Sunday lunch brings us to Newtown in Sydney to try some "authentic" Korean food that we have been craving for months. I found this place on Urbanspoon and had also read a few blog posts raving about the place so had to give it a go.
Newtown is known for it's great Thai restaurants and trendy cafes but not for it's Korean food. There is only a couple of Korean restaurants here. Most are in town or Eastwood.
Why Korean? My hubby tried a "bibimpap" last year in the city and has been transformed forever! He cant remember the name of the place only where it is. So I have to wait for him to take me there!
We arrived at Paju BBQ right on 12pm which is opening time. They had a great lunch specials menu with mains at $8.90. Plus you get some free sides with your order. Nothing like a freebee.

We ordered two beef bibimpap. (Basically a load of veges and a little beef on a rice.). Veges include sprouts, carrot, daikon radish, cucumber, spinach, mushrooms. The whole thing is brought out on a stone pot which is super hot. This further cooks the rice so that it becomes crunchy and crispy on thr bottom of the bowl.
The egg served on top is raw but don't let that put you off. You just have to stir in in then it cooks itself! As yoy can see in the second photo, I added a heap of chilli sambal (chilli sauce) to mine...for a kick start and because wherever there is chilli in a side bowl, then it's not long for it to me to smother my food with it.
Unfortunately....even after stirring in the chilli, the whole taste somehow seemed a little bland. My hubby seemed to agree with me. I didnt want to think I was being particular because it was a hot day. But no, there wasnt much to it at all. Worse still , the amount of beef on the top was about 2 teaspoons at most. Is this because it's a lunch special??? 

Above are the free condiments that are on the menu, but clearly the restaurant does not do this on all orders. We got the stuff below. A little Kimchi (pickled cabbage) , a boiled egg in a soy like marinade and another mashed up egg (top left), and a small bowl of lettuce (not pictured here)

Disappointing side dishes:(

Below is the lunch specials menu.

The back of the lunch specials menu. My son ordered the chicken teriyaki and rice which was a hundred times better than our bibimpap.

I'd like to say that the staff were great but even they seemed bored , quiet and never smiled once at us. We were the only people in the place so I would have expected them to approach the table more than just to serve us and take plates away.
Its not often that I write an unfavourable review but maybe they were having a bad day. Still I dont think I'll be rushing back here too soon. Make up your own mind if you decide to try it!