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Save<\/p>\nHelp yourself to Korean fried chicken, tteokbokki and chewy purple rice at this no-frills canteen run by a 67-year-old auntie.<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n I first heard about Kood from a colleague at my last job. She told me about the fried chicken, how crisp and juicy it was. The pork, with its fermented chilli kick, and the bulgogi, garlicky and charry-sweet. It\u2019s self-serve, she said, and you can get a mountain of food for just $16. <\/p>\n Word of mouth is one of the few ways you hear about a place like Kood. It\u2019s tucked away on a quiet stretch of Elizabeth Street near Central Station, and even though it\u2019s been open since 2023 it doesn\u2019t have a website or social media, you can\u2019t book a table on SevenRooms and you won\u2019t find it on UberEats. <\/p>\n The restaurant is owned by Mary Lee, a 67-year-old Korean auntie who cooks jipbap, home-style Korean food \u2013 the kind you\u2019d eat at someone\u2019s house rather than at a restaurant or bar. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t make restaurant food,\u201d Lee says. \u201cThis is home food \u2013 food from the heart.\u201d That means a bowl of rice, one or two meat dishes and five or more banchan, the small vegetable sides that come with almost every Korean meal. The recipes are her mother\u2019s, from the family meals they shared together in Seoul.<\/p>\n Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox.<\/p>\n Sign up<\/a><\/p>\n Just before midday each day a keen lunch-hour crowd assembles at the front of the shop, where bubbling electric frying pans are lined up to form a makeshift hot bar. Lee\u2019s close friend Monica Yang is sometimes on hand to help dish out the food (just point to what you want) but on the days she\u2019s on her own, diners serve themselves. <\/p>\n There\u2019s jeyuk bokkeum, spicy pork made from belly and neck, punched up with hot, pungent gochujang and sweetened with pear. Chicken drumsticks come three ways \u2013 glazed in sesame and soy, or dredged in corn starch and twice-fried until bubbled and crisp, served with or without the shellac of sticky chilli sauce. You\u2019ll want a piece of all three. <\/p>\n The banchan buffet includes up to 10 choices, ranging from kimchi, made fresh on napa cabbage, cucumber and daikon radish so it\u2019s light, hot and not too sour, to sauteed morning glory and sesame-tossed bean sprouts. Load up on the japchae, a springy tangle of sweet potato glass noodles, threaded with capsicum and wood ear mushrooms. If given a choice, ask for the purple rice, a mix of black and brown grains that\u2019s nutty with a nice chew.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the daily line-up but sometimes there are specials. Tteokbokki, slippery rice cakes simmered in a red chilli broth, and andong jjimdak, chicken braised in ganjang (Korean soy sauce). <\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve stacked up your plate, help yourself to a glass of cold barley tea and try and find a seat. \u201cWe do free tea and free miso soup, like you\u2019d give to family,\u201d Lee says.<\/p>\n By 2pm the pans are scraped clean and the shop has emptied. Dishes can sometimes sell out early since Lee is limited to how much food she can prepare in the mornings. \u201cI\u2019m old, so I can\u2019t make a lot of food. I just make what I can,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n The restaurant is tiny, with the entire kitchen on display and just a handful of tables squeezed between bookshelves and Lee\u2019s desk, which is taken over by boxes of cooking sake and seaweed sheets.<\/p>\n When the rush is over, Lee sits back at her desk and starts rolling Korean triangular sushi and packing lunch sets, both of which she supplies to Thai Kee IGA in Haymarket, where you can pick up her packaged meals to eat at home. <\/p>\n But there\u2019s something special about the restaurant itself, which feels less like dining out and more like visiting your grandmother\u2019s house. Get there early. Try everything. And if you love it like I do, tell someone about it, too. <\/p>\n Three more under-the-radar spots in Surry Hills<\/p>\n Beta<\/p>\n This high-tech coffee bar by award-winning barista Chris Maybury is a testing ground for fully automated coffee, made using pre-batched espresso and machine-steamed milk.\u00a0<\/p>\n 76 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills, betacoffee.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n Aamare<\/p>\n If a Coco Pops latte isn\u2019t your idea of breakfast, this cafe also does New York-style bagels, soba noodle salads and porchetta panini, which comes in a half size portion if you\u2019re not that hungry.<\/p>\n 407 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills, aamare.square.site<\/a><\/p>\n Mado Matcha<\/p>\n Co-owner Emily Hansen sources first\u2011harvest matcha from Shizuoka in Japan and whisks each drink to order. Get it classic, sweetened with floral Earl Grey syrup, or topped with cheese foam.<\/p>\n 414 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills, instagram.com\/madomatcha.brew<\/a><\/p>\n Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can\u2019t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Owner](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0f03ab9d601a06dba8152d0db50496ae52e4b207.jpeg\")
Owner Mary Lee cooks the food each morning. Dion Georgopoulos<\/p>\n![\"Electric](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/18fe30b2bd2afdade2ea364a164d7bee8caec1ef.jpeg\")
Electric frying pans keep the food hot. Dion Georgopoulos<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/283aba162e008be28c9a087b0781c56ec939bb4e.jpeg\")
The bento box. Dion Georgopoulos<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/cb53425924ea1ad50cea68fb5af1e5fd08d52819.jpeg\")
The lunchtime rush lasts from noon to 2pm.Dion Georgopoulos<\/p>\n
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