CeCi, Strathfield

Home cooking at Ceci,
Makes me almost want to flee,
Right back to Seoul city,
To see my adopted halmoni

It’s so funny, we always hear about how many Korean restaurants there are in Stratty yet once we are there, we are always unsure which restaurant we want to go into. I wouldn’t call it spoilt with choice because we it’s not like we are super eager to go into a particular one, but more so what if we go in and it isn’t what we wanted…

Banchan

So, we turn into those girls standing outside studying the menu before deciding. And then it gets awkward when the staff comes out hoping to persuade you in. But on this cold night, we decided to just wing it, it was getting late and our stomachs were starting to eat itself.

CeCi is a restaurant that I would go back when in Strathfield, only because I found it so homely, because I felt that it must have been more like a family run restaurant. The staff were friendly and helpful when we asked about sizes, which is a rare question we ask, now that I think about it…

We started with the beef rib hot pot, because it was cold and we needed the hearty soup. We watched, waited and it was such a tease for it all to boil and cook, but it would be worth it.

Beef bone & tofu soup with noodles hot pot $36

My first spoonful, “It tastes like Korea.” I don’t know if I can say it is just like home cooking, because I have only tried one Korean home cooking, and that was my cousin’s halmoni[‘s] [grandma] cooking. I was reminded of my one month stay in the snowing South Korea. Her warm smile, and loving hugs. Upon that sip of soup, I missed her and was simply excited that I am going to be reunited with her in Fiji in January!

The meat falls off from the bone, the glass noodles are slippery but are well accompanied with a few stems of chrysanthemum. The soy based soup mixed with rice simply warms my body from my stomach.

Combination fish cake soup small $15 | large $25

We don’t seem to see odeng on the menu often enough, and I want to order it immediately. One of the foods I miss most in Korea is hotteok, the sweet ones! But coming almost equal is odeng, only because on the rare occasion I do find it on the menu. Fish cakes served on skewers in an almost clear based soup is the perfect warmer on the streets in South Korea, sometimes even complimentary when ordering tteokbokki!

Fried chicken (spicy or not spicy) $25

Fried chicken! Well, this will do to satisfy our fried chicken craves. It’s crispy, but we’ve had crispier. Doused in a tomato-based sauce (maybe because we went with not spicy), we find it rather addictive. Though, it may not be your typical fried chicken that you would think about and want to go back for, it is something that you can be sure to order in attempt to put that fried chicken need to rest, for a short term.

Have you ever missed something that you cannot find back home? Have you also been lucky and found something that brings back memories and feelings from a great holiday or even an occasion of some sort?

Hit: Beef rib hot pot

Miss: Odeng (only because I wanted it for my own reminisce sake)

CeCi Korean Restaurant

37 The Boulevarde

Strathfield