The quiet suburb of Rangeville in Toowoomba probably didn't know what hit it when the Korean-Japanese Koala Carte Sushi and Chicken moved into the High Street Shopping Centre. The restaurant's name is a play on the phrase 'Korean ala carte', and Koala Carte's owners were soon making more K-fried chicken, oyakodon, skoba and bibimbap than even they anticipated.
"It's a little bit outside of people's comfort zone," admits Steve Yoon, who opened the restaurant with his wife Bomi Jo earlier this year. "But our community loves what we're serving and we feel really at home here."
Yoon and Jo moved to Toowoomba after a stint in Moree. They chose the flower city because it felt "just right" - not too little, not too big. "It's a nice, small city, very central," says Yoon. "We were visiting and I said to my wife, 'this might be our first destination, let's have a try... let's live in Toowoomba.'"
They chose the flower city because it felt "just right" - not too little, not too big.
By "first destination", Yoon means the very first Koala Carte. There are big plans to open more, maybe even set up a franchise business in the near future. But let's not get ahead of ourselves; there's plenty of chicken to eat first.
"We serve soba as well as K-fried chicken and one of our customers said, 'it's too spicy, but I like it,'" laughs Yoon. "I think we're converting people into all kinds of Korean and Japanese dishes."
He mentions many times how grateful he is to the Rangeville community who embraced Koala Carte and the family from day one of opening. They like being a local eatery, though they know there are many customers who are happy to travel from across town to get their fried chicken fix.
"The people are so friendly, it's nicer than any other suburb here... it feels cheerful, kind, which is what we're aiming for... We feel very grateful that we have been able to call Toowoomba our home and start a business here sharing our love of Asian food."
Everyone in Rangeville now knows how impossible Korean fried chicken is to resist. Source: Koala Carte
It's a long way from Seoul where Yoon grew up and later met his wife. He first did a stint in Australia at around 26 years old, after he finished his military service. Even though he returned to Korea, he felt like he was saving Aussie culture for later.
If I work hard, if I work honestly, people will keep coming back.
After he married Jo, the pair returned to Australia in 2015 and Yoon went to culinary school - he was tired of working in an office and wanted a creative, hands-on job. He certainly found it, with his first chef's role at Penfolds in South Australia, where he learned how to feel at ease in a hectic kitchen.
Many jobs, homes and years of planning later, Koala Carte was born. Yoon and Jo always wanted to start their own business and it made sense to cook what they knew. They they wanted to share their love of Korean and Japanese food with the community.
“We are passionate about food and want to share our love of food with everyone," confirms Yoon, including the hero dish, K-fried chicken.
As well as Korean main dishes, Koala Carte serves up a full range of sushi, sashimi and other Japanese favourites. Source: Koala Carte
“Our K-Fried chicken is authentic marinated Korean deep-fried chicken. It tastes amazing thanks to the special blend of seasoning that we use. This is our own creation and we have taken a traditional Korean dish and added some of our own extra blend of spices to give it even more flavour."
Yoon is confident that with the authentic dishes the team are producing, Koala Carte will continue to be a success. "If I work hard, if I work honestly, people will keep coming back," he says. “We never expected Koala Carte Sushi and Chicken to be so popular, so we are really pleased that the people of Toowoomba love our food as much as we do.
"We put a lot of time into creating dishes that not only taste good but help to share our culture as well.”
