In the Korean community Maroo is known for three things: barbecue, wollamssam and a service style that erratically flits between slow but attentive to non-existent.
The barbecue, on the other hand, is consistently excellent. The galbi (marinated ribs, beef or pork) is legendary here, as is the marinated pork neck and the banchan (small, usually pickled or fermented, side dishes that come with every Korean meal). Even better are the prices, undercutting Sydney’s big-name barbecue joints (JTB, 678 and Bornga) by a few dollars.
As you’ll be cooking it yourself over a charcoal grill, the speed of service isn’t a big deal, until you need to get a new metal grate for the barbecue. Take your time, and you shouldn’t have an issue.
Now, wollamssam, also known as DIY Korean rice paper rolls. Strictly, it’s not a Korean recipe; in fact wollamssam is not found with any regularity or fame outside Australia. It evolved here from Vietnamese rice paper rolls, with the local Korean community applying a slightly different take to it – essentially, a massive platter of fresh and cooked ingredients to choose for each wrap; and a salty, tart and spicy sauce, for dipping or adding to each roll. Maroo was one of the first restaurants (possibly the very first, these things are hard to verify) to serve it, and it remains one of the most popular to this day – possibly because of the quantity of food (crab, tofu, coriander, mint, raw onion, steamed egg, bean sprouts, fresh tomato, slices of boiled beef, an utterly ridiculous amount of avocado and more), or maybe just because it’s less than $30 each for a feast.
If you’re looking for something a little less labour-intensive than barbecue or DIY rice paper rolls, the special section of the menu is as good as any Korean menu in Sydney, bar maybe Hansang or Gyeong Bok. The jokbal (boiled and seasoned pork trotters alongside a spicy bean paste and greens for wrapping), bossam (similar but with pork belly) and yukhoe (raw beef with pear, radish and an egg yolk – stir it all together at the table) are particularly popular orders.