Kofoo

I’m speechful.
Somebody stop me, because the words are going to flood out like a torrent, and I’d rather it was constructive than abusive.
Kofoo lost me for life today by neglecting to do one simple thing. Serve me!
Let’s go through the story.
Work colleague and I came here for lunch today, the place was moderately busy, and we chose to sit by the window and were accommodated quickly (our waiter wiped the table down, and handed us menus).
Call in the funstoppers, because that’s where all the enjoyment ends people!
Here’s the play by play:
— After a couple of minutes perusing the menu we were ready to order & signalled our intent.
— After 5 minutes we watched our waiter walk past us several times to other tables nearby, either serving food or cleaning, we nodded and/​or signalled as he walked past but maybe he was busy.
— After 7 minutes the nodding and signalling became waving.
— After 10 minutes the waving became a mexican wave. to anyone. who would take notice.
— After 12 minutes my colleague actually got up and approached our waiter and asked if he would please serve us. Apparently that didn’t go down well because…
— After 15 minutes we’d had enough waiting, and got up and walked out.
What makes it even more surprising is they didn’t even notice we’d left. And we literally had to walk past half a dozen tables, two waiters, the register, and the entire kitchen cooking crew, and down the ramp to exit.
For a place that is only moderately busy in the city at lunch time, one would think they have absolutely no luxury of turning away, neglecting or ignoring customers. If this was Home Thai, they could afford to do it (and Home Thai goes the other way and actually stretches out of their skin to exceed your expectations).
This was my 3^rd visit to Kofoo. The last two visits were solid 3-​star efforts, but this will be my last, most memorable, and most unforgiving visit. If I could give this negative stars I would. I have never been ignored in a restaurant of any description that has more than enough waiters, for 15 straight minutes, whilst signalling and even approaching the waiter. That’s unforgiveable, and you’ve lost me for life (and the work colleague).
What’s even more galling is that we walked around the corner to Umami, where we were seated, served, and satiated in under 10 minutes. That’s my expectation.
Having me as a lunch order is like shooting fish in a barrel. I’m guaranteed income for your business once or twice a week for literally the entire year. Since I come bearing gifts (friends, colleagues, co-​workers) that’s extra bread in your pocket right there.
Be interested to see how the manager reacts, when they find out two happily paying customers will no longer be frequenting their restaurant.

I was pretty happy with this warehouse space. Meals were really delicious and pretty dang cheap. I don’t understand why it’s rated so low.
Also, cheap beer — huzzah!

Stunned to see that this place only has 2.5 stars. The prices are the cheapest for a Korean restaurant there are… second, the atmosphere is very cool. Music playing, clean tables, and really attentive/​friendly staff. Very willing to work with you/​provide extra dish, etc.
For the food, the sweet and spicy fried chicken was phenomenal. At $ 18 for a half or $ 32 for a full, the prices were on-​par with other Korean Fried Chicken joints, but the taste here is so much better. Yes, it is more «Korean Fusion» than traditional Korean, but their clientele is more 18 – 27, so they seem more willing to experiment than wanting strictly traditional items. I’ll be back!

Not sure why this place has gotten such poor reviews. They have: late night dining, yummy pickled side dishes, reasonable prices, awesome staff and all the self-​serve water you can drink!
I’ve been here twice now, both times after 10pm and fiercely starving so I waited a week to write this review to make sure I wasn’t just in a satisfied food coma trance.
10 dolla make ya holla!!!
Oh shout out to LUCY!!! She was THE BEST server!!!

Reasonable price, nice design. Too little side dish. Good food. Great place for business lunch

On a Friday night when there’s a line out the front of every other restaurant you’d rather be at, Kofoo isn’t a bad back-​up.
$ 6 beers, $ 9.90 Bibimbap… sweet.

Koreaner in cooler Location. Essen war ok, könnte aber besser sein. Preislich war’s echt in Ordnung und auch insgesamt ein netter Abend.

The menu is extensive and their dishes are cheap. It’s slightly overwhelming. It’s Korean food with a fair amount of side dishes and appetizers.
We walked in around 10:30pm after trolling the Sydney streets and skipping a nearby 24hr Korean place that had only a handful of dishes on their menu. Big mistake.
After looking at the colourful spread they had, we decided on 3 dishes (Soup, prawn dumplings and rice cake). 2 of which came back as sold out. We went with a Prawn dumpling noodle soup ($ 7), Seafood Ramen ($ 8) and Pecan pancakes with Maple Syrup and ice cream ($ 9).
We got 3 little complimentary dishes of condiments (Bean shoots, potato and zucchini) Prawn dumpling noodle soup came in a white watery flavourless stock with soggy soaked Gyoza dumplings. The Seafood Ramen came out bursting with flavour, little seafood, inedible crab shell and 2minute-​like noodles.
Overall, it was a really poor meal. The atmosphere was pretty good and service was okay. What really annoyed us was as we were tucking into our crappy soup, the table next to us received a steaming plate of (real) prawn dumplings. So much for being sold out.

In all honesty, I’ve only tried items listed under the $ 7 opening special. Of those, I recommend the Chicken Bento over the Sweet and Sour Bento, mostly because part of the dish was unintentionally cold. Elsewhere, I tried the Chicken Bibimbap, which was delicious, fresh, and served promptly, great for a quick lunch-​time serve. The layout is open and airy, with décor an interesting industrial road-​house kind of look. Go figure. Anyway, that’s beside the point, because the staff are pleasant and the overall vibe laid back yet efficient.

Cool décor (industrial/​warehouse theme) and very extensive menu but the stuff we ordered was pretty subpar.
The pasta panne (? — cream spaghetti in a big cob of bread with bits of garlic bread on the side) was, rather bizarrely, extremely sweet. I’m assuming that’s how Korean people like their pasta and garlic bread? We couldn’t eat more than half of this.
The pork bone hot pot with mandoo dumplings and glass noodles was OK for the first few bites but after that it all just tasted like mush. The bone marrow made everything taste really gritty and it left a gross taste in my mouth after the meal.
Service staff were helpful. The rave music playing in the background was a bit strange.

Great design and feel
Food was ok but there was lots of room for improvement for example the side dishes were really average and it was obvious they freeze and reheat some of there mains.
Im sure they will improve

Walked past Kofoo and wanted some Asian desserts. So we went in to order just their ice cream with fruit.
Browsing through the rest of the menu, the food looked fantastic, but the price did not math the ambience of the restaurant.
The restaurant is decorated in a diner/​fuel stop theme.
The staff were friendly, however they served us a starter of salad (with out ice cream order) which I found bizarre! The ice cream, though beautifully presented, did not arrive for another 20 minutes (I kid you not!)
The ice cream itself was decent.
Overall, due to the slow service and the price of the menu mixed with a very casual atmosphere, I think there is room for improvement.

Walked past it a few times, and was in the mood for some korean food and decided to check it out (as you do: D).
The menu for the place is huge so will definitely need to go back to try other stuff — maybe for breakfast or lunch.
I liked the fact that you get side dishes with your order (ordered the Bulgogi Bimbimbap), and that it also accepts cards.

Searching for new Korean restaurant in Sydney and came across Kofoo. The restaurant itself is massive and located off of Sussex street. It’s pretty hard to miss with it’s big yellow sign that stands out like a sore thumb. The service was friendly as we were promptly greeted and seated. The first thing I noticed was how extensive the menu was. It seem to go on and on with endless option of rice plates, noodles dishes, and different soups. It also offered non-​korean food as I saw burgers and chicken wings as well.
Since I was in the mood for something spicy, I ordered the kimchi fried rice. This dish normally comes with prawns but I was able to change that to pork instead.
The fried rice had looked like it was prepared in small bowl, reheated then turned over on my plate. They put a small garnish on top to make it look fancy but it didn’t fool me. The kimchi fried rice wasn’t spicy enough and I was expecting a bit more as far as it’s portion size. In my opinion, if it’s truly fried rice, it should be coming straight off the frying pan and onto the plate nice and hot. The dish was warm and came with a white creamy sauce that was pretty bland.

My impressions of the restaurant are
1. The food was just «ok». Nothing special stood out and it seemed more of a Korean fusion restaurant than anything else.
2. The «banchan”(side dishes) were slim pickings. For a massive size korean restaurant, their portions are not.
3. It’s a good atmosphere if you like loud music with the staff yelling and chantting «KOFOO!» I appreciate their enthusiasm but I can do without it.
4. I would come back again to try another dish but wouldn’t order the kimchi fried rice again.

Nice. A brand spankin’ new Korean restaurant right in the heart of Chinatown. Kofoo gets 2.5 — but it’s SO new that there is plenty of room for improvement.
Kofoo must’ve opened just a few weeks ago as I recently noticed it on my walk to work. Intrigued, a few friends (including Howard C. and Charles C.) and I hit it up yesterday to see what it was all about.
Ambiance:
–Industrial. Big with high-​ceilings and a warehouse/​garage feel — pretty cool space with lots of seating
–Open till 2am (a rare late night option in Syd!!) — they’re clearly trying to target post-​party goers/​drunk people and night owls
–Wait and kitchen staff are all men wearing matching black garage uniforms with Korea/​Australia badges. Interesting — I kinda get it?
–Dance and techno music is pumping so loudly in this place that you won’t be able to tell that you left the club
Service:
–Awkward and needs training. Honestly, the first things that come to mind.
–Very new, very eager waitstaff that will need to be hailed down if you want to order. They still depend on the number associated with the dish you pick, so don’t bother telling them what you want and expecting them to know it. Pointing and showing them the menu works just fine.
–After you order, be prepared to give your waiter a high five. Yeah. Just standard protocol and how they’ve decided to do things at Kofoo. Just go with it — it’s fun! In fact, if you’re eating with friends, your whole table should do this.
–Expect wait and kitchen staff to shout «KOFOO» at random times during your meal. They do this when they see someone arriving at the restaurant (also done in Japanese restaurants). However, our group really thinks they shout «KOFOO» any time they want with no real reason. Let me know if you observe the same.
–Food came out fairly quickly except for Howard C.‘s chicken. Just FYI.
Food:
–VERY extensive and diverse menu that would be absolutely DELICIOUS if you were drunk. Your midnight cravings can definitely be satisfied here.
–Yes, there is basic korean food (your bibimbaps, salantang, soondubu, etc.) but Kofoo also does pizza, pasta, …I think I saw burgers too
–Of our orders, the bibimbap and salantang (though not milky white and sans add your own salt) were solid dishes. The salantang broth, especially, had a lovely, homey taste with tender beef.
–Kimchi rice was ok — nothing impressive. I’ll let Howard C. review his chicken
–Soondubu = disappointment. My quest to find stellar soondubu in Sydney continues. Not only was the taste off, my soondubu did not come bubbling hot or in it’s standard stonebowl. The worst part? The tofu came in two, large, uncut chunks. WTF. Seriously, no effort — and that made me sad. Kofoo, please fix this. Does your mom make soondubu like this? I don’t think so.
–Otherwise, I’d probably come back to Kofoo again to try it’s other Korean dishes. Give it a try as it’s relatively affordable for Sydney (avg $ 15/​person) and promises a lot of variety. …just fix the soondubu.
Tips:
–If you say «Fighting» after ordering, your waiter will put his hand in the middle of the table so you and your friends can do a group «FIGHTING» cheer together.

This place would easily get 4 stars if I were one of the following:
1. Drunk and in the area
2. Under the influence of something else
3. In the mood to eat food from everywhere at one place
4. Drunk
Sydney is in need of more late night dining options and Kofoo fits this niche perfectly, as it closes at 2am. The interior is very industrial and spacious, and it feels like you’re in a club as they have house music pumping while you dine. Kofoo specialises in affordable Korean food, but after a quick glance at their menu it seems like they want to do a little bit of everything… and I mean a little bit of everything.
Brekkie? Check. Japanese food? Check. Westernised cuisine? Check. Dessert? Check.
All good on paper, but not all good on execution. The menu might be too large; seems like the dishes we tried are hit or miss, with most missing. It’s hard to recommend something since the menu is so large I’ll need to come back to try other offerings… but this place would a fun place to go with friends. The fried chicken was nothing to write home about, except that the pieces of chicken are much larger than the ones you’d get at Arisun or Naruone.
The server gives everyone a high five here when he (there were no female staff members) brings out all your orders… so be prepared for that so you don’t leave the poor dude hanging where he says «high five!» 3 times in a row before you catch on and awkwardly oblige.