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After one bite of the croquette at Bar Soul, I knew it was going to be my kind of restaurant. The little torpedo, filled with a molten mix of blue cheese and corn, was served wait-a-minute hot and shatteringly crunchy under a snowfall of parmesan.

Partly inspired by kon-chijeu, a cheesy, rib-sticking Korean side dish, it was a snack you immediately wanted to eat by the plateful and had clearly come from a kitchen that knew how to harness big flavours.

Husband and wife co-owners Daero Lee and Illa Kim opened Bar Soul on a leafy Surry Hills corner, near Taylor Square, in May. It’s pitched as a wine bar but, like the vast majority of “wine bars”, it’s really more of a restaurant with one-hat ambitions.

What makes Bar Soul unique is Kim’s ambition to match her home country’s food with wine (natural wine, mainly, which has the funk and acid to hold its own against Korea’s rich ferments).

Modern Korean has been on an upwards trajectory in Sydney for the past decade, ever since (the sadly closed) Moon Park opened in Redfern and paired spicy tteok rice cakes with biodynamic Beaujolais. Its legacy lives on in restaurants such as Sang by Mabasa in Surry Hills and Barangaroo’s flash new Korean barbecue Soot.

Lee and Kim, meanwhile, also helm Surry Hills’ hatted Soul Dining and its casual offshoot Soul Deli. The latter has fried, chicken-topped hotcakes to plan your day around, and I go through its take-home kimchi like my nan goes through MeadowLea.

Bar Soul is pitched somewhere between the deli and restaurant with a daytime menu built on thick-cut bacon, scrambled eggs and coffee.

Things become more elevated, and cosy, in the evening. Who needs a throw rug when slow-cooked pork jowl is being ferried to your table in boats of witlof ($22) or there’s a glorious, giant slab of chestnut tiramisu ($20) to navigate?

Let’s go back to those cheese and corn croquettes ($9 each), though. They ask for something to cut through the bechamel-esque richness, and a $23 boulevardier (the negroni’s show-off cousin made with bourbon instead of gin) answers the call.

The croquette is a snack you immediately want to eat by the plateful.

Gang-doenjang ($19) – a brick-red, fermented soybean dip – is another fine drinking snack, topped with batons of parsnip and carrot, and accompanied by house-made barley crackers.

A steaming-hot potato crumpet is yours to spread with smoked trout roe, chives and kimchi-spiked creme fraiche ($16). I’m reminded of the crumpet with salmon roe and cultured cream at Quay in The Rocks, where Bar Soul’s head chef, Sunny Ryu, worked for a little while, pre-COVID.

The charred and tender octopus skewer ($14) is your must-order, though, sharpened with pickled perilla leaf and humming with the whole-mouth heat of gochujang chilli paste. Can you roll up just for an octopus stick and a can of Cass lager ($8)? Technically, yes, but it’s not really that sort of snack-and-dash place.

With mustard-gold banquettes, mood lighting and Korean pop ballads in the background, the room is geared towards sitting down for a proper dinner.

Plus, the beef consomme, with just-seared wagyu rump cap ($42), shouldn’t be rushed. A thick rice cake and shimeji mushrooms also loll about in the warming broth, and although the meat can be chewy, it’s full of direct, confident flavour.

Murray cod – arguably Australia’s most winter-friendly fish, thanks to its high content of luscious fat – is gently cooked to fall apart in broad flakes across nubs of hand-rolled pasta with cavolo nero pesto ($44). A buttery soubise onion sauce brings everything together.

Lightly battered and fried half-spatchcock, meanwhile, stands proud on a bed of congee-like risotto and sticky chicken jus. It’s a terrifically soothing way to spend $32.

As for the wine component of the “wine bar”, there’s some fun stuff across a broad price range. Pay $15 for a glass of David Franz’s limey 2021 “Valley” riesling out of South Australia’s Eden Valley, or $220 for a bottle of elegant Domaine Bonnardot 2019 pinot noir from Burgundy. Soju (a Korean, rice-based spirit) and makgeolli (a slightly fizzy rice wine) add an extra dimension to the list.

I like Bar Soul a lot. The service isn’t always as polished as other Surry Hills venues at its price point, and there’s a long wait for an open wagyu sandwich ($34) one lunchtime visit, but the floor team is engaged and friendly.

Kudos to Lee, Kim and Ryu for progressing Sydney’s perception of Korean food beyond grilled meat and shirt-staining soups. Go for the deep-fried cheese croquettes and stay for the octopus, cocktails and wine.

This review was originally published in Good Weekend magazine