Sang by Mabasa

Surry Hills’ most singular Korean diner is as charming as ever.

Small and perfectly formed Korean restaurants are becoming kind of a thing, but in many ways Sang by Mabasa, opened in 2018, led the movement. Flash forward seven years and husband and wife chefs Seung Kee and Jin Sun Son are still on the tools in the tiny kitchen, their son Kenny Yong Soo Son still works the floor between jumping over to the hot section to grill marinated short-ribs to order.

There are classics – those ribs, fried chicken glazed in soy – but Sang does its best work outside of them, and in giving considered homestyle touches to more K favourites. Think yukhoe, the raw beef dish, featuring wagyu eye round turned through slivered cucumber and gochujang, abalone noodles, or a jeon of Korean watercress, the pancake’s edges impossibly crisp.

Drinks? Organic beer and lo-fi wines are well chosen, but it’s hard to go past the makgeolli, the cloudy rice drink fermented in house.

Good to know: The banchan plate changes regularly, while a clipped lunch menu pitched at solo diners is supported by a weekly special announced on Instagram.

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Last visited: 2025

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• Surry Hills
• Sang by Mabasa
• Sydney
• Korean
• Accepts bookings
• Separate bar
• BYO
• Takeaway
• Good for solo diners
• Restaurant
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• Good Food Guide
• Critics’ Pick