was cheesy and salty, kind of like cheezels, and we all LOVED it. I wasnโt sure what to expect but cheese snow on fried chicken was a winner. The chicken was perfectly crunchy on the outside yet juicy on the inside. The half portion was large enough for us all to pick at, with enough for leftovers to take home.
We also each ordered our own mains. It was a cold night so I knew I wanted soup. As I love beef bulgogi, I took a chance on the bulgogi soup ($17). The soup bowls and soup itself was super hot. I found that ladling out the beef, vegetables and potato vermicelli into a separate bowl helped in cooling it down so I wasnโt constantly burning my mouth. The sweet soy based soup tasted exactly like a beef bulgogi and I loved eating it with rice to soak it all up. I found that the soup on its own was too sweet after a few mouthfuls and wished Iโd asked for a bit more rice.
A friend ordered the mal geun dak gae man du guk ($18) a clear chicken soup with seafood stuffed dumplings, vegetables and a beaten egg that was on the specials menu. His only complaint was that the three dumplings were too big and very filling (challenge accepted!).
The menu stated that all soups come with rice and sides. The confusing part of this is that our sides and one bowl of rice were placed in the middle of the table before any of the mains arrived with only one bowl of rice, though two of us had ordered soups. I should have clarified with the staff but we were all happy to just share amongst the table.
Another friend ordered the beef bibimbap ($20) – a giant bowl filled with lots of steamed rice and condiments. Pretty good value considering the size.
Another friend ordered the vegetable bul jap chae ($15) served with hot chilli sauce, where you pick the spiciness level on a scale of 0 โ 5. The serve was quite small compared to the other dishes but he enjoyed the dish.
Tap water was provided as soon as we sat down and staff came to take our orders quickly though we needed a bit more time to go through the menu. Our hot food arrived quickly. The atmosphere was pleasant with tables of quiet diners. We were all keen to go back to try more Korean fried chicken in other sauces, and other items from the menu.
Rogane Chimac
4/67-68 Dickson Plaza, Woolley Street, Dickson ACT
Opening hours:
Monday to Saturday: 11.30am – 2.30pm; and 5pm – 9pm
Foodgasm 7.5/10
Value for money 6.5/10
Service 8.5/10
FPJ score 22.5/30
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