There are days that chef Sunny Chae still pinches himself to make sure he's not dreaming.
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He used to walk past the former Restaurant Mason in Newcastle East and picture himself there, designing his own menu and preparing each dish with love.
Five months ago that dream came true when he opened CorEat at 35 Hunter Street. The menu is "modern Australian with Korean influence".
Chae's objective is to make sure they return for another meal. And another.
"That's why we just released our new menu, so customers will always have something to look forward to, something new they want to try, not just their favourites," he tells Food & Wine. "We appreciate the love we receive from our customers."
Chae has put a lot of thought into each dish. There are Korean touches throughout, some of them surprising.
"We've improved our calamari dish and it's now served with seafood pancakes - a Korean-inspired dish that my mum used to make me when I was young," he explained. "There's a scallop kilpatrick that is perfect to pair with your favourite wine, and a new high quality KimCheese wagyu cutlet.
"We like to support local business by using local ingredients and so we have a new entree for you to try - the Hunter Valley mushroom pizzetta with rocket salad."
The refreshed wine menu features Glandore Estate, Tyrrell's, Brokenwood Wines, Meerea Park and Krinklewood Estate in the Hunter Valley, as well as Boydell's Wines from East Gresford.
"We highly recommend that you try our new Hunter Valley mushroom pasta made with special home-made truffle butter, and the new pork belly three-way which comes with steamed soy paper cannelloni and Korean meatballs," Chae said.
"The smoked duck breast comes with seaweed noodle and crab salad, there's slow-cooked beef cheeks in Kalbi sauce that will amaze you with its tenderness, and a herb marinated lamb rack with an eggplant salad which is a recipe from my mum.
"Of course the perfect way to finish a special meal is to end it with a dessert - we have a new chocolate mousse served with flourless chocolate cake and macadamia ice-cream.
"Also new is a sorbet trio (lemon, sorbet berries and green apple) that comes with a scoop of fermented sweet rice gel, which is a traditional Korean drink that I make and change the texture to a gel."
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