Korean$
Make for Rowe Street, perhaps drop into ginseng specialist Cheong Kwan Jang, then join the line at Siroo. With South Koreans now drinking 353 cups of coffee per head a year – more than double the global average – the nation’s cafe culture is ever-expanding. That partly explains Siroo’s popularity, but it’s the rice cakes, or tteok, that are the main draw. Made each morning by owner Changhyun Lee, Siroo’s tteok are characteristically chewy, with the injeolmi – made with sticky rice and finished with roasted soybean powder – a signature. Buy a pack, or try it in the cafe’s viral shaved-ice dessert, bingsu.
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David Matthews is a food writer and editor, and co-editor of The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2025.






























