One of the many excellent things about Korea – alongside its neon-karaoke bars and snail serums (they work) – is Korean barbecue. You walk in, sit down, and immediately the action happens: the grill gets fired up, thousands of banchan are placed in front of you, Cass and a couple of bottles of soju are ordered, and you get to work, barbecuing the meat until it’s caramelised and golden, the fat glistening and perfect. Wrap it, eat it, and repeat until you’re about to burst. This experience is replicated beautifully at King Clarence, the latest restaurant from The Bently group (the masterminds behind leading Sydney venues Bentley, Monopole, Yellow, Brasserie 1930 and Cirrus). Though, more specifically, with wood-roasted pork belly ssam. A huge platter arrives holding slices of pork belly – the crackling all bronzed and bubbly – with an assortment of perilla, lettuce, radicchio and witlof leaves, and small bowls of kimchi, confit garlic, creamy oyster sauce and chilli sauce.
I pick up a leaf, place some meat in its curve, top it with kimchi, a drizzle of chilli and a dollop of oyster sauce. It’s a flavour and texture explosion: crunchy, salty, fresh, creamy, fatty, sweet, fiery and sour – and absolutely delicious.
King Clarence's food is inspired by the flavours of Korea, China and Japan. To nail this, co-owners Brent Savage and Nick Hildebrandt persuaded top chef Khanh Nguyen to take charge. Most recently, Nguyen has been spearheading Melbourne’s award-winning Aru and Sunda. Th