Since migrating to Australia in 1994, Young Oh and Soon Ok have been powering the local food and drink industry, supplying Korean rice cakes to a wad of businesses out of their former Eastwood bakery. Keen to spread more creative wings, they took a sabbatical to Korea, Japan and Europe with their son Kevin Oh, returning armed with fresh ideas and opening soon after.
The space is slick, dark and minimalist, punctuated by a handcrafted brass counter up front. The signage and pendant lights were imported from Korea, a nod to modern-day Seoul.
“We spent countless hours on creating the most ideal environment, building most items from scratch and researching different cafés across Asia and Europe,” tells co-founder Kevin Oh.
LAB's offering is two-fold: there’s a café pouring Pablo & Rusty’s coffee and fresh juices, and a self-service bakery stocked with a mix of Asian and European treats. Croissants sit next to the soft and chewy chapssaltteok (red bean mochi), Japanese melonpan (melon bread) and rainbow cakes. There’s vegetable croquettes or taro, green tea or fresh fruit cakes. Everything is baked in-house from the bread up using Label Rouge Certified flour from France.
LAB are also doing Pat Bing Soo (‘bingsoo’), Korea’s national cloud-like shave ice (red bean is the hallmark flavour), pimped out with a rainbow of toppings, fruits and Oreos. Their drinks list is also straight out of Seoul.
“They seem to be the global trend-setters in the drinks market and we constantly get ideas by studying leading brands,” says Kevin.
Rainbow and taro cakes are just some of what's on offer at LAB. Source: LAB: The Bakery Cafe Experiment
Delightfully chewy red bean mochi sum up the pan Asian approach to sweets and desserts. Source: LAB: The Bakery Cafe Experiment
Pat Bing Soo (Bing Soo) is Korean shaves ice and comes with a rainbow of topping choices at LAB. Source: LAB: The Bakery Cafe Experiment
There’s matcha or berries slushies, the latter seeing berries frozen into the cubes before being blitzed. It's case in point of LAB's attention to the little things, and appreciation for the sweeter side of brunching; sweet tooths won't be disappointed here.
Mon - Fri 7am - 11:30pm; Sat 8am - 12am; Sun 8am - 11pm
4 The Boulevarde, Strathfield NSW
