The More The Better

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305 Glen Huntly Road, Elsternwick, 9043 3204

My score: 3/5

After working for seven years as a barista, Korean-born Mim Seo was keen to open her own place. The more she thought about it the more it made sense to serve the Korean food she knew, but to spin it for modern Melbourne. The More The Better, open almost a year, is the winning result, with a fun mix of classic dishes and fast food fusion. The fit-out is chic on a shoestring and service is friendly but can be too laggardly for a quick lunch.

Cheese isn’t a traditional Korean ingredient but the country’s embrace of Western food has seen cheese sneak into so many dishes that South Korea is now a major dairy importer. North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un even sent a cheese squad to France to find out how to make emmental, apparently a beloved snack. Cheese features here in dishes like gamja fries, which sound as though they were dreamed up by hungry stoners. Hot chips are piled with cheese, your choice of protein (the spicy pulled pork is good), zesty slaw and guacamole. It’s mad but moreish. Melted cheese buldak takes a Korean beer hall favourite of mega-spiced chicken and amps it up with rice flour dumplings (like tubular gnocchi) and a serious slathering of mozzarella. It’s comfort food on crack. Cheese takes a break for another fusion dish, the cha-shu roll-ups, in which slices of wasabi-pickled radishes are used as wraps for braised pork and kim chi coleslaw (kim chi is fermented cabbage relish).

Traditional dishes are more or less authentic. Bibimbap is served in a hot stone bowl so you hear it sizzling before it hits the table. The glistening bowl contains seasoned rice, carrot and bean shoots, a raw egg and a choice of meat or tofu. Sweet potato noodles are glassy, stretchy and great with bulgogi beef, thinly sliced and marinated with soy and tenderising pear puree. Sake, beer and nashi pear or coconut slushies work well with the food. I’ve certainly struck restaurants with more finesse but The More The Better is unusual, willing and oh so filling and that makes it better than most.

See their website.

More Korean:

Pat Bing Soo, 128 York Street, South Melbourne, 8060 5771
Seoul street snacks, crazy shaved ice desserts (bingsoo) and top local produce are at the heart of this hip new restaurant near South Melbourne market.

Gami Chicken and Beer, 100 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne ,9671 3232
Getting messy with fried chicken and beer is as Korean as K-pop and Gami’s chicken is always hot and crunchy. Also at Healeys Lane and 26 King Street.

CJ Lunch Bar, 2/391 Little Lonsdale Street (enter Hardware Street), Melbourne, 9602 1155
The queues tell the story about this no-fuss eatery: it’s quick and cheap with heaps of meals under $10.

First published in The Age, May 18, 2014.