From the street, The Kimchi Project looks like a nice place. With its homely French doors, well-lit modern interior and sleek, minimal fit-out, if you were wandering down Lorne Street looking for a lunch spot, we bet you’d stop. It’s nice. But head inside and out the back of the new Korean-inspired eatery and what you’ll find is that it’s not just nice — it’s bloody brilliant.

Because what lies back there is one of the finest courtyards the City of Sails has ever seen. A light-flooded deck, sheltered by a clear ceiling and flanked by a garden of falling vines, towering palms and Griselinia, the unexpected outdoor area, created by The Fit Out Company, is a stunner and sure to become the inner-city worker’s lunch and drinking spot du jour. Needless to say, we were rather taken by the city eatery, before even trying a bite.

But the food is good too. Leaning heavily on sesame, garlic, chilli, pepper flakes, ginger and soy sauce, the Korean-tinted flavours are spicy, sweet and savoury at once. Not too daunting for the newcomer to Korean cuisine, with dishes like Galbi — a marinated beef short rib that comes on a heaped pile of creamy mash (reminiscent of a Kiwi roast) — and the Ssam, which sees barbecued meat tucked into fresh lettuce cups with a sweet and salty sauce, when paired with a frosted glass of Asahi Black, it’s the perfect gateway into this relatively untapped Asian cuisine.

Opening hours:
7am-10pm, Monday-Thursday & Sunday
7am-12am, Friday-Saturday