Doju

Trailblazing cooking in a room of restrained glam.

November 18, 2024

1 / 9salted calamari on seasoned rice.Bonnie Savage

2 / 9Flowing curtains in the split-level interior.Bonnie Savage

3 / 9Ganjang-braised kohlrabi.Bonnie Savage

4 / 9Charred leek with a crisp chicken skin disc.Bonnie Savage

5 / 9Los Angeles-style grilled beef short ribs.Bonnie Savage

7 / 9Injeolmi (Korean sweet rice cake).Joe Armao

8 / 9Inside the 40-seat restaurant.Joe Armao

9 / 9WA marron with stinging nettle noodle.Joe Armao

14.5/20

Korean$$$

Melbourne is spoilt for choice when it comes to late-night Korean barbecue, gochujang-stained fried chicken, and cosy spots for soju and jjigae. Doju represents a whole new genre of Korean food.

The sticky pork dish jokbal is reimagined with kohlrabi as the star, braised in soy, cinnamon and ginger until burnished and brilliantly meaty. A spin on jeotgal, the salt-preserved seafood, sees calamari from Corner Inlet cured then marinated in fish sauce and sesame oil, served on rice and lettuce as a two-bite snack.

Yukhoe – raw chopped beef – is sharpened with desert lime. And a head-turning halloumi dish is given the Korean fried chicken treatment, its sweet red glaze showered in sesame seeds.

Experienced hands keep service humming, and the two-tiered room is all flowing curtains, olive green and black marble – well suited to its legal district location.