South Melbourne's Moon Mart Is Doing Monthly Dinners Now
Chef Eun Hee An and front of house pro Mei Onsamlee’s Hot-Listed Moon Mart – known for house-made condiments, kimchi toasties and char siu bacon breakfast rolls – is one of the best cafes in Melbourne. Now, Moon Mart is introducing a monthly dinner service, where the duo will put on a hanjeongsik – a set meal served with a large number of banchan (small plates).
Dinner at Moon Mart will be “a little more Korean than our daytime offering [with] less Japanese influence. And while we still want to keep the fun and approachability we have during the day, I think the food will be a little more refined. Less cafe, more restaurant,” says Hee An, formerly of influential Sydney Korean restaurants Moon Park and Paper Bird.
“I was very excited and inspired by what I ate in Seoul on my last trip there earlier this year,” she says. “I wanted to try to re-create some of that excitement here at Moon Mart.”
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The menu is still being finalised, but guests can expect dishes such as sea bream and nasturtium ssam (wrap) with pear and persimmon, and prawn and garlic chive jeon (fritter) with minari and chilli, served with macadamia jook (porridge). Everything will be served in ceramics specially made for Moon Mart’s hanjeongsik dinners by artist Jun Chen.
Hee An and Onsamlee have also teamed up with Tim McPhillips of Hot-Listed cocktail bar Byrdi, who will design a different welcome cocktail for each dinner, incorporating Korean flavours and less common Korean spirits such as damsoul, a soju flavoured with pine needles and spruce.
Condiments and jangs (fermented chilli pastes and sauces) are all being sourced from Paul and Idylle Lee’s Table 181 in Sydney. Hee An says they’re made by South Korean artisans who have been accorded Living National Treasure status, meaning their work is considered part of the country’s intangible cultural heritage.
Bookings are now open for the first Moon Mart dinner, which will be held on Thursday May 29. The cost is $120 per person, which includes a welcome cocktail designed by McPhillips.
