Snow Tree, 119 Hopkins Street, Footscray. Phone: 9689 0871
Consider The Sauce has been to Snow Tree once before when it was mostly a waffle/sweets place.
In the ensuing months I have been somewhat aware that the place has been evolving.
But it was only very recently that I noted that it now has a much more fetching interior and a much-extended menu.
Snow Tree has become a full-on Korean restaurant!
So it is that the same Team CTS of four rocks up for a feed.
Fried chicken is very much on our minds.
So at first we are shattered when we discover there is a big red cross drawn right through the fried chook section of the menu proper.
No problem – it’s all on its own laminated card.
But at Snow Tree, it has to be said, the fried chook list, the lunch menu and the menu proper are difficult to navigate, with a confusing range of “sets” and options.
Hard to know just how to do it for a group of four.
We settle on a whole chook to share and a main with condiments each.
Yep, we’re in over-order territory but not by much.
One of our mains is forgotten, but the boo-boo turnaround is admirably swift and in no way detracts from our dinner enjoyment.
Our whole chicken costs $29.
It’s just fine.
It comes with the requested “spicy” sauce and is festooned with chips.
Korean fried chicken has so rapidly become a bit of a craze that there seems to be heap of folks – bloggers and others – who are experts.
I am not one of them.
So I simply do not know if the chips and the masses of sticky sauce are traditional, normal or even acceptable.
For me, the chips seem redundant.
The sauce is spicy but makes for a supremely sticky – but not necessarily unenjoyable – eating experience.
The chicken itself?
Excellent.
My spicy beef “rip” stew ($14.50) is a bit of a mixed bag.
The gravy/soup is not terrifically spicy but has a tremendous depth of flavour.
I love the way it works with the vegetables and some rice.
There’s heaps of beef rib bits with sizable meat chunks (and fat). But the meat itself is chewy to the point of closing in on inedible.
Dang!
Bennie and Eliza both enjoy their “stone” bibimbap ($12), and I note with some envy that the rice bottom of Bennie’s dish is suitably brown and crunchy.
Josh goes for the spicy pork belly on rice ($10.50) and I hear no complaints from him.
The kimchee, slaw, bean sprouts and roast potato cubes (we think that’s what they are) that accompany all our dishes are OK without evincing much finesse.
The above-noted forgotten dish aside, the service is good and the wait times about right for the dishes we have ordered.
All minor quibbles aside, we enjoy our time at Snow Tree.
It strikes us as a winning Footscray spot for Korean food that can cater for a quick ten-buck solo lunch or for more relaxed meals for larger groups.
And the menu is comprehensive!
consider the sauce 
Our family had dinner at Snow Tree last Thursday. We thought the food was generally ok but not outstanding, and if you’re after Korean tucker there’s much better to be had in the city or North Melbourne. The dumplings stood out as badly cooked – they were greasy with partly-cooked skins.
The biggest let down was the service. It was difficult to order, even with one of us speaking Korean, and a part of our order was simply forgotten. Concerningly the waitress often ran around the restaurant – literally ran. Given the small space, the blind corners and the hot soups and other dishes on offer, this was an incredibly dumb thing for a staff member to do. With the range of dining options in Footscray, we’ll keep exploring elsewhere instead of going back.
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Hi Juz! Interesting and contrasting comment! Obviously, our experience was a more enjoyable.
But, yeah, “ok but not outstanding”? That pretty much sums it up.
I’ve only been to one of the North Melbourne places – Hallah.
Yes, the food was better – but not monumentally so.
And it was a lot more expensive. Snow Tree, even with three soft drinks and a beer, was a few cents over $20 each for the four of us.
I’ll be happy to return but with expectations in check.
Snow Tree is, for the moment at least, to Korean Footscray food what Sekai, just around the corner, is to Footscray Japanese.
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You nailed it with the comparison to Sekai!
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No need to be a blogger to be an expert (even though I am one). As long as the fried chicken taste good and you would happily reach for a second or third piece then I would call it great fried chicken!
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