O SE O Lidcombe — Restaurant in Sydney

ORIGINAL REVIEW (2023): A homey restaurant that served our craving for Korean food. The kimchi stew was a hearty dish that had a perfect amount of sourness from the kimchi. The fried dumplings were big and had minced meat and glass noodles which were nicely fried. The tteokbokki was disappointing as the sauce was too watery, which made the rice cakes bland. The star of the night was definitely the spicy pork bibimbap with the stone bowl making the rice nicely scorched and just an amazing flavour explosion with each bite of all the ingredients in the bowl - make sure to add heaps of gochjang into the bibimbap and mix well. I would definitely come back and recommend the bibimbap. (4/5 stars)

UPDATED REVIEW (12/04/25): I visited on 12/04/25 and noticed several changes to the restaurant, including a new white interior that made the space feel stark and uninviting. While the previous yellow walls weren’t particularly stylish, they added a warm, homey character that’s now missing. Based on recent reviews and my own experience, it seems there may be new ownership. Unfortunately, the food no longer meets the standard it once had—the dishes I ordered lacked depth and were overall underwhelming. I hope the new management takes recent feedback into account and works to restore the quality that once made this place special. (2/5 stars)

FYI - the food pictures below was from my original...

Probably like many other patrons, came here because the line Yeodongsik was too long. But! Was not disappointed at all! This place is a very humble and homely small Korean restaurant with very authentic flavours and good value for money. Whilst it is largely self-service and it can be a bit noisy, the food more than makes up for it. Probably the first time I got more food than expected.

Ginseng Chicken Soup Flavour: SS+, 9.5/10. Authentic and delicious. Haven't had many in Sydney but this was pretty close to Korea Consistency: SS, 9/10. A bit thick from the rice stuffing which was nice Chicken: S+, 8.5/10. Overall very good though some parts a bit chewy Value: SS, 9/10. $24 for a whole chicken??!

Sizzling octopus Flavour: SS+, 9.5/10. Very well balanced chilli, soy and charred flavours. Haven't had a better one yet! Texture: SS, 9/10. Chewy octopus and soft veg Value: SS, 9/10. $23 but comes with rice, a small soybean stew and they gave us a small plate of beef bulgogi (which was delicious)

Spicy pork soybean stew Flavour: A, 7/10. The one let down. Probably an acquired taste, but the soybean in this was very pungent and overwhelming Consistency: A, 7/10. Quite thick and almost gravy like. Probably more enjoyable if I liked the flavours Value: A, 7/10. $22 for a...

We came here because the line for Yeodongsik was too long and we didn’t wanna wait. We got a table pretty quick once we got here.

There’s plenty of options on their menu and they all looked very tempting. We decided to go for bulgogi beef hotpot, kimchi pancake and stirred fried pork rice for sharing.

Food was served pretty quick and the server was attentive to us. We were amazed at how big the portion of the hotpot was. We could barely finish it as the portion of the other two dishes was huge too.

Kimchi pancake was my favorite as it wasn’t spicy at all! However, I found it less flavorful if I didn’t dip it in the sauce that came with it. It’s got the nice texture but they could improve on the taste.

I liked the stirred fried pork better compared with bulgogi beef. The pork was more flavorful with its sauce. Bulgogi beef was dull in comparison as it didn’t have much taste to it. Moreover, I didn’t like overcooked beef in hotpot. The good thing about the hotpot was it came with heaps of veggie which I liked.

We were all disappointed with the bulgogi beef and we had a lot of leftover for takeaway. Overall it’s a not bad experience for me and the price was decent given...