Korean Archives - Page 2 of 8

In Cafe

812 Cake and Dessert: Korean Cake in Burnaby

February 14, 2018

812 Cake and Dessert denotes their 8 signature cakes and desserts, crafted from a 12 step baking process. They specialize in cakes and desserts all handcrafted. All items here are inspired by local, seasonal ingredients and prepared daily. They are located close to Gilmore skytrain in Burnaby and there are parking spots out front.

Cakes

When we arrived, they have most of the cakes available but one of them was sold out.

Tiramisu

I got a slice of the tiramisu and it has layers of mascarpone cream and espresso chantilly. The slices are a good size and delicious.

Sweet Potato

This has sweet potato mousse made with freshly cooked sweet potato and diplomat cream. One of my favourite sweet potato cake I’ve had. Highly recommended.

Salted Caramel

This cake has salted caramel chantilly made with house made salted caramel sauce and fresh whipping cream. I personally wasn’t a fan of this cake.

Strawberry Cheese Tart

Strawberry Cake

There are layers of Mascarpone chantilly with fresh strawberries.

Blueberry

There are layers of Mascarpone chantilly with house made blueberry compote.

Blueberry Cheese

This cake is different as it has cheese mousse with house made blueberry compote.

Iced Tea

They also have different teas and coffees on the menu to go with the cakes. We had the Basic Black Iced Tea and the Berry Herbal Tisane.

Final Thoughts

There are some really good cakes here at this cafe.

We Rate 812 Cake and Dessert:

Address:
4208 Dawson St, Burnaby, BC

Website:
https://812cake.com/

In Korean

Bon Chon Chicken: Soy Garlic Fried Chicken

January 8, 2018

Bon Chon Chicken is a South Korean-based international fried chicken restaurant chain in New York. Majority of the US locations are in California and New York. We came on Thanksgiving long weekend and they were open. We wanted to come here for a visit as their fried chicken sounds and looks good.

Interior

This particular location near Wall Street wasn’t anything special. There is a large bar on the right side and seating on the left. Since it was the 5 of us, we were seated right away as Wall Street tends to die at night.

Soy Garlic Signature Fried Chicken

We got the medium size of drumsticks with 10 pieces per order. The chicken drumsticks were pretty huge and crispy even with the soy garlic sauce. Highly recommended.

Bibimbap

This has white rice, assorted seasonal vegetables, topped with egg, served in a sizzling stone bowl with Korean red pepper paste on the side. We added bulgogi to this item. The dish was meh.

Beer

Of course, if you have fried chicken, you need beer. Just stick with fried chicken and beer at Bon Chon.

We Rate Bon Chon:

Address:
104 John St. New York

Website:
https://bonchon.com

In Downtown

Black Rice Izakaya: Winter Menu

December 29, 2017

Black Rice Izakaya in Vancouver is always trying to have seasonal items on the menu to keep items fresh and also cater to the tastebuds for the winter months. They have released 6 new dishes for the cold winter season.

Interior

There is a lot of space for groups of 2s and 4s, if you have a larger group, best to get a reservation so you don’t have to wait during peak hours.

Hamaguri Dobin Mushi

This has Hamaguri, water, salt, pepper string and yuzu peel. It is a very comforting broth that is peppery and ends with the citrus yuzu peel.

Goma Tuna

You have chunks of the tuna marinated in delicious sauce. Then a crisp rice cake on top. There is also a cucumber cup filled with uni. I liked this dish as it has nice clean flavours.

Kichi Scallop Motoyaki

In the shell is kimchi, chopped bell pepper, butter and cheese. A rich dish due to the butter and cheese, but cooked kimchi is very comforting in the winter months.

Neapolitan Spaghetti

There is soba noodle, tomato sauce, ketchup, bacon, sausage, onion and egg. I found it a touch too sweet, but some people at the table really enjoyed it.

Kimchi Nabe

A hot warming hot pot that is kept warm by the fame under it. It’s not too spicy at all. I find that some kimchi is better is soups where its flavours can really shine through.

Terikayi Wagyu Steak

This sizzling plate has Teriyaki glazed US wagyu beef from Snake River Farms, Monterey Jack and mozzarella cheese with mashed potatoes. It’s cooked till a medium rare for the quality of meat to shine through.

Sake Drinks

Of course it’s not winter without some delicious sake cocktails to go with the meal. With the winter, there is lots to celebrate around the table during the holidays. They have a lot of options on their beverage menu.

Beer

If you’re like me, I enjoy beer more than sake for the crisp bubbly taste. There is Sapporo and Asahi on top, but I usually gravitate towards Sapporo.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the new items are good additiona to the menu to give customer more options during the winter. I didn’t love all the dishes as I prefer more of a clean taste to my food, but I did like the Hamaguri Dobin Mushi and Goma Tuna.

We Rate Black Rice Izakaya:

Address:
782 Cambie St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.blackrice.ca/

In Cafe

Saemaul: Rice Dessert Cafe in Coquitlam

September 8, 2017

Saemaul is a rice dessert cafe in Coquitlam. It is hidden away in a strange looking plaza. They specialize in rice-based desserts and I was pretty excited to give this place a try since they have more than just rice cake. My foodie friends invited me to tag along to take a few things off their menu.

Interior

The interior is simple with lots of tables and chairs. Since they are pretty new, this place wasn’t very busy on a weekday. It’s still a well kept secret.

Jolly Pong Shake

This sweet milky drink is topped with Jolly Pong rice puffs. It reminded us of milk and ice cream because of it’s thick-ish texture.

Injeolmi Snow Ice Flake

Injeolmi is essentially rice cake with roasted soybean flour. They also paired it with red bean in this snow ice flake. They also have other flavours too, so if you aren’t into injeolmi, there is chocolate, mango, strawberry, coffee and classic red bean.

Dipping Chocolate Fondue with Rice Cakes and Fruit

This cute interactive dessert has 2 different kinds of rice cake. One has different layers of colour like a rainbow and the other has more tough like regular rice cakes. Then you also have strawberries, kiwi and bananas.

Homemade Rice Flour Waffles

My favourite item of the night were these homemade rice flour waffles. It took them a long time to perfect the recipe but it’s is nothing I’ve ever had before. It’s super crisp and crunchy. I would definitely order this again.

Rice Cake Churros

The rice cakes are dusted with sugar and cinnamon. It was decent but you didn’t need this many churros to satisfy your cravings.

Rice Roll Cakes

There was the matcha rice roll cake and strawberry rice roll cake. You can tell it’s made of rice flour as the texture was more dense.

Red Bean Mochi

This was good! It’s delicious when it’s made fresh. It has a pillowy soft texture with the red bean hiding inside.

Rice Cheese Cake

I enjoyed this dessert too. It has a rice flour crust and I didn’t notice it too much. I just kept eating it and would order this again.

Overall, some desserts were a hit and miss, but there are definitely a few gems like the waffles.

We Rate Saemaul Cafe:

Address:
B-901 Lougheed Highway, Coquitlam

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/saemaulcafe/

In Gastown

Haru Korean Restaurant in Gastown

July 4, 2017

Haru Korean Restaurant is open in Gastown serving homey Korean food. My friend and I were passing by for dinner and decided we wanted to give this place a try. We love to wander around downtown to find whatever restaurant interests us so we can find more of the hidden places around town.

Interior

The interior is mostly wooden with accents of this colourful stripped fabric. There is a decent amount of space for small to large groups. For large groups, they take reservations.

Tea

As we sat down to look over the menu, they gave us some hot tea.

Complimentary Salad

The green salad has radishes and a light vinaigrette. A nice start to the meal.

Complimentary Kimchi

Kimchi is a must at any Korean restaurant and it usually comes complimentary, It’s part of the whole experience.

Kimchi Fried Rice

This is fried white rice with kimchi, pork, onion and topped with a round fried egg. The kimchi fried rice was ok, I found that it needed a bit more kimchi and it was very very oily with the onions.

Jap-Chae Noodle

There is stir fried clear noodles with veggies seasoned in house special soy sauce. A good portion for an individual.

Seafood Pancake

The seafood pancake is pretty big. It has seafood and green onion in the batter, but I thought it was pretty average. Nothing special to have it stand out.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the food here was average and nothing stood out. Some dishes were pretty oily and unnecessarily greasy. I can see this would be a good lunch spot.

We Rate Haru Korean Kitchen:

Address:
324 Cambie St, Vancouver

Website:
https://www.harukoreankitchen.com

In BBQ

Hanwoori: Korean BBQ in Burnaby

May 30, 2017

Hanwoori Korean Restaurant in Burnaby is popular for their Korean BBQ Set meals. We came here on Mother’s Day and they were all booked up with reservations, but they still told us to show up early at 5pm as there would be seats open.

Interior

There is some ventilation in the restaurant, but it isn’t very powerful. If you are dining here, don’t wear your best clothes as they will smell. All the tables here are booth seating.

Korean BBQ

We went with Combo B, which serves 4-5 people. This comes with:

prime beef ribs
sliced beef
sliced chicken
spicy pork marinated in house special BBQ sauce
deep-fried pork and vegetable dumpling
stir-fried vermicelli noodles with pork and assorted vegetables
beef bone broth
steamed rice
5 complimentary side dishes

The deep-fried pork and vegetable dumpling came out first and it comes with 6 pieces. Crisp on the outside and savoury on the inside.

The stir-fried vermicelli noodles with pork and assorted vegetables was delicious and it has dominant flavour of soy and sesame.

All the meat arrived in one huge plate.

They add butter to the BBQ grill plate and begin placing the prime beef ribs first.

As we waited for the meat to be cooked, we nibbled on all the side dishes.

The grill does burn after awhile, so make sure to ask the staff for a new grill. We changed ours about 4 times in total.

Seafood pancake

We ordered the seafood pancake to add some more to our meal. It was good and had lots of ingredients packed inside. The way that they cut it, there ends up to be 16 pieces.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was a good meal, but we stunk like BBQ afterwards. Every single piece of clothing was smoky.

We Rate Hanwoori:

Address:
5740 Imperial Street, Burnaby

In Cafe

Black Milk Water: Coffee Shop in Coquitlam

March 5, 2017

Black Milk Water Coffee and Dessert is a new cafe that opened up on North Road between Burnaby and Coquitlam. This cafe is located on the bottom floor hidden in the left corner of the plaza.

Interior

The interior has an industrial look to it with the cement, steel and wood textures. Lots of seats and the space is quite open.

It wasn’t too busy here, so it was easy to find a seat in the middle of the day on a weekend.

Matcha Frapp

Matcha Frapps come in a plastic cup, but if you want it in a glass jar, you can ask them ahead of time.

The matcha frapp was good and a great treat. Very cold, but it is a bit icy once you drink most of the liquid.

Duo Cups

They have these duo cups where you can have 2 different iced coffees. I had a iced vanilla latte and mocha. When you need 2 boosts of caffeine, this is for you.

Cappuccino

The cappuccino hit the spot and it’s made with Timbertrain coffee beans. A taste of the downtown coffee shop in the subburbs.

Final Thoughts

It’s a pretty solid coffee shop, but their dessert selection could be a bit larger. With other desserts and coffee shops in the same plaza, there’s definitely some competition. I find that most coffee shops are super crowded on the weekends, so if you are looking for an alternative, this might be the place for you.

We Rate Black Milk Water:

Address:
4501 N Road, Burnaby

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/black_milk_water/

In Coquitlam

Smoking Pig: Korean Food in Coquitlam

February 24, 2017

Smoking Pig is a new restaurant that opened up in Coquitlam and it’s opened by the people who created Ramengers. I came here with the family for lunch. The parking is limited as there are only a few spots out front.

They have Korean comfort food like stews, soup, rice bowls, and smoked pork.

Interior

The interior is very simple, but it is decorated with comic books and cases of figurines. The look is a bit confusing as its hard to tell if it’s a family restaurant or a restaurant for younger people.

The menu is very cute as there are piggies drawn for each dish.

Side Dishes – Banchan

Before the dishes we ordered arrived, a few side dishes arrived to munch on. There was pickled radish and cabbage with a light sauce.

Pork & Rice Soup – dwaeji-gukbap

Pork soup with chives, green onions, and pork meat. This is one of the features dishes.

Pork Backbone Stew – Gamja-tang

Spicy pork backbone soup with meat, potato, cabbage, green onion, and perilla seeds.

Boneless Fried Chicken

You can either choose fried spicy chicken or fried soy chicken. We went with the fried soy chicken with half a chicken. You can also get a whole chicken too.

It was crisp and and covered in the delicious soy sauce.

Fried Dumpling

Fried dumpling comes with 6 pieces and is served with a sweet sauce. The fried dumplings were a bit mediocre.

Final Thoughts

The soups and stews were very delicious and comforting. When I went there, they were short staffed, so a few other items on their menu were unavailable. There were a few hits and misses, but they have opened quite recently, so they have some kinks to work out.

We rate the Smoking Pig:

Address:
1043 Brunette Ave, Coquitlam

Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/smkpig

In BBQ

Arisu: Korean BBQ in Coquitlam

December 24, 2016

Arisu is a Korean BBQ place in Coquitlam. I came here with a few friends on the weekend to hang out and find a new place to try out.

As a Korean restaurant, they have a variety of items besides BBQ.

Interior

A majority of the seating is booth seating. Tables all have grills and ventilation over top.

Our booth had a TV playing music videos. There was also a button where you can call the servers without looking around to flag them down. It makes the service a lot better, so they don’ have to read your mind.

Drinks

A Korean restaurant isn’t complete without a good drink menu. They have beer, soju, sake and other alcohol. I went with a beer as usual.

Banchan

Banchan are complimentary side dishes that arrive with the meal. We had 4 in total.

One of them features zucchini with onion, and carrots. Served cold and tasted good.

The next one had seaweed and had a nice pickled taste to it.

Kimchi is a staple and a good way to see if the restaurant can make a good basic kimchi. It was ok, but I like mine a bite more crunchy and sour.

Last, we got some shredded cabbage with a light dressing. It balanced very well with the grilled meat that we ordered.

Jok Bal

Jok Bal is steamed soy marinated pork hocks. The serving size was very generous, but the quality was lacking. It was tough and didn’t seem very fresh.

The dish came with lettuce wraps and some sauces to eat with it.

Steamed Egg in a Hot Clay Pot

Steamed Egg in a Hot Clay Pot looked pretty awesome but was a bit bland. It definitely needed a bit more salt and pepper.

BBQ Meats

Boneless Kalbi Short Ribs are beautifully marbled, but the biggest fault to their BBQ meats is the grill and the overly attentive service.

What I enjoy most about having the BBQ grill at the table is that you cook it yourself. Since it was a quite night at the restaurant, the meat was flipped for us by multiple servers.

Also, the BBQ Grill is quite weak and due to the thin metal threads of the grill, it cooked very slowly and let the meat cook in a weird way.

Beef Tongue was thin and the slices looked very nice. Nice cut of meat, but we still had similar problems with the grill and the servers flipping it for us.

I totally understand why they would flip it for us to ensure that it’s cooked well, but the young server that we had didn’t seem to know what he was doing.

Overall, we found more misses with their food. Their cuts of meat are really nice but everything else wasn’t able to help cook the meat to its full potential. With other BBQ restaurants in the area, they have tough competition. Also, even though they have ventilation above the grills, you will leave the restaurant smelling like meat. It’s a common occurrence with other BBQ restaurants too, so don’t wear your favourite clothes here. I really wanted to like this place, but my friends and I were disappointed.

We rate Arisu Korean BBQ:

Address:
4501 North Rd #203, Burnaby, BC

In Coquitlam

Chicken Holic: Fried Chicken in Coquitlam

November 15, 2016

Chicken Holic is a new Fried Chicken shop in Coquitlam on Austin Road. We passed by and Chicken Holic caught our eye so we took the chance and decided to grab some food here after our first dinner.

They specialize in Korean fried chicken and have a few other dishes on their menu. I love going to unknown restaurants to discover those hidden gems around town.

Interior

The interior is very basic. A few tables and a counter to order. We did see people do take out but not too many eating in, which worked out for us as we had a large group.

Boneless Fried Chicken

Small Crispy Boneless Chicken was a must as it is the most classic item to order here. You can see how well they fry the chicken as it is crisp on the outside and the inside is still very moist. When I’m at a Korean Fried Chicken shop, I ordered this as I prefer chicken without sauce.

Small Soy Garlic Boneless Fried Chicken and Small Sweet & Chili Boneless Fried Chicken were combined in one larger plate. People around the table enjoyed these 2 flavours as there is more taste and dimension to these. Of the 2 favours, the soy garlic inched out ahead.

Deep Fried Dumplings are filled with veggies. 6 pieces to an order, so there is 2 orders in this basket. These were super crisp on the outside and the filling was delicious.

Side Dishes and Sauce

We got pickled radishes as a side dish to go with all the fried chicken that we ordered. It was nice to have to break up the fatty taste.

They also gave us honey mustard sauce and BBQ sauce to dip the fried chicken into.

Final Thoughts

I was pleasantly surprised by Chicken Holic. This hole in the wall has some good Korean Fried Chicken.

We Rate Chicken Holic:

Address:
1104 Austin Avenue, Coquitlam, BC

In Coquitlam

Ta Bom: Korean BBQ in Coquitlam

November 10, 2016

Ta Bom serves up Korean cuisine, but what they are known for is their Hot Plate items with egg, cheese and corn. The line up was ok at 5 pm, but once it got to 5:30, there was a long lineup out the door.

I’ve heard that lines could be anywhere from 30 mins to 1 hour. So, the group of us made sure we got here early to avoid any lines.

Side Dishes

Before the meal, they provide their customers with banchan, which are complimentary side dishes. There were potatoes, kimchi and bean sprouts.

Hot Plate

They have 6 different varieties to choose from:

Dak-galbi – Stir-fried spicy chicken
Bulgogi – beef bulgogi
Pork- bulgogi
Jeyuk-bokkeum – Stir-fried spicy pork
Jukkumi-bokkeum – stir-fried spicy small octopus
Jukkumi-Jeyuk-bokkeum – Stir Fried Spicy small octopus and pork

They all come with the side of egg and corn. You can add the extra cheese from $5 more.

You need to order a minimum 2 portions for these hot plates, but since we had 6 people, we just ordered 2 portions of the stir Fried Spicy small octopus & pork and 2 portions of the beef bulgogi.

Jukkumi-Jeyuk-bokkeum

Jukkumi-Jeyuk-bokkeum has stir-fried spicy small octopus and pork. We made sure to order the extra cheese.

As the gas stove starts, make sure to stir the items on the grill so it cooks evenly. The little octopus look really cute. This dish is delicious but it is spicy, so if you can’t handle spice, you may not want to order this.

They come over and cut the octopus into bite size pieces so you don’t have to have a hard time chewing it.

Once you’re done eating, make sure you leave the sauce so you can order the rice for $3 extra and they mix it into the sauce and bits left over.

Beef Bulgogi

We also got Beef Bulgogi as a non-spicy option. It was nice to have this with the other spicy dish to balance it all out. Good flavours and cheese was so gooey and addictive.

I would highly recommend Ta Bom for something a bit different than the other Korean restaurants in the area. There are no reservations, so come early.

We Rate Ta Bom:

Address:
1046 Austin Avenue, Coquitlam

In Downtown

TAKO: Korean-Mexican Fusion Taco Shop in Vancouver

October 20, 2016

Tacqueria Koreano, aka TAKO is a new fusion Korean and Mexican Taco shop right by Stadium Skytrain Station. One of my favourite fusion cuisines is Korean and Mexican, the flavours meld pretty good together. There have been other food trucks out in Vancouver that have done something similar.

I was invited along with a few foodies to give a few items on their menu a try.

Interior

The interior is pretty small, but they have outside and inside seating. If it’s a rainy day outside, you’ll be able to find a seat here.

Taco

Gangnam Taco has BBQ short rib. There is a generous amount of BBQ short rib in this taco. The taco is a decent size and you can finish it in 2-3 bites.

Jeju Taco has spicy pork belly as the centrepiece of this delicious taco.

Seoul Taco has deep -fried chicken. The chicken is pretty good, but I felt they were a bit heavy on the gochujang sauce.

Tako Taco has grilled beef belly. Similar to the Jeju taco, I felt they were also a bit heavy handed on the sauce.

Busan Taco has prawn tempura. This taco wasn’t that great compared to the other tacos as it was drenched in sauce, so by the time you eat your taco, the tempura isn’t as crisp.

Burritos

They have a variety of different burritos and it has kimchi fried rice, corn, cheese and your choice of meat. You can choose between spicy pork, BBQ Short Rib or bulgogi. It’s very filling and you can’t go wrong with any of the meats.

Quesadilla

Kimchi Quesadilla has pan-fried kimchi, bulgogi, corn, red onion, and cheese. It is topped off with sesame seed, green onion and sour cream. My favourite of the 2 quesadilla.

Omma Quesadilla has bulgogi, mushroom, cheese, and red onion. The gochujang sauce was a nice touch.

Seoul Chicken

The Seoul Chicken was very good. Crunchy texture with moist pieces of meat on the inside. I would order this again.

Bibimbap Bowl

Bibimbap Bowl has assorted veggies on rice with soft boiled egg and your choice of meat. There is BBQ short rib, bulgogi or spicy pork. I liked the spicy pork as it added a bit of kick to the dish. The egg was phenomenal.

TAKO Poutine

Their poutine isn’t your traditional poutine. You won’t find cheese curd and gravy on these fries. You choose your protein and it is topped with a bunch of accompanying sauces. Yet again, very sauce heavy.

Rice Cake Skewers come with 5 pieces on a skewer. You’ll get the similar gochujang flavour that is smothered on these rice cakes.

Final Thoughts

Overall, my favourite items were the quesadilla and the burritos. A good item to have for lunch. The bibimbap was nice too as they egg is just so good. The tacos were decent but it is a bit heavy handed with the sauce.

We Rate TAKO:

Address:
601 Expo Boulevard, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.takovancouver.com/

In Kid Friendly

Samsoonie: Korean Food in Richmond + Dumpling Trail

October 18, 2016

Samsoonie Noodle & Rice is located in Richmond and they serve Korean cuisine. I love Korean restaurants especially for their dumplings – mandu, so I couldn’t wait to try this place out.

We came here as part of the Tourism Richmond’s Dumpling Trail trying out the different dumplings in town. Richmond is a foodie city filled with amazing Asian cuisine. They get pretty busy around noon, so make sure you beat the rush.

Interior

The inside looks ok, but people come here for their food as they have a good variety of Korean food on the menu.

Dumplings

Wonton Soup was delicious. Good flavour of the broth and the wontons inside. A nice twist on what I’m used to having.

Boiled Dumplings come in either 5 or 10 pieces. We went with the 5 pieces so we could try more dumplings on the menu. It comes with a soy sauce mixture to dip your dumplings into. The filling was good but a tad dry.

Pan Fried Dumpling is half way between boiled and fried dumplings. We found this filling was a bit dry too. Perhaps it was the batch for these dumplings.

Deep Fried Dumplings was the favourite of the bunch as this filling was a bit more moist compared to the pan-fried and boiled dumplings. A nice crisp exterior with the juicy filling on the inside. Very good.

Side Dishes

I love the different that arrive at the table complimentary. At bean sprouts and kimchi are the ones that come to the table. Both very delicious.

Other dishes

Sweet and Sour Pork is very different that what you would find int a Chinese restaurant. It is deep fried in a batter and then has a little bit of sauce on top.

Korean Style Roll has carrot burdock, spinach, egg and radish pickle. Is like a Japanese sushi roll but cut thinner and uses similar ingredients in a bibimbap. A good item to share with the table.

Pork Bone Stew has big pieces of pork and a very flavourful stews. It really hits the spot for days when its cold and wet outside.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Samsoonie is a pretty decent Korean restaurant in Richmond. It brings me back to some of my favourite Korean dishes.

We Rate Samsoonie:

Address:
8211 Westminster Highway, Richmond

In Izakaya

Kuma Izakaya: Drinks and Asian Fusion in Yaletown

August 15, 2016

Kuma Izakaya is located in Yaletown close to the Skytrain. They serve up Japanese and Korean dishes with a hint of French influence. At first it can seem confusing how all 3 types of cuisines would come together.

We were invited to try out their signature dishes and learn more about the restaurant and their chef/owner – Hyun Woo Kim.

Chef Kim has worked at various restaurants around the world like The French Laundry in Napa Valley, the prestigious 3 Michelin star restaurant. You can see this influence penetrate the menu with French, Japanese and Korean.

The interior is pretty nice and cozy with a dark feel. They also have a patio so you can eat outside during the nice Summers. I can see this place bring very popular during that late evenings as they have a good range of Korean liquors.

Drinks

They have soju imported from South Korea, which is awesome since it’s hard to find the flavoured soju bottles.

Their flavours include:

Original
Citron
Apple
Peach
Grapefruit

My friends and I love finding restaurants in downtown with flavoured soju, its pretty hard to find because it gets sold out quite easily. I know I’ll definitely be back for these flavoured sojus.

They also have peach makgeolli, which is a flavoured rice wine. Also really good. It makes it super easy to drink.

Food

Kuma Salad with Tomatoes was piled up high and presented nicely. A good use of different textures in this salad.

Kuma Signature Salad has fresh greens topped with sliced avocado, sliced tomato, pickles, house-made ricotta cheese, and crispy yam. It is drizzled with balsamic and house dressing.

Mango Ebimayo comes with 5 pieces of the deep-fried prawns with mango sauce. The mango added a bit of sweetness to it. You should eat it right away as it loses its crunch quite quickly due to the sauce.

Crispy Chicken has crispy deep-fried boneless chicken with pan-fried veggies and a Korean-style sauce. A good dish for sharing among friends. With all the sauce in this dish, the skin wasn’t as crisp when it arrived on the table.

Osso Buco uses premium AAA beef ribs simmered in house made soy sauce. It is also served with rice.

They also have it as in a spicy version. The beef was super flavourful and tender.

Kuma Chirashi Tartare has balsamic spicy aburi tuna, assorted sashimi served on sushi rice, avocado dressing and garnished with tenkatsu and yam flakes. Taking the first few bites, I didn’t wow me like how Miku’s chirashi tart. The heaviness from the spicy tuna sauce over powered the rest of the layers underneath.

Assorted sashimi was served in an ice cold bowl. Chef Kim chose an assortment from like ika, tuna, hamachi, and sockeye salmon. Very cool presentation and the sashimi tasted great.

Kuma Seafood Champon has noodles in hearty tomato seafood soup. Simmered with assorted pan-fried vegetables, chilli oils, and chilli powder. A good amount of seafood inside and the broth was very good and flavourful. Not too spicy. It’s a pretty big portion, so it can be sharable.

Assorted Aburi Nigiri has Hamachi and Amaebi. The assortment was all presented on one plate.

The aburi amaebi is seared with some sauce on the top. A good sear

The deep fried shrimp heads were ok

The aburi hamachi was pretty good, but could have used a but more char to it.

Overall, a very diverse menu, but still their aburi doesn’t hit the mark as Miku does. Kuma does make it their own style and doesn’t compare. The dishes I thought were pretty outstanding are the dishes with more of a Korean flavour profile like the Kuma Seafood Champon and the Osso Buco.

We Rate Kuma Izakaya:

Address:
233 Hamilton Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.izakayakuma.com/

In Coquitlam

Ajuker: Korean Fried Chicken

July 16, 2016

Ajuker Fried Chicken has been a hidden gem in Coquitlam for quite some time now. Its pretty hidden and only those who dare to walk in.

They stay open till 2am on most nights and is very popular among students in the area. I came here a lot when I was in University and I still come here once in a while for some beer and chicken.

Drinks

The drink of choice here is beer. We usually get whatever is on special.

Complimentary Items

When you order beer, peanuts and a spicy tofu broth arrives at the table. Usually when dining in Korean restaurants or bars, they give you a few complimentary items as “service”.

Chicken

Fried Chicken has the bone in and covered in their secret batter and its fried till its super crispy. It’s so good and flavourful! I consider it better than Church’s Chicken.

Fried Chicken with Sweet Soy Sauce is the crispy pieces of fried chicken covered in a sweet soy-based sauce. If you thought the original was good, this is even better.

Fried Chicken in sweet and spicy sauce was the original chicken tossed in their house-made sauce. This was good too but I usually don’t like chicken drenched in sauce.

Grilled boneless chicken with cheese comes sizzling hot when it arrives at the table. It was ok, but not as good as the deep fried chicken.

Other dishes

Buttered corn and cheese is pretty awesome as an additional item. You can’t go wrong with this dish.

Seafood pancake is pretty meh here. I wouldn’t get it again.

Overall, the chicken is awesome here and the prices are very good. I would highly recommend this place.

We Rate Ajuker Fried Chicken:

Address:
101-508 Clarke Road, Coquitlam

In Dessert

Snowy Village: Open on Robson Street

June 27, 2016

Snowy Village has their second location on Robson Street right beside Ramen Santouka. When they first opened in Richmond, people were lining up like mad trying to get a taste of their milky shaved ice and the croissant taiyaki.

You will see a line up outside the store, but it’s for Ramen Santouka. After being here twice, it’s not too busy compared to the Richmond location.

Ordering

We put in our order and started to wait for a table to open up. We noticed there were a lot of people getting bingsoo or the taiyaki for takeout. It’s pretty easy to get it to go and eat it at English Bay or Coal Harbour.

They also do cash, credit or debt.

Sizes

One major difference in what they serve is the size of the bingsoo. Even if you are eating the dessert in the store, they don’t use their nice metal bowls. It looks smaller, but because of the shape difference, I can’t be certain if the volume of shaved ice is different.

Bingsoo

Mango Bingoo is the most popular item that customers order, There is layers of mango chunks, mango puree and the milky shaved ice.

I like the fruity bingsoo as it is more refreshing.

Oreo Bingoo has the layer of oreo then the milky shaved ice. I like it but I always fear of smiling after since the oreo bits would hide between my teeth.

Injeolmi Bingsoo has red bean with it too. Injeolmi is a Korean rice cake snack. This smaller size also has the layers, but I found that as we kept digging into it, we wanted more of the injeolmi.

Green Tea Bingsoo has a sprinkling of green tea, red bean and some spongey cake. There definitely need to have more green tea in it.

Croissant Taiyaki

Each Croissant Taiyaki is made to order. You can watch the guy make it at the front of the store and smell the delicious aroma of the taiyaki.

They come in 5 flavours:

red bean
injeolmi red bean
custard cream
sweet potato
nutella

It did take a little while for them to be cook it, so the bingsoo came out before these.

We bought 3 for $10 and of all the flavours, I still prefer the nutella taiyaki.

Each order, we also got a wet nap to clean our hands. A nice touch, but we weren’t that messy.

Overall, it’s still good bingsoo and there’s no other shop to get it in the area of Robson. It would be nice if they had more fruit options on their menu. During peak hours it can be hard to get a table, but I find the turnover to be quite quick.

We Rate Snowy Village:

Address:
1696 Robson Street, Vancouver

In Cafe

Snowy Village Dessert Cafe: Korean Bingsoo and Croissant Taiyaki

March 21, 2016

Snowy Village Dessert Cafe is the hottest…or should I say coolest dessert shop in Richmond at the moment. Line ups are long every evening and if you come in a group of 4 or more, you are going to be waiting for a while during peak times. They are best known for their Korean style shaved ice with milky ice instead of the pure ice shavings.

The group of 5 of us waited close to an hour on a Sunday around 7pm. You put your name down on the wait list and linger around till your name gets called. For us, it was a pretty bad experience since the server almost skipped us on the list and told us to wait outside in the pouring rain and gusty winds.

Apparently there was an option to leave your phone number and they will call you back when its closer to your groups turn. It would have been nice if they gave us this option.

All seats were occupied and there was also a line up to get take out.

If you don’t have patience, take out might be your best option.

The prices are higher for take out, but it comes in the regular size.

The price difference is due to the fact they add ice packs and have an insulated bag to keep it cool on the way home. We did see quite a bit of people ordering take out.

Once you go to the counter to order, they give you a ticket with your order number. Once the order is ready, they will call it out.

If you don’t know what to order, they have all their items on display.

All the ones in the display case is a large, so if you are getting a regular sized bingsoo, it will be a bit smaller.

Taiyaki is a fish-shaped cake with different types of fillings inside. They have 2 grills to cook them. The whole restaurant smells of the sweet taiyaki.

You can have it filled with either:

Red Bean
Ingeolmi Redbean
Custard Cream
Sweet Potato
Nutella

We got ours with Nutella and Custard Cream. The custard cream reminded me of vanilla pudding snacks from childhood. Not very good at all.

The Nutella was a bit better but it was slightly sweet.

Mango Bingsoo came with lots of fresh mango and whipped cream over the milk bingoo. I like the airy milky ice. A lot better than the traditional non-flavoured ice.

Green Tea Bingsoo with Korean rice cakes, red bean, green tea cake, and almonds.

Under all those toppings, the milky ice is hidden underneath.

Strawberry Bingsoo has strawberry bits, strawberry sauce and whipped cream.

Overall, I liked the fruit bingsoo a lot more. I prefer fresh fruits over the other types of toppings. I did enjoy it but the line ups were too long to come again.

We Rate Snowy Village:

Address:
8571 Alexandra Drive, Richmond

In Kid Friendly

Haroo: Korean Cuisine in Richmond

March 19, 2016

Haroo Restaurant is located on Alexandra Road as is one of the top Korean restaurants in Richmond. Everyone seems to come here. I met up with a few foodie friends to check it out. I love Korean food and I still haven’t been here. I’ve eaten at a majority of the restaurants around K Town in Coquitlam and thought it was time to visit.

There is parking on the main level and the 2nd floor but it is very busy, so hunting for a spot might be tough.

The restaurant isn’t very large, but has mostly booth seating. You definitely want to make reservations before coming here. One the night we came here, it was so busy that they had to turn people away who did not have reservations.

Complimentary Korean Congee arrived at the table. One small bowl for each person at the table. Good start to the meal.

Kimchi Fried Rice was surprisingly small for $12.50. The flavour was nice and I loved the egg on top.

They also give you 5 complimentary side dishes for the whole table.

Soybean Sprouts is a standard side dish that Korean restaurants serve. One of my favourites as it is coated with a bit of sesame oil.

Green Salad had a carrot shaped like a star. Very colourful and simple.

Kimchi is a fermented side dish made of cabbage and other vegetables that tastes sour and a bit spicy.

Marinated Potatoes is another favourite of the table. Soft texture and slightly sweet.

Sweetened fish cake was good as well. There were stands of onions in this too.

Gamjatang Hot Pot is a pork back bone and potato hot pot. Is is already pre-cooked, so you just need to bring it up to a hotter temperature.

It was a good hearty hot pot and it came with 2 small bowls of rice. It was pretty expensive at around $30.

Seafood Pancake came out super crispy and is unique compared to other Korean restaurants. It seems like it was deep-fried as every inch of it was crisp. This is highly recommended.

Cheese Tteokbbokki has rice, pasta, meat, and vegetables in a spicy sauce then topped off with cheese. This was surprisingly really good. You can’t go wrong with anything covered in cheese.

Overall, it was a nice restaurant to go to in Richmond if you are craving Korean food, but it is price is a bit higher. Parking can be a nightmare in this area.

We Rate Haroo:

Address:
Venezia Place
2000-8580 Alexandra Road, Richmond