The special brisket noodles were an unintentionally large dish – but oh so good (and made great lunchtime leftovers the next day!) Photo: Lucy Ridge.
Samsi Sekki is a casual Korean restaurant on Flemington Road, tucked between a tool shop and a workwear outlet.
For a restaurant in an industrial suburb, it is appropriately industrial in size. The warehouse-like space is half dedicated to restaurant tables, and then splits the remaining space into a children’s play zone (books, toys, plenty of space to run around) and a pool hall.
On the night we visited, World Cup games were projected onto a large blank wall.
We’d been warned that it can get pretty packed out, but there were still a few empty seats on a cold Sunday evening. Ordering is done via a QR code on the table, but payment is taken at the counter when you finish. Samsi Sekki advertises itself as a home-style Korean restaurant, with dishes rarely seen elsewhere, along with plenty familiar to K-food fans.
The Korean pastime of Chimaek (beer and fried chicken) is one worth adopting! Photo: Lucy Ridge.
Sneaking a glance at neighbouring tables, the hot pot dishes looked great, but we were tempted by a special noodle dish, chadol jenbang champong (fried noodles with beef brisket). A specialty at Samsi Sekki is their beck-pan dishes: a set meal with a range of meat options (pork belly, beef bulgogi, fried mackerel) which can be rolled in lettuce or cabbage leaves with garlic, chilli and a fermented soy paste. The set also comes with a warming soup and rice. It’s a perfect meal for one, but we decided to add it to our sharing options.
To round out our meal, we also ordered a seafood pancake and some fried chicken (we couldn’t help ourselves!)
Side dishes, called banchan, are an important part of any Korean meal.
At Samsi Sekki, there is a self-serve station with several different banchan, including pasta salad, bean sprouts and, of course, kimchi. The dishes we ordered also came with various pickles, sauces and side dishes.
The seafood pancake was exceptionally good. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
We had overestimated how many dishes to order, as we realised when the special noodles arrived: this was a much larger meal than we had anticipated! Oh well, that’s what takeaway containers are for!
The noodle dish was great: packed full of chilli oil and topped with paper-thin brisket slices and wood-ear mushrooms. The seafood pancake was also one of the best I’ve tried: crisp, not too oily and generously filled with squid, prawns and baby octopus.
We had chosen the mackerel option for the beck-pan set, which came lightly pan-fried. Juicy and flavoursome, it was delicious to wrap into lettuce leaves and layer with sauces and sides. Korean food is often meat-heavy, and the addition of fresh veggies was a nice balance to some of the richer dishes we tried.
The self-serve banchan station features a mix of traditional side dishes, including kimchi. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
Fried chicken and beer are a classic Korean pastime – which they call chimaek, a combination of the Korean words for chicken and beer – and we did our best to honour this tradition with a serve of ganjang fried chicken. This sticky soy and garlic dressing is moreish and goes well with refreshing daikon pickle.
Samsi Sekki – which translates to “three meals a day” – also serves lunchbox specials and is open for breakfast on weekends.
Whether you’re dining solo or feeding a big table of friends, Samsi Sekki is worth seeking out. I’m already planning my return for another beck-pan, bulgogi or hotpot …
Samsi Sekki is located at 117 Flemington Road, Mitchell. For opening hours and menu options, follow Samsi Sekki on Facebook or Instagram.
Original Article published by Lucy Ridge on Region Canberra.
