Quick dinner @ Oppa Kitchen, Swanston Street Melbourne

A few days ago while walking along the ever bustling Swanston Street, we'd noticed a cool-looking new Korean restaurant spring up. The next day, we decided to pop in for a quick dinner.

The attractive white and neon facade was matched by the hip interior—all geometric white and neon with clean lines and a quasi-futuristic feel.

 Fried seaweed rolls $5

 Sweet soy KFC (small) $5

After a friendly greeting by what seemed like the lone waitress, we quickly decided what we wanted from the menu. It's no secret that M and I love Korean Fried Chicken (KFC), our favourite being Mook Ji's rendition, so we couldn't resist getting one here. We got the small sweet soy version, which in combination with the other entree we ordered (fried seaweed rolls), was the perfect sized entree for two. On the cute little plate came not only the chicken, but (weirdly enough) a few potato wedges, a fried rice cake, slaw with spicy mayo and some delicious pickled cucumber (more salty and much less sour than traditional western pickles). The accompaniments were similar for the fried rolls. These rolls, while tasty due to their deep fried-ness, were a bit boring and bland for my liking. Perhaps that was just in comparison to the chicken, which was delicious—perfectly crispy, juicy and very flavoursome despite being boneless.

Spicy pork meal bucket $10

 Beef bulgogi meal bucket $10

We also each got a $10 meal bucket, he the spicy pork and I the beef bulgogi version. As has been the case lately, M managed to pick the better dish. His spicy pork was suitably spicy and he got the added bonus of kimchi, which I missed out on. My beef bulgogi was not so stellar, the beef was cut so thin that it was rendered rather flimsy and had almost the same texture as minced beef.  It addition of carrots which seemed like they'd been pre-cut and sitting around for a while before being cooked also took away from the dish. Neither of us were crazy about the mandarin dressing; I found it too bitter and astringent for my tastes and I've never been particularly fond of fruit based salad dressings. However, the potato croquette, although cold, was still very crunchy and surprisingly delicious.

All in all though we were happy with our meal—great value at $30 for the two of us—and will definitely be back for more of that KFC. We both get the feeling that this was only a 'soft' open, the current venue looks definitely set to change, the place is yet to be licenced (I don't think I've ever been to an unlicenced Korean resto before) and the place is still cash only. Thus it would be great to come back once they've done a full open to see everything this Oppa has to offer.