Hallyu, the Korean wave may have driven the world to love everything from K-pop, K-drama to K-food.
However, as Pocha founder and co-owner Mike Shin noted, the fans of K-pop and K-drama can be very different.
Pocha is famous as being one of the “cool” places in the city to have Korean food, but it's Albany branch which opened last winter, aims to be a place for families.
“Just like K-pop attracts a younger audience and K-drama some older patrons, we have launched a seasonal menu that aims to appeal to both groups,” Shin said.
“Our chefs have come up with some modern and innovative food items to be served alongside some traditional dishes, which are favourites for the winter.”
The new menu includes a comforting Beef Soybean ‘Sul Bap’, made with sliced beef, tofu, vegetables and rice in a rich soy bean broth with rice in a stone bowl which is believed to be a hangover cure and a Bean Sprout Stew that comes with boiled squid, egg and rice in a hearty broth.
“Our chefs drew inspiration for these dishes from soups and stews that have been enjoyed for generations in Korea,” Shin said.
At the same time, the new offerings also offer a new pizza-flavoured K-fried chicken that’s glazed with homemade pizza sauce and topped with mozzarella cheese and pepperoni, mini “tteok galbi” grilled Korean beef and pork patties served with rice cakes, and mini bulgogi sliders with tteok galbi meat patties, cheese, onions and lettuce, served on soft buns.
“These new fried chicken flavours and sliders are designed to appeal to younger diners and their evolving taste palates,” Shin added.
Often, when people think of Korean food, they tend to think of K-BBQ, but its food culture is a vibrant mix that also includes many fusion creations and hearty soups and stews.
By having an offering that has a mix of classics and new, the menu aims to attract a diverse customer base and ensure there is something for every K-food fan to enjoy, regardless of their taste preferences.
Pocha Albany is nestled in a corner among a row of shops in Rosedale along the Albany Highway, and has steadily gained recognition and a following among customers who flock there for some of its signature dishes.
The overall menu is pretty well-rounded and is reasonably priced, with some Korean staples that you don’t usually find at other restaurants.
They include eggplant dupbap (mixed rice with beef, eggplant, raw egg and gochujang sauce), fish roe mixed rice that comes with octopus, pickled radish, egg and gochujang sauce and the king’s beef rib soup.
Also popular are its boiled octopus slices with dipping sauce, yukhoe raw beef tartare and spicy raw crab yangnyeom-gejang.
A best-seller at Pocha is its Almond Krunch fried chicken, which is cornflake-crusted with almond batter, giving it both crunch and extra intensity of the nuts and cornflakes, served with a dipping sauce.
Pocha is short for pojangmacha, which is translated as “covered wagon” in Korean.
The eatery was founded by Shin and his high school best friend Sung in 2005, first as a home business delivering home-cooked K-fried chicken, opening a pop up shop in 2007 before its Chancery restaurant a year later.
Shin said the family-focused Albany branch, opened in June last year, offers a menu that brings families and groups of friends together.
End your Pocha Albany meal on a sweet note with the Green Grape Bingsu or the Oreo Chocolate Brownie.
The Green Grape one comes with grape, popping boba, grape syrup, vanilla ice cream served on a bed of shaved milk.
POCHA ALBANY 1/329 Albany Highway, Rosedale. Ph: 09 3938080. Business hours: 11.30am-2.30pm, 5pm-11.30pm (Sun to Thu), 5pm to midnight (Friday), 11.30am-2.30pm, 5pm-midnight (Sat). Closed on Mon.
***This article is brought to you in partnership with Pocha.
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