Category

Korean

Category

Hee-Rae-Deung-1

Hee Rae Deung is a Korean Chinese Restaurant on North Road in the same plaza as the Independent Grocer. Since we knew it was a busy day, we came here at 5:45pm on a weekend for dinner, to our surprise, there was already a long wait ahead of us. We waited for about 30 minutes until we got seated.

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To start off the meal, they give us pickled radish, bean paste and onion. You take a piece of the raw onion and put a little bit of bean paste to it. It changes the flavour completely.

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Deep fried dumplings are a must if you are in a group. There are about 10 dumplings to an order.

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Packed full of delicious pork and veggies inside the deep-fried shell.

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Sweet and Sour Fried Pork comes with a lot for one dish. Plenty to go around the table. They serve the sauce and pork separately to ensure the pork remains crisp until you devour it with the sauce.

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The pieces are pretty big, so you may want to cut them up into smaller pieces.

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You definitely need the sauce since it’s not the same without it.

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Gan Ja Jang is noodles with a mixture of stir fried veggies, pork and black bean sauce. This is one of the specialty items here, plus some Koreans have said this is the best place to get Ja Jang Myun.

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Look at that delicious bowl.

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You have to mix vigorously with your chopsticks to combine the sauce and noodles together. It takes a bit of effort, but its so worth it.

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Messy bowl, but it sure is delicious.

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Stir Fried Rice is my absolute favourite! There is the fried rice with egg on top, with a salad and black bean sauce. It is also served with a spicy seafood soup.

Overall, we enjoyed all the dishes. We think all groups should order the above items. We came in a group of 4 and had a little bit of leftovers.

We Rate Hee Rae Deung:4rated

Address:
435 North Road
Coquitlam, BC

Hee Rae Deung Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

kim-inner

It’s been 3.5 years since my last review of Kimbab Cheonguk and I’ve missed their delicious and cheap Korean food. Oh where has the time gone?

The girls and I decided to come here for lunch on the weekend. It’s pretty busy when we went, but it was a short wait for a table since most people were finishing up.

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Beef Broth comes complementary to the table. Instead of hot tea, they give you this. It is a very delicious broth and I always guzzle this down.

Sometimes they will just give you water, but definitely ask for it if they don’t give it to you. You won’t regret it.

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They give complimentary pickled radish and kimchi radish. They were ok, but I wish these were colder.

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Al Bab has seaweed, picked radish, tuna, fish roe, cabbage, carrots, and cheese in a hot stone bowl.

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Mix it! Mix it! They provide you with 2 sauces on the side, but just mix a bit of that in and keep on mixing. This is one of our favourite dishes.

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Dduk Ramen has rice cake, ramen noodles, fish cake, egg and vegetables in a spicy sauce. Surprisingly it wasn’t as spicy as before. Not sure if I built up a strong tolerance for spice, but either way, it was still delicious.

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Kimchi Kimbap and Tuna Kimbap area must. Sometimes when I want a cheap dinner, I get a few of these for take out. You can’t go wrong with these.

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Dduk Mandoo Gook has a rice cake dumpling soup. It has a few dumplings, a good amount of rice cakes, egg, seaweed and green onions in a delicious broth. I always try to finish all the broth.

Thats what the girls and I always order when we come here. Exact same dishes and we don’t really stray to other items as these are the best. Good price too so it doesn’t break your wallet. Very casual dining and all dishes are under $10.

We Rate Kimbab Cheonguk35rating

Address:
3A-341 North Road
Coquitlam, BC

Kimbab Cheonguk Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

manrisung-aberdeen-1

Man Ri Sung Korean Restaurant is now located on the 3rd floor of Aberdeen Mall in Richmond. Back in January 2011, I went to their original location in Coquitlam, where I went with my family to devour their delicious BBQ Duck and other Korean dishes. Soon after they closed their doors due to the construction of the planned Evergreen Line. Then they opened again on Westminster Hwy near the Richmond Public Market. A few years later, they closed again. NOW, they are back again at Aberdeen Mall! I fell like I’ve been stalking them for the past few years.

What really captivated me was their passion for creating great food that blended Chinese and Korean cuisine together. When I was invited by ChineseBites for a dinner at Man Ri Sung, there was no way I could say no, so I dropped all my plans and came here.

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If you are lucky, Chef Sang Myung Lee comes out to care the Peaking Duck in front of your table. He doesn’t speak much English but he loves to interact with his customers.

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Oh man, it’s a beauty. Eating out is always a fun experience when you can see your food being prepared.

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The wings and legs are cut up first. These are very crispy and its music to your ears. The meat is dry for these arts, but SOOO crispy. I love to eat them for that amazing crunchy sound.

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While you wait for the rest of the dishes to be prepared, banchan – Korean side dishes arrive so you can pick at them before the meal begins. There are marinated bean sprouts, kimchi, potatoes, and pickled radish.

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Once the duck is cut, you can wrap it together with some green onions, cucumber, sauce and kimchi. You gotta add the kimchi to give it a nice spicy kick.

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Wrap it all up and enjoy. At first, the duck was moist, but as you wait longer and longer, it starts to get a tad dryer. Best to eat it right away when it arrives at the table.

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Korean BBQ LA Ribs were flavourful but I felt it was missing something but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

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Seafood Pancake is an awesome item to have with your meal. It’s crispy on the outside and is loaded with lots of veggies and seafood. A delicious savoury dish.

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Soondae is Korean blood sausage with vermicelli. It may seem weird, but the taste is quite mild. You dip it into a salt mixture. If you can get past it’s odd look, I don’t think you will have a problem with the taste.

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Spicy Stir Fried Chicken comes of a hot electric skillet. The chef will cook it right in front of you. It has boneless chicken with spicy paste, yam, carrot, onion, rice cake, and cabbage.

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It’s actually quite spicy once it’s done cooking. So, if you don’t do well with spice, you may not like this.

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Hot Chicken Pot with Ginseng and Sweet Rice comes in a small bowl with a whole chicken. There wasn’t much ginseng flavour in the dish.

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Lemon Chicken was deep fried so it had a nice crust to it. The sauce was sweet and lemony.

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Chicken Chow Mein was very good as well. I’m a sucker for handmade noodles. It really tastes different than dried noodles. You can also have this dish made to different variations of spiciness. We had non-spicy but it can go as high as hot spicy.

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Sour Cabbage with Pork Hot Pot has pork, spam, with sour cabbage and pork blood sausage. I really liked this dish. Having the pork belly and the spam in a hot pot is pretty damn awesome.

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Pan Fried Squid was mild spicy, but you can choose from non-spicy, mild spicy, spicy or hot spicy. Good spice options for those who have different spice tolerance. I like the texture of squid. Soft, bouncy and not hard at all.

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Duck Hot Pot with Cut Noodles was by far the most loved dish of the evening. They use the rest of the duck carcass. The hand cut noodles were delicious in the hot pot.

Overall, certain dishes were better than others. I loved the hand cut noodle dishes, hot pot, the duck and the seafood pancake. Their menu is great for large groups and its not too expensive when you think about the cost per person.

We Rate Man Ri Sung:  35rating

Address:
Aberdeen Centre, Unit 3600, 4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond, BC

Website:
http://www.manrisung.ca/

Man Ri Sung Korean Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

sura-16

Sura Korean Royal Cuisine on Robson Street draws a large crowd during lunch and dinner time. Their lunch specials are undeniably affordable for those who want to try an array of Korean cuisine. I came here with a few of my coworkers since I’ve never been here.

They have been around since 2008 serving traditional Korean cuisine. They have won multiple awards from Vancouver Magazine and WE Vancouver Best of the City Dining.

Set Course SU – $15 per person includes:

  • ong–chimi
  • Green Salad
  • Yam Mousse
  • Tang–pyungchae (Acorn Jelly Salad)
  • Bulgogi (Korean beef)
  • Potato Pancake
  • Tang–sooyuk (Sweet and Sour pork)
  • Grilled Atlantic Croaker
  • Bossam (Pork belly wraps)
  • Doenjang Jjigae (Korean Stew)
  • 3 kinds of Side-dishes
  • Korean Rice Punch

The menu requires a minimum of 2 orders and the set is available to order until 3:00pm daily.

The items on it may change from day to day.

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First, soup arrived for each person at the table. It reminded me of a egg drop soup but more gelatinous.

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Green Salad has a mishmash of vegetables and fruit. I wasn’t a fan of the oranges and strawberries in it.

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Tang–pyungchae (Acorn Jelly Salad) really is quite tasteless, but according for my Korean friend, it’s good for you. I really couldn’t tell you the science behind it.

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House Special Spicy Seafood has stir–fried assorted seafood with spicy house special sauce.

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Bossam (Pork Belly wraps) comes with the pink pickled radish as the wrap, kimchi, paste and the delicious pork belly. So good! My favourite dish.

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Tang–sooyuk (Sweet and Sour pork) tasted ok. Not my favourite but its pretty average.

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Rice comes in a little tin. Eat it with the other side dishes.

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Marinated Seaweed and mashed pumpkin mousse are 2 of the 3 side dishes. I always can’t get enough of the seaweed.

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Kimchi is the last side dish. Delicious and not too spicy.

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Bulgogi comes in a large dish and went great with the rice.

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Doenjang Jjigae (Korean Stew) has tofu, veggies, and kimchi. It’s not too spicy either. Very good.

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Potato Pancake came with 4 pieces as there was 4 of us. It’s was surprisingly pretty good.

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Grilled Atlantic Croaker was an interesting dish that arrived. It takes a bit of work to eat it as there are a lot of tiny bones.

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Korean Rice Punch was a nice way to end the meal. It’s a sweet rice drink.

All this for for $15 per person is a great deal for lunch. So many dishes arrive and you get a taste of a lot of Korean dishes. At times, we would run out of room on the table to put the food. Some of the dishes are a hit and miss, but still a great price. I love this type of family style dining.

We Rate Sura:

Address:
1518 Robson Street, Vancouver

Website:
www.surakoreancuisine.com

Sura Korean Cuisine Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Disco-Cheetah-truck

Disco Cheetah Food Truck was outside my work place this week and since they were only a few steps outside our building, I just had to get a bite for lunch.

They serve up Tacos, Burritos and Quesadilla with a Korean twist. Korean and Mexican flavours really go well together.

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Their menu is a bit limited but everything is $10 or under.

Disco-Cheetah-quesadilla

Grilled Cheese Chili Chicken Quesadilla ($10) has Korean chili mayo on top with dill sour cream, kimchi slaw and pickled red cabbage on the side. Everything was delicious. I really appreciated the cabbage and the slaw to really balance out the quesadilla.

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My other coworkers got their tacos and burritos and seemed to enjoy it. I’m glad Disco Cheetah rolled into our neighbourhood to serve up lunch. There really aren’t too many options near the Science World area.

We rate Disco Cheetah

Location:
varies

Website:
http://discocheetah.com/

Click to add a blog post for Disco Cheetah on Zomato

soft-peaks-outer

Soft Peaks Ice Cream serves up fresh organic soft serve ice cream.  The soft serve is made with Avalon organic milk. I remember a year ago when I was in Korea, soft serve with honeycomb was the newest trend. Now, its hitting Vancouver.

Ever since they have opened, they have been crazy busy during peak hours.

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Founders – Dan and Ken Kim of Soft Peaks are brothers and best friends who started Soft Peaks, the two came together to pursue a shared dream. They both love ice cream, so soft serve was a perfect shop to open up.

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Small Size vs Regular Size

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Honeycomb Peak (Regular – $6.75) is topped with their signature swirl topped with a piece of local honeycomb. They honeycomb is from the Okanagan and Fraser Valley.

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The soft serve was quite rich but at the same time kinda bland. The honeycomb is pretty sweet, so you really need to disperse it through out the soft serve. I did enjoy the cereal underneath, but it would take a long time until I could dig down into it.

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Mudslide (Regular – $6.25) has a twist topped with TimTam flakes and chocolate syrup. TimTams are these delicious chocolate biscuits from Australia.

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Overall, Soft Peaks was ok, but I don’t believe I’m a fan of soft serve. The group consensus was that the soft serve was ok, but they still prefer to have ice cream from Earnest Ice Cream or gelato from Bella Gelateria. Soft Peaks is different and it’s really hard to compare it to ice cream or gelato. The Soft Serve is really geared towards asian taste buds as it is not too sweet at all.

We Rate Soft Peaks:

Address:
25 Alexander St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://softpeaks.ca/

Soft Peaks Ice Cream on Urbanspoon

house-of-tofu-soup-inner

House of Tofu Soup is located on North Road in KoreaTown. It gets quite busy during dinner time with tons of people wanting to get a taste of their tofu soup and other dishes. The parking is a little bit nuts here since there are only so many spots and small spaces.

They have gone through a bit of a renovation to open up the space and make it a bit nicer. Before they had this strange divider that would separate the restaurant.

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I personally think the best part of this restaurant is the banchan, the complimentary side dishes. Just waiting for the tofu soup and munching on these dishes are pretty awesome.

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Kimchi is a bit spicy, but I love its slightly acidic flavour and the crunchy texture.

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Pickled Radishes have a crunchy texture to them too. It is also slightly sweet.

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Mashed potato is pretty cute and looks like ice cream.

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Seaweed is so delicious. I could eat this all day!

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Pork Kimchi Tofu Soup ($9.99) and I chose to have it regular spicy level. It also comes with rice.

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Before you eat it, crack and egg into the hot soup and mix it around. The first few bites were good, but after a while, it was just salty. It wasn’t as good as a few years ago.

We rate House of Tofu Soup:

Address:
4563 North Road
Burnaby, BC

House of Tofu Soup on Urbanspoon

coffee-monster-outer

Coffee Monster is a new cafe on North Road in Coquitlam that just opened up last December. They are located in the same plaza as HSBC. It’s definitely needed in this area since there are no other independent coffee shops around.

It’s a Korean Coffee shop and they serve desserts, baked goods, tea and coffee.

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The interior is spacious and there is lots of space. We saw people catching up with friends, doing some work on their laptops or just enjoying coffee.

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They have sandwiches and sweets in their display case.

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After you order, you get an electronic disk and once its ready, it will start buzzing and flashing.

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The order came out quickly.

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Latte ($3.50) comes with beautiful latte art on top. KoreanGirl did enjoy it.

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London Fog ($4.75) comes in a 16oz size. A london fog is earl grey tea, with a pump of syrup, and foamy milk on top. Yummy.

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Plain Cheesecake ($6.50) comes in a cute mason jar with chocolate and strawberry on top. It’s soft cheesecake and its a good size for even 2 people to share.

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Gateau Du Jour ($6.50) came in a mason jar too and it had boston cream, cake, chocolate, whipped cream and strawberries. I had high hopes for this dessert but it wasn’t very good. The chocolate on top was very hard and it didn’t really work together very well.

They have only been open for less than a month, so I’m sure they will make tweaks here and there to their dessert offerings.

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It’s finally good to have yummy espresso based beverages that’s not McDonalds, Starbucks, or Tim Hortons. Coquitlam is definitely changing slowly, but its great to see all the cool restaurants and cafes popping up.

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I’ll definitely come back for some more coffee with friends. The atmosphere is perfect too.

We Rate Coffee Monster:

Address:
6-405 N Rd Coquitlam, BC

Coffee Monster on Urbanspoon

Taboo-Kitchen-window

Taboo Kitchen in Yaletown just opened in early November. My friends took me here on our usual Friday Happy Hour excursions. Rodney’s had a 45 minute wait and we wouldn’t be able to make it inside to order.

So, Taboo Kitchen was a good choice across the street for a few tapas and $4 on certain drinks like beer, cocktails and wine. Might as well since we were going to be drinking anyways.

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The interior looked very nice. They have a long table to accommodate large groups. The bar looked pretty nice too.

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Taboo-Kitchen-food-menu

The entree’s were pretty pricey, but with just drinks and tapas, it was not too bad. The items definitely are Korean fusion.

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Complimentary Sampler of kimchi, Sweet potato and pickled radish were provided to everyone at the table. In any Korean place, it is expected to have complimentary side dishes provided as an indication of good service. It was presented nicely and gave us a taste of their food.

Taboo-Kitchen-happy-hour-drinks

Apple Sojutini ($4) was quite strong and it was perfect! Just what my friends wanted. Yeah for happy hour prices.
Red Truck Lager ($4) was on special too.

Taboo-Kitchen-ebi-mayo

Prawn Mayo has wasabi, fried capers, and rice crackers with the deep-fried prawns. There was delicious textures of the rice cake and the salty capers. As for the prawns themselves, it was a bit bland and could have used more of that wasabi sauce.

Taboo-Kitchen-spicy-tuna-sunrise

Tuna Rising Sun has chojang, endive, sweet potato on the bottom. Each endive has spicy tuna and spicy sauce. It was really good and a nice twist for a fusion dish.

Taboo-Kitchen-tuna  Taboo-Kitchen-wings

Korean Spicy Chicken Wings is served with a pickled radish slaw and yuja cream. These were good wings.

Overall, it’s a nice place to go after work to chill have a drink and a few bites especially in the Yaletown area. I love traditional Korean food and the food they offer here is quite different, thus the fusion part of the restaurant.

We Rate Taboo Kitchen

Address:
1233 Hamilton St Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://tabookitchen.com/

Taboo Kitchen on Urbanspoon

midam-inner

Midam Rice Cake House is hidden in the Hannam Plaza on North Road right beside the grocery store. I have come here before during the day but never at night. I hear the atmosphere is much more lively and different. They specialize in Korean Rice Cakes, so you can find it in a majority of the menu items on the menu.

A lot of young Koreans come here at night for dessert or have dinner with beer or soju.

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The owner also seems to have an obsession with NBA. There are pictures of a few great NBA players.

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In the display cases, there are figurines and memorabilia.

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Blueberry Soju Cocktail comes in a small and large size and obviously we got the large size. It was very fizzy and tasted like blueberry vinegar, spirit and a bit of soju.

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We knocked back shot after shot and we felt nothing. I am usually a good indicator if there is alcohol in a drink and there seems to be very little.

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Makkoli is a korean rice wine cocktail. It’s milky sweet and is about 6-8% alcohol content.

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It’s served in these weird tin cup things. Weirdly enough, this did not get us drunk either. We are really cheap drunks and usually a beer is enough for me. I feel like the skimped on the alcohol.

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Fried chicken in creamy sauce with rice cake ($20) was a large portion and easily sharable among a table of 4. The chicken was crunchy and it went well with the cream sauce. There are also onions and cabbage that you mix into it.

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Our other friend got a dessert and a drink. A good combination for a late night out.

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Overall, Midam has an interesting vibe at night and it’s mostly for the younger crowd. Good place to drink, but they skimp on the alcohol for cocktail drinks. Stick with shots or beer.

They also have a large menu for food, drinks and desserts. Prices are decent. Service is ok as the table has a bell to let servers know you need something.

We Rate Midam Rice Cake House

Address:
110-4501 North Road
Burnaby, BC

Midam Rice Cake House 美談餅家 on Urbanspoon

zabu-chicken-outer

I am always on the hunt for great Korean Fried Chicken and my friends are crazy about it too. We decided to go to Zabu Chicken on Robson Street close to Whole Foods. It’s always busy and seems to have a lively atmosphere, so we went.

As we arrived with a group of 4, we were immediately seated at a table of 2 with 4 chairs. We inquired if we could sit in their booths, but they said no as it was only for groups of 5 or more. A few minutes later, another group of 4 arrived and they were seated in the booth. We were a bit pissed off at this point because the server lied to us. As another table cleared, we decided to ask the server if we could sit at that table and they said no as it was reserved. We knew they were lying to us again because all the other reserved tables had a reserved sign on it. We didn’t even place our order yet, so moving us wouldn’t have been that big of a hassle. We were all really mad, but decided to stick it out since we were really here for the food.

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Pitcher of Sapporo ($16.95) was pretty pricey, but you need beer to go with chicken. It’s just the Korean way.

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After talking to about 3 servers to get a few napkins, we finally got napkins. It was our tiny victory of our evening since most of requests were ignored. They didn’t even serve us water or side dishes as per usual. Side dishes are an essential part of eating at a Korean Restaurant. We drank beer for over an hour waiting for the food to arrive.

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Soy Chicken Drumsticks (Large – $19.95) comes with 10 pieces, but our order came 5 pieces at a time. It seemed like their kitchen was slammed, so they could only do partial orders. The next 5 pieces came 20 minutes later as we gobbled these up really quickly.

The chicken was good, yummy sauce with the crunchy skin.

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We then asked a few servers for side dishes and they did come! We had pickled radish and shredded cabbage.

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Zabu-chicken-table

We also ordered some spicy wings but it never arrived. We inquired with the server and she told us it wasn’t put in. If we wanted them, we would need an additional 25 minutes. Clearly, we were not going to waste any more time here to wait for chicken with crappy service. So, we told them we would get our bill.

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We spent a total of 1hr and 40minutes here to have 2 pitchers of beer and 10 chicken drumsticks. Majority of the time was waiting for the chicken drumsticks…all 10 pieces…I could have went to Church’s Chicken to have a better time than dining here.

We left hungry, so we decided to enjoy the rest of our evening at Guu and at Gyu Kaku, where they actually cared that we were dining with them.

We Rate Zabu Chicken:

Address:
1635 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/ZabuChicken

Zabu Chicken on Urbanspoon

Bahn-Mi-Boys-outer

Banh Mi Boys is located on Younge Street close to Ryerson University and a few blocks away from Eaton Centre. They also have another location on Queen Street West. As this was right across from my hotel, I had to come to one of Toronto’s most talked about restaurants.

It’s been on my list forever and I finally made it here! They serve up Vietnamese subs – Banh Mi and a few other fusion items like tacos and steamed baos.

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We came here during dinner time and this place was packed! There were barely any seats left and tons of people were taking their food to-go.

Bahn-Mi-Boys-menu

Their menu items are quite cheap and perfect for students on a budget. Plus, the food is good.

Bahn-Mi-Boys-wait

Once you put in your order, you wait on the side for you order to be called. When they call your name, they also ask you if you want any spice on your items. To be on the safe side, I chose everything I ordered not to be very spicy.

Bahn-Mi-Boys-porkbelly-bao

Five Spice Pork Belly Steamed Bao ($3.49) looked amazing and I couldn’t resist anything that has pork belly in it. The steamed bao also has cucumber, pickled carrots, picked radish, and cilantro.

I really liked the pork belly, but then again, who doesn’t?

Bahn-Mi-Boys-spice-bao

Braised Beef Steamed Bao ($3.49) is what my aunt ordered. She thought this was ok, but it seemed strange to her as she’s never tried anything like this in Asia.

Bahn-Mi-Boys-taco

Kalbi Beef Taco ($3.99) has purple cabbage slaw, kimchi, pickled carrots, cilantro and the kalbi beef on top of the taco.

Bahn-Mi-Boys-kimchi-fries

Kimchi Fries ($5.99) has pulled pork, mayo, kimchi, and green onion on top of the fries. My Korean relatives thought this dish was disgusting and weird. It was hard for them to grasp the concept that kimchi and fries go together. I thought this was a delicious dish! The hot and sour taste from the kimchi blend beautifully with the pulled pork.

Overall, Banh Mi Boys is a fun place for fusion food if you taste buds are up to the challenge.

We Rate Banh Mi Boys

Address:
392 Queen St. W.
Toronto, ON

Website:
http://www.banhmiboys.com/

Banh Mi Boys on Urbanspoon

cafe-joie-sign

Cafe Joie is an independent cafe near Metrotown. I came here with Gastrofork and FoodQueen to catch up over some coffee and treats. You can easily take the Skytrain to Metrotown and then walk a block away from the mall.

Cafe Joie has coffee, tea, macarons, coffee buns, waffles, shaved ice and some other sweet treats.

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The interior is quite beautiful, spacious and adorable. It’s a great place to do some homework or just catch up with some friends.

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Cappuccino was what I ordered. Nice, strong, and delicious. A definite winner if you want to just slowly sip away and have some pastries with it. Too bad it didn’t have nice art this time.

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 Green Tea Matcha Latte was what Dee ordered and it has a cute spiderweb art on the top.

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Milk Shaved Ice with Fruit was made in-house with their shaved ice machine. Instead of using ice to make it, they pour in milk to create the shaved ice, giving it a delicious taste when paired with the fruit and corn flakes. Highly recommended!

cafe-joie-green-tea-waffle

Green Tea Ice Cream with Waffles and Fruit was not impressive. The waffle was quite bland and has a soft texture. It was a good size for sharing but it just didn’t taste good.

cafe-joie-waffle

Chocolate and fruit waffle was the same as the green tea waffle. The waffle batter just isn’t good. It would be nice if it was more crispy.

cafe-joie-rose

Overall, great coffee, pastries and shaved ice, but stay away from the waffles.

We Rate Cafe Joie

Address:
110-6125 Sussex Ave
Burnaby BC

Website:
http://www.cafejoie.com/

Cafe Joie on Urbanspoon

insadong-outer

Insadong Korean BBQ Restaurant has been on North Road and Lougheed for a while now and have been serving guests traditional Korean cuisine. The restaurant is pretty huge and can accommodate large groups.

I came here with my family for Fathers Day and it was quite busy. Parking was a bit tough but we eventually found a spot.

insadong-inner

Depending on which area of the restaurant you sit in, it will look different. The area we were in had pretty poor ventilation, so it was very smokey for most of the time. The table we were at wasn’t wiped down properly, so there were bits of food still on it.

insadong-menu

Family BBQ Combination ($79.99) can serve 4 -5 people but we had a lot of leftovers…so you can have 6 people eat this if you really wanted.

In this combo, you get:

  • Smoked Salmon Salad
  • Radish Seaweed Roll
  • Seafood non-spicy tofu soup or soybeans soup
  • Seafood Pancake or Bulgogi Japchae
  • Marinated Beef Galbi Ribs
  • Marinated Chicken Bulgogi
  • Marinated Spicy Pork Bulgogi
  • Marinated Short Ribs
  • Mussels ( 3 pieces)
  • Prawns ( 3 pieces)
  • Oysters( 3 pieces)

insadong-banchan

Before the main dishes arrived, we were given complimentary side dishes (banchan). You will find a lot of picked vegetables like bean sprouts, cucumbers, radishes, potatoes and kimchi. The side dishes are refillable if you want more.

insadong-pickled

Radish Seaweed Roll was a light and refreshing dish and it’s good to eat your vegetables beforehand because all the meat will be coming next.

insadong-platter

Next, all the marinated meat and seafood arrived on a large platter. Mmmmm Mmmmm Mmmmm time to get this party started.

insadong-beef

The marinated galbi beef ribs are cut and placed on the hot grill by the server. They didn’t really say anything and just placed it on there for us. We were confused since they didn’t explain what they were doing. As you can tell, service here is a bit strange.

insadong-grill

Everything else we grilled on the stove ourselves. The chicken, beef and pork were great. The seafood was ok, but not as fresh and flavourful.

insadong-pancake

Seafood Pancake came on a hot plate. It was decent, but not the best one I’ve had.

insadong-salad

Smoked Salmon Salad was good, fresh and had a good amount of smoked salmon.

insadong-soup

Seafood non-spicy tofu soup was good to contrast the items part of the combo. Great clean taste and has a good amount of tofu and seafood.

insadong-table

Overall, we were so full at the end of the meal and had a few item to take home. We still had a little bit of uncooked meat, so they helped us cook it before we left.

insadong-price

We added 2 bowls of rice for $1.99 each and the end of the meal totaled to $88.17, which is not bad for so much food. You do get value from the combo sets on the menu. The downside about dining here is that the service can be quite poor.

We Rate Insadong Korean BBQ

Address:
403 North Rd
Coquitlam BC

Insadong Korean BBQ and Seafood Restaurant on Urbanspoon

cafe-joie-outer

It’s about time there is a nice independent cafe near Metrotown. What more do you need than coffee and some yummy pastries with friends. KoreanGirl and I were killing time before dinner, so we headed to Cafe Joie for a snack. The cafe is very close to Metropolis at Metrotown. A few minutes walk and you would never expect a place like this to be in the area.

cafe-joie-inner

The interior is quite beautiful, spacious and adorable. It’s a great place to do some homework or just catch up with some friends.

cafe-joie-bear

Latte is so cute! KoreanGirl was impressed that they took the extra effort to make a little bear on top. The coffee tastes great as they use JJ Bean coffee. I would just come here for the latte art.

cafe-joie-latte

Cappuccino was what I ordered. Nice, strong, and delicious. A definite winner if you want to just slowly sip away and have some pastries with it.

cafe-joie-almond-cookie

Almond cookie was delicious!! I liked the texture and how it was crunchy. I had an obsession with pastries with nuts and almonds. Yum.

cafe-joie-coffee-bun

Original Coffee Bun that they have here was enjoyable! It’s uniformly shaped and has a coffee aroma from the crust on top. KoreanGirl liked this coffee bun the most compared to some other places in town.

cafe-joie-treats

They also have tons of macarons and a few cakes on display too. They also have shaved ice.

Overall, we enjoyed this cafe and would highly recommend it.

We Rate Cafe Joie

Address:
110-6125 Sussex Ave
Burnaby BC

Website:
http://www.cafejoie.com/

Cafe Joie on Urbanspoon

Miss Korea is a Korean bar/restaurant that sells lunch, dinner, and drinks. It is located near Yonge x Bloor Streets in Toronto, which is not too far from the 2 universities (U of T and Ryerson). The interior has a hybrid look of old and modern feel. It’s clean and good for a small group of friends to hang out (you can also host a bigger party upstairs). I’ve noticed university students and young professionals frequent this place often.

After window shopping and walking around the Yorkville area on a nice Sunday evening, Bunny-Bunny and I (Fabo) went to Miss Korea to grab a bite and a couple of drinks.

When we were there, it was only about 6-7pm so the place was quite empty. At one point we were the only customers there, which I liked. Miss Korea is usually more crowded around 9pm and onwards as it’s a good place to drink beer/soju/rice wine and eat snacks with your friends.

miss-korea-inner

miss-korea-tables

miss-korea-wall

After looking through their menu, we decided to get something from their combo menu plus a main to satisfy our Korean food cravings. We ordered 4 bottles of beer and oden soup from their combo menu. Oden soup was tasty, but perhaps because of MSG. We depleted the soup before eating all the fish cakes.

miss-korea-s

Don’t have a picture, but we got 2 bottles of Coors Light and 2 bottles of Keith. There also were imported beers on the menu, but those weren’t part of the combo menu (I wanted Sapporo, but oh wells).

We also ordered bulgogi dolsot to share. It comes with a separate spicy sauce (gochoojang) to mix with.

miss-korea-d

It was my first time visiting Miss Korea during dinner time as I usually went for drinks. Going there during dinner time was actually not bad because you can enjoy a quiet conversation with your friends. If you are too lazy to travel all the way to Christie or North York for a Korean food, and if you want a casual place to meet up with friends, I would recommend you to give this place a try.

We Rate Miss Korea:

Address:
687 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON

Website:
www.misskorea.ca

Miss Korea on Urbanspoon

coffee-bun-sing

The Coffee Bun is located in Coquitlam in Henderson Mall. This is their second location as their original one is in North Vancouver. KoreanGirl and I drove past it and were curious about this place, so after we had lunch somewhere else, we came here for a coffee and some snacks.

coffee-bun-inner

The space is quite spacious with lots of tables. Perfect for studying or a good place to hang out with friends. The tables are spaced out far apart, so you aren’t up close to others.

coffee-bun-iced-coffee

Iced Coffee was what KoreanGirl ordered. It was a hot day, so that made sense. The coffee is made with Kicking Horse coffee beans.

coffee-bun-kicking-horse-coffee

Hot Cappuccino is also made with Kicking Horse coffee beans. It was really hot, but after it cooled down it tasted good. It was made by a machine, so it doesn’t have that strong taste of espresso.

coffee-bun-coffee-bun

The coffee bun is baked with a coffee cream on top to create the aromatic coffee crust on top of the bun. There are 10 flavours of filling for the buns.

  • Original Plain (filled with butter)
  • Cream Cheese (filled with cream cheese)
  • Custard Chouz (filled with soft vanilla cream)
  • chocolate (filled with chocolate chips)
  • red bean (filled with red bean)
  • garlic (topped with coffee and herbs)
  • cinnamon (topped with cinnamon)
  • pumpkin (filled with sweet pumpkin)
  • ice cream (sandwiched with ice cream)
  • coffee bun sandwich (sandwiched with ham and cheese)

Depending on the location, the fillings and options can vary.

The original plain coffee bun came right out of the oven and was SO GOOD. The are fresh every 30 minutes, so I would definitely wait till the new batch comes out. The crust is really good and the little bit of butter inside pairs nicely.

coffee-bun-cream-cheese

Cream Cheese Coffee bun was ok. This one was got wasn’t heated up, so it was a little big unsatisfactory. We thought they would heat this up a little bit.

coffee-bun-custard

Custard Coffee bun is filled with the custard cream inside. If you have a slight sweet tooth, then this is what you might enjoy. It’s like a cream puff but inside a coffee bun.

coffee-bun-toast

Strawberry and ice cream toast was another item they had for their more dessert-like options. They also have Korean shaved ice and belgian waffles too. The strawberries were frozen and sliced. We weren’t impressed with this.

Overall, a cup of coffee and a fresh coffee bun is best to be ordered.

We Rate Coffee Bun

Address:
1011-1163 Pinetree Way
Coquitlam, BC

Website:
http://www.thecoffeebun.com/

The Coffee Bun Bakery & Cafe on Urbanspoon

Kobob-Burger-outer

A new restaurant has opened up a few blocks from my office. I was really excited because I’ve never had a Korean rice burger before. Rice Burgers have been popping around Vancouver for a while, but there was never a restaurant dedicated to it as their main feature.

Guu Garden used to have rice burgers as part of their lunch specials, but they don’t offer it anymore.

Kobob-Burger-owners

KOBOB Burgers is Korean owned and is family-run. The husband and wife duo – Colin Park and Connie Mun opened up the restaurant to share the delicious taste of Korean cuisine with the local community.

Kobob-Burger-menu

The menu has Bibimbob, Ramyeon, Korean Rice Burgers, and Korean Pancakes. The prices are very affordable for lunch.

Kobob-Burger-inner

The restaurant is quite small, so it can’t sit large groups. A lot of my coworkers come here to do take out or come with a smaller group.

Kobob-Burger-wrapped

The Korean Rice Burger is all wrapped up and put into a container.

Kobob-Burger-Spicy-pork

Spicy Pork Korean Rice Burger with egg ($6 + $0.50) each side of the rice patty has seaweed and sesame seeds embedded into it. In addition to the spicy pork and egg, there is pickled radishes, and corn.

It is definitely a bit hard to eat as the rice is sticky, so I eat it with chopsticks rather than eating it like a traditional burger. The amount your get is pretty good. You will get full.

All of the flavours combined reminded me of a bibimbob, but in another format. I really like Korean food and all their yummy flavours, so thats why I enjoyed it.

Kobob-Burger-ramen

Ramyeon with dumplings was simple and satisfying. This can be a bit spicy for some.

Kobob-Burger-yum

Overall, the food is simple and makes a great lunch in the neighbourhood. The prices are great and you will leave with your belly full. As they are still fairly new, they still have a few kinks to work out.

We Rate KOBOB Burgers

Address:
1019 Main St
Vancouver, BC

Facebook: 
https://www.facebook.com/kobob.burger

Kobob Burger on Urbanspoon