Korean Archives - Page 7 of 8

In Downtown

Cham Mani: Quick & Cheap Korean Meal

January 13, 2012

Cham Mani is a Korean restaurant on Pender. The interior seemed very simple and would work for a quick lunch. The lunch are cheap and under $10. My coworker wanted some good cheap food, so I took her here.

KimchiJjiGae ($7.50) is kimchi stew with pork, tofu and onion. Comes with a side of rice. I like it! It was a tad spicy, so if you fear spicy, this isn’t for you. There’s a good amount of stew and rice, so you will be full.

I ate it by mixing the rice into the stew, but you could also put some stew onto the rice. Doesn’t really matter how you do it as long as it gets into your belly.

You also get some side dishes to share. We got Kimchi and tofu curds, which are complementary.

JeYukDupBap ($8.25) is spicy pork and vegetables over rice. It is also spicy, so do watch out. If you like spice, you’ll be alright.

Overall, pretty good. The place is family owned, so you do get a sense of “home” in the food when you eat here. I was looking at other tables and their other dishes looked pretty awesome too. The dishes aren’t too fancy, but its perfect lunch food.

Words of Wisdom:

Closest Skytrain – Granville or Waterfront
Under $10
Best deal is with the combos
Quick fast lunch
Small restaurant, not good for large groups.

We Rate Cham Mani:

Address:

529 West Pender St
Vancouver, BC

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In Japanese

Kenzo Japanese Noodle House: A Little Dash of Korean

January 7, 2012

Kenzo Japanese Noodle House is located in South Burnaby and I’ve always heard great things about their noodles. Since there was nothing else to do, I decided to go have a bowl of ramen with M to waste some time.

There are large booths and smaller tables inside the restaurant. When we walked in, we knew right away that this place was Korean owned. They even have buzzers on the table to signal the servers, so you don’t need to wave them down.

We found that even with the buzzers, the service was still mediocre.

No surprise, I love tea. The tea tastes like the Korean tea that you get at Korean restaurants.

Gyoza ($5.95) it comes in 6 pieces with ponzu sauce and it was pretty good. Good amount of pork inside.

Ji Su Men ($8.95) is ramen with sliced chicken. M hated this so much. It barely had any chicken and it tasted like a bowl of Korean noodles. Since he’s Korean, he didn’t expect the ramen to taste so Korean.

Don Ko Chi ($7.95) is made with pork bone soup with slices of pork. It was a decent size and the broth was very very good. I’m not sure why they named this dish – Don Ko Chi, but I think a better name is Tonkatsu.

The pork was slightly tough but still had a good amount of flavour.

Overall, I think a few dishes are a hit and a miss. Do remember that most of the dishes here have a bit of a Korean influence. You aren’t getting 100% authentic Japanese Ramen.

Words of Wisdom:

Free Parking in front
Mediocre Service
Korean influenced Japanese food
Don Ko Chi is the only good ramen

We Rate Kenzo Japanese Noodle House:

Address:
6907 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

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In Coquitlam

Ddoo Gau Bee (The Toad): Average Food, Mediocre Service

September 26, 2011

Ddoo Gau Bee is a Korean Restaurant on North Road that serves up traditional Korean food. They also make sushi, but I actually have never ordered it here.

A long time ago, I use to come to Ddoo Gau Bee often, but after an incident where they rushed our table out due to another reservation and chased us down because we didn’t tip enough. It left a very sour taste in my friends mouth. M, Scarface, InsecureGirl and I were in the area and decided to give it another go. Years have passed and perhaps something has changed.

This time, we walked in the door at 3pm and the place was empty. The 4 of us stood in the middle of the restaurant, but there was no one in sight. It took the workers in the back to notice we were standing there looking super confused. Instead of a waitress or waiter telling us which seat to sit at, one of the kitchen staff showed us where to sit. I’m sure this doesn’t happen during the busier times in the day, but it’s lunch time at anytime for students.

We started off with complementary side dishes. It has spinach, potatoes, picked radish and kimchi. M really enjoyed the kimchi because it has a homemade taste. Since he is Korean, he seems to have a 6th sense about kimchi. He says you know by the fresh crisp bite of the cabbage.

Kan Poong Ki ($16.95) is fried crispy chicken in hot chili vegetable sauce. It’s pretty good and delicious! It’s a bit sweet and spicy at the same time. It’s a bit pricey, but it’s similarly priced to other restaurants in the area.

Jajang with rice ($7.95) is is the black bean sauce served over rice with a side of egg. There usually isn’t the egg on the side, but for some reason there was. The best way to eat the dish is by mixing the rice and sauce thoroughly.

Spicy Pork ($9.95) comes on a sizzling place and it is very spicy. As you can see by the red sauce, it will hurt you later in the evening ….if you know what I mean. This comes with a side of rice.

Jam Ja Bok ($9.95) has Jajang Mein, jampong and fried rice. The jajang mein and jampong comes is a dish thats split in half. The jajang mein has noodles on the bottom, so you will need to mix it well.

The jampong is always very spicy to me. It is essentially a spicy seafood noodle soup. I found both of their tastes pretty average. You do get your moneys worth since you do get to have 3 different dishes in 1.

The fried rice that comes with the Jam Ja Bok combo is not bad. It has the scrambled egg on top covering the fried rice. I guess you can call this omurice (omelette + rice).

Overall, the food was alright, but I would not say it was exceptional. The service is also mediocre. This place is good for large groups if you want a venue for a large birthday party. In terms of just the food, I much prefer Hee Rae Deung Korean Chinese Restaurant a few blocks away.

Words of Wisdom:

Large varied menu
Traditional Korean Restaurant that also serves sushi
Takes reservations…but no need on a usual day if its a small group
Large space for large groups/parties
Mediocre service

We Rate Ddoo Gau Bee:
Address:

203-4501 North Road
Burnaby, BC V3N

Website:
www.ddoogaubee.com

In Chinese

Tai Wan Restaurant: Amazing Korean Style Chinese Food

August 28, 2011

I was at Metropolis Comics & Toys near Metrotown buying some KidRobot Figurines, when M wanted to get some food close by. He didn’t want to walk far to find food, so we stayed on the same block to find something. I was so surprised at the restaurants on the block! I always thought it was super sketch.

Turns out there is a restaurant called Tai Won specializing in Korean-Style Chinese food. If you have never had Korean Style Chinese food, you must have some! It might even be better than authentic Chinese food. At one point, the restaurant was pretty packed for dinner time.

The tea is complementary like most restaurant and comes in a tea pot.

Their menu is quite simple and does not offer a large array of choices. Nonetheless, the items are good.

Like most Korean restauants, they provide you with complementary side dishes called banchan. Instead of the usual spicy sides such as kimchi, they have pickled radish and cabbage. It is pickled in vinegar and sugar. These are some of my favorite side dishes … and I ate all of them by myself. I didn’t want to share with M. hehehe.

Koon Man Doo / Deep Fried Dumplings ($6.99) has choppped pork and veggies inside. It is perfectly deep fried and has a nice crunch when you bite into it. One of my favorite dumplings ever. Definitely recommended.

Since you want some dipping sauce for the dumplings. Mix these 3 ingredients together. I think it’s vinegar, soysauce and chili powder. Mix these all together and you will get the perfect sauce to go with your fried dumplings.

Bo Keum Bab ($7.99) has fried rice with veggies, shrimp and ham. It is them topped off with the traditional korean black bean sauce. M really liked the dish.

Yoo San Seul Bab ($8.99) has rice with assorted veggies, pork and seafood on top. There’s a lot of sauce, so when you mix it around you will have plenty of sauce and taste of the rice. It kinda reminded me of the chinese egg swirl with rice, but with no egg. Still very delicious.

Overall, very good place despite the somewhat sketchy location.

Words of Wisdom:

Free parking in rear
Under $10
Deep Fried Dumplings, Bo Keum Bab and Yoo San Seul Bab recommended
Closest Skytrain: Metrotown

We Rate Tai Wan (태원) Restaurant:

Address:

4727 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC V5H

In Downtown

Coma Food Truck: Korean-Mexican-American Fusion

August 5, 2011

Coma Food Truck finally makes their way to the Downtown core. They originally had their truck across the bridge on Broadway, but thats a bit hard to get to during my lunch break. They are now located outside the Vancouver Public Library. They sell delicious fusion food that combines Korean, Mexican and American cuisine.

They will probably put you in Food Coma afterwards, but Coma stands for Korean (Ko), Mexican (M), American (A).

I was just on Twitter and I saw that @DennisPang was getting a bunch of people together to grab lunch at here, so I decided to check it out. If you are wondering, yes, I paid for this meal from money from my pocket.

Their menu is located on a white board and features items such as Bibimbap, seaweed rolls, burritos, burgers, and quesadilla. They are infused with korean flavours, so these are not your regular items. Since everything looked super delicious, @kathygko and I split the Burrito, Bibimbap and the quesadilla.

They also have a few pictures too. If you have no idea what to order, you can see what it looks like. While looking at the menu, you can also stare at them making your meal!

I started off with the Yuzu Iced tea ($2.49). It sounded a bit different and sure it did taste different. Yuzu is a citrus fruit in asia that is similar to an orange. In Korean culture, it is used more for drinks.

The yuzu iced tea is very similar to normal iced tea, but the tones of the yuzu do shine through and give you a slightly tart taste. It was still good nonetheless.

The Kimchi Quesadilla ($5.99) comes with a chipotle quesadilla with vegetables, kimchi, and salsa. It is not very spicy at all and its a good fusion between korean and mexican. The flavours blend nicely together and it’s the type of comfort food you want to sink your teeth into. The quesadilla is crunchy on the outside. On the inside you get some oogey gooey cheese with savory ingredients. Yum!

@kathygko didn’t take a liking to this due to the lack of spice.

Kibimbap ($6.99) has rice with bean sprouts, mushrooms, daikon, zucchini, carrots and egg with Korean bbq beef, spicy sauce and hint of sesame oil.

To eat this, you just take your utensils and mix it up until it’s well so the sauce and vegetables are well combined. It’s a decent dish, but I felt like I needed more spicy sauce. If you have been to Korean Restaurants before, you have the option of having it in a stone bowl or just regular. I prefer my bibimbap in a stone bowl (I love the crunchy rice), but its really not possible from a food truck.

This also came with a Korean version of Miso soup, but M just calls it seaweed soup. I don’t have a picture of it because I took it home to drink. @kathygko and I were way too full to finish the other items that we ordered. The miso soup was really good!! It was a tad spicy with lots of enoki mushrooms, seaweed, tofu, and green onion. So good!

We also got the Spicy Pork Korean BBQ Burrito ($5.99) kimchi, vegetables, cheddar jack cheese, and spicy pork all housed in a wrapped up 12in tortilla. I took it home to eat too, so I shared it with M. He thought it was a mexican burrito, the first thing that came out of his mouth was “tastes strangely Korean”. I forgot to tell him the part where it’s a Korean-Mexican fusion fish. This was so good and had that nice kick of the korean spicy sauce.

Overall, Coma Food Truck has some good offerings from their truck! I didn’t get a chance to check out their american fusion items, but I’ll be back!

Words of Wisdom:

Burrito and Quesadilla are recommended!
Good prices
It’s hard to figure out where they are, so best to stalk them on twitter

We Rate Coma Food Truck:

Website:

www.comafoodtruck.com

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Coma-Food-Truck/126803084055777

Twitter:

@ComaFoodTruck

In Downtown

E-Mo Noodle House + Wang Ga Ma: H-Mart’s Hidden Food Court Downtown

July 11, 2011

Hidden at the H-Mart on Robson is a mini food court, which serves up some amazing Korean food! My Korean friends kept telling me to go there, but I thought it was the strangest things because many years ago, it wasn’t there. I am not exactly sure when they had the mini food court, but it’s super amazing! Since it is attached to H-Mart, you know they have fresh ingredients!

The 2 popular shops are E-Mo Noodle House and Wang Ga Ma. Once you walk in, you can look at their menus, walk to the counter, pay and wait for your number to pop up on the computer screen to see when your order is ready.

There are plenty of seats and you can grab your own water from the machine.

E-Mo Noodle House sells Korean-Style Chinese Food. There is very little on their menu that is remotely similar to Chinese Food. Actually there is really 0. I actually love Korean style Chinese food! It’s just so different and super tasty!

I went up to the counter and ordered the Fried Rice with Kimchi ($7.95). You get a large plate of kimchi fried rice and a side of pickled radish.

For the price, it’s a good value! It was not spicy at all and the flavours were really nice!! You gotta try this for yourself! One of the best Kimchi Fried Rice I have ever had!

Wang Ga Ma sells your authentic Korean food. I ordered the BBQ Beef ($8.95) and it came with rice, kimchi and soup.

You get a lot of beef with your meal and the soup does refresh your pallet. The beef is marinated in soy sauce, garlic, sugar and sesame oil (I think).

I was not a huge fan of this dish since it was way too meaty for me. If you are a meat lover, you will probably enjoy this.

When going through both the menus of E-Mo Noodle House and Wang Ga Ma, I actually liked E-Mo’s menu a bit better. Remember to clean up after yourself too.

Overall, great quick lunch that is super cheap!!

Words of Wisdom:

Kimchi Fried Rice is the way to go!
Under $10
Very fast for lunch
Closest Skytrain: Granville

We Rate E-Mo Noodle House/ Wang Ga Ma:

In Downtown

Dae Ji: Kimchi Roll Cutlet

July 3, 2011

Another quick lunch with my coworker and since it was raining, we wanted to choose something close by and not too expensive.

We ended up at Dae Ji, the Korean restaurant specializing in pork cutlet. The last time, I was here, I didn’t get the kimchi roll cutlet, but it’s always been on my mind. Today was time to put that curiosity to rest.

The Kimchi Roll Cutlet ($8.99) is cut up into 8 pieces and surrounded by some savory gravy. It also comes with coleslaw, macaroni, corn, pickled radish and rice.

The kimchi roll cutlet was not too bad. If you eat the roll without the sauce, the meat does not taste too moist and quite dry. It’s best to really slather it in the gravy.

The macaroni was quite bad and the other sides were not very special.

It’s a good quick lunch that just gets you filled up.

Words of Wisdom:

A block away from Granville Skytrain
Pay Parking on street
All items are under $10, very cheap

We Rate Dae Ji:

Address:

519 Dunsmuir Street
Vancouver, BC

In Coquitlam

Dasarang Chicken: Good Korean Style Chicken

July 2, 2011

At the beginning of the semester after a meeting, we all headed down to Dasarang, a new Korean chicken restaurant to eat and mingle with other members of the club.

Dasarang is your usual Korean restaurant that’s has chicken, Korean food and alcohol.

The place is quite large and a little bit dark. Great for group parties.

Their menu has a bit of variety, but most of it is chicken. All the plates are supposed to be shared with others, thus the higher price tag on the menu.

We started off with a pitcher of Granville Island Honey Lager ($15.95).

As we waited, we were given side dishes of pickled radish and cabbage salad. It tasted ok, I think its supposed to be eaten with the chicken to refresh your pallet.

We first ordered the Half & Half ( $18.95). Half of the fired chicken is doused in a spicy hot sauce and the other half is normal seasoned fried chicken. The hot fried chicken in VERY hot! Even the Koreans agreed it was on the spicier side. I really couldn’t candle it after a few pieces.

The texture of the chicken was quite nice, tender, and juicy.

The next order that we got was the soonsal chicken ($17.95). Similar to the fried chicken before but boneless. It was pretty good!

Overall, the chicken was not bad, but a bit pricey. Might as well buy a few chickens at the store for that price. Since I am not a chicken expert, I asked the Koreans what their input was and how did it compare to the authentic chicken in Korea. They said it was pretty close and it seemed to be one of the better chicken places they have been to in Burnaby or Vancouver.

I would say this is not the best place to take your family since it seems more like a Korean bar with chicken. With the steep price tag, it’s not worth it. This place is best for late nights drinking with a plate of chicken.

Words of Wisdom:

Expensive
dark atmosphere
service is mediocre
pretty good chicken
Lots of parking in the front but parking gets pretty full around peak hours

We Rate Dasarang Chicken:

Address:

4501 North Rd
Burnaby, BC

In Downtown

Cham Mani: Good Quick Lunch Combos

June 15, 2011

A new Korean restaurant opened up on Pender and I just wanted to check it out. The interior seemed very simple and would work for a quick lunch.

Cham Mani serves the usual Korean dishes such as Kimbop, Ramyun, Duk Bok Gi and rice. There are several Korean restaurants that serve about the same type of item. Notably the closest restaurant that is almost the same as Cham Mani is Kimbob & Ramyun.

Their menu is pretty straight forward if you know what’s what on the menu. If not, perhaps it’s best to ask the cashier what they would recommend.

Like most Korean restaurants, water, tea and utensils are all self serve.

I started off with Combo B – Ramyun and Kimbop ($7.95). It comes with 2 sides – pickled radish and kimchi radish. They tasted all right but they were not the best sides I have ever eaten. I think they might have made the sides themselves.

The Ramyun was also pretty good! This dish is essentially just instant noodles. I was just expecting to just be instant noodle in a pot. They add vegetables like bean sprouts and onions into it to taste better. It totally worked!

The Kimbop was made very well. Kimbop is just the Korean version of sushi. It held firm, sliced nicely and tasted good. I love to dip my kimbop into the ramyun soup, but maybe that’s just my way of eating things. ..not sure if anyone else does that.

Mandu ordered Combo C – Duk Bok Gi and Kimbop ($6.95). Mandu’s meal didn’t come with side dishes, so she did feel a bit sad. I am sure the waitress just forgot to give it to her.

She agreed the kimbop was pretty good. She was also craving it today, so it worked out perfectly! The Duk Bok Gi is Korean rice cake with hot sauce. She loved it because it was not just rice cake and hot sauce. They had a bit of vegetables into it as well. It was pretty spicy too.

Overall, Cham Mani is affordable and is great for quick lunchs. It is slighly better tasting than Kimbob E Ramyun, but Cham Mani’s decor is not very nice.

Words of Wisdom:

Closest Skytrain – Granville or Waterfront
Under $10
Best deal is with the combos
Quick fast lunch
Small restaurant, not good for large groups.

We Rate Cham Mani:

Address:

529 West Pender St
Vancouver, BC

In Coquitlam

Jimoco Cafe & Pasta: 2 for 1 Pasta

June 9, 2011

JoJoCake’s Birthday was here and she wanted suggestions to have a small get together. Fabo always keeps telling me to go to Jimoco Café & Pasta to try their pasta. Since it was close to where JojoCake wanted to eat, we just decided to go there.

There are best known for their pasta and their 2 for 1 deals. When we arrived, there was a huge grand opening sign for 2 for 1 pasta…according to Fabo, they have always had that deal since 1.5 years ago.

Jimoco is quite narrow inside, so there are not that man seats. It is highly recommended to call ahead for reservations.

Here are shots of their menu.

Garlic bread arrives and it was all right. It is lightly buttered on one side and not a lot of taste to it.

A few of us shared the Calamaretti Fritti ($6.50). It is just fried calamari. It tasted average, but the price was decent.

Fabo and KoreanGirl both ordered the Linguine al frutti di mare ($7). It has seafood in tomato, sauce. It is Fabo’s favorite pasta here. It has 2 clams, 2 mussels, shrimp and scallops.

CanuckGirl got the cream version of this.

JojoCake had the Penne alla bombay ($7). It has chicken and tomatoes in a curry cream sauce.

I ordered the Risotto al frutti di mare ($7). It is risotto with seafood in a cream sauce. This dish was very very rich and got me full pretty fast. The first few bites were pretty good, but eventually it was a bit too creamy and fatty for my liking.

Overall, it was pretty average food. Nothing really outstanding. The only strength is just the cheap price. This place is quite popular with the Korean community in Coquitlam.

Words of Wisdom:

2 for 1 pasta
Decent pasta
Free parking in the front and rear
Under $10
Should make reservations

We Rate Jimoco:

Address:

1046 Austin Ave
Coquitlam, BC

In Coquitlam

Hee Rae Deung Korean Chinese Restaurant: Jajangmyun

April 30, 2011

It was another Korean Night with Fabo, TanGuy, M and InsecureGirl. We ventured off to try a new restaurant on North Road that specializes in Jajangmyun, which is Korean black bean noodles. M and Fabo both really wanted some good Korean black bean noodles!

Hee Rae Deung Korean Chinese Restaurant has Korean Style Chinese food, so you won’t find the traditional tasting chinese dishes.

Apparently, this new restaurant has gained quite a popularity in the Korean community and there are actually line ups for dinner time. All the seating is booth style, so it can accomodate large groups.

If you are Chinese and you walk in here thinking the menu will be easy to understand since you are an expert at Chinese food, think again…everything is in Koreanized english. You will need to know a few basic Korean food words to get by.

The menu is quite large but good thing it has pictures, so you can just point at it and order.

Tea and cold water arrives at your table when you are seated.

The side dishes that come a pickled Daikon, black bean paste and onions. You can eat the pickled daikon alone, but to eat the onion, eating it alone would be torture! What is so amazing is that if you dip the onion into the black bean sauce, it will cancel out the potent onion taste. It’s quite interesting!

You also get a small side of radish kimchi as well.

We all decided to share the Kan Poong Ki ($15.90). This is the Korean version of Kung Pow Chicken. It is evenly battered and covered with a sweet and spicy sauce. The chicken is very moist and is probably the best Kan Poong Ki we have ever had in the lower Mainland.

There are condiments on the side – soy sauce, vingar, and red pepper spice. You mix them together and use that as a dipping sauce for the Kan Poong Ki.

M and TanGuy both ordered the Gan Jajangmyun ($6.50). It has vegetables, pork and black bean sauce on noodles.

This is probably the most traditional Korean dish there is. You are presented with the noodles and black bean sauce mixture seperately. What you do is to mix them together in the larger bowl. The best way to enjoy this is to mix is very very well together. It does taste way better if you take the time and effort into mixing it throughly.

Their sauce is very amazing and is the best we have ever had. Dou Gau Bee has nothing on this restaurant.

Fabo and InsecureGirl both ordered the Jjam Ja Myun ($7.90). If you are a person who likes a bit of everything, this dish might be for you! You get half Jajang Myun (Black bean noodles) and Spicy Seafood with noodle soup.

The black bean noodles are just perfect and the spicy noodle soup was also well done. If you are new to eating the spicy seafood noodle soup, it IS spicy! Most of the heat is located near the top, so do be sure to stir around the soup to disperse the heat.

If you cant handle your heat, it is best to not order the spicy seafood with noodle soup.

I wanted to see what Korean Style Chinese food is like, so i ordered the Stir Fried Rice ($9.50).

It has a bit of the black bean sauce, cabbage salad, and fried rice with egg on top. Ok, this was the best fried rice I have ever had. The fried rice was moist and rich in flavour! It has sizable seafood in the rice and just amazing flavour!

You also get some of the spicy seafood soup on the side as well. Yet again, it is quite spicy.

Overall, very good food and Korean style chinese food is really good!

Words of Wisdom:

Jajangmyun and Stir Fried Rice are highly recommended
Lots of Parking at the plaza
Under $10
There may be line ups during peak hours.

We Rate Hee Rae Deung Korean Chinese Restaurant:

Address:

#24 435 North Road
Coquitlam, BC

In Coquitlam

Good Friends Restaurant: Korean Cafe

April 24, 2011

Every time I pass by North Road, I always see this Restaurant Called ‘Good Friends’ with a large green clover for their branding. It looked like it was for a younger hip crowd.

M, BusanGirl and I finished all our exams and was itching to get some food since 7-10pm exams are not very fun. Driving along North Road, there were not that many restaurant open late except for Korean Bars… M is not fond of Korean bars, so we headed to see if the Good Friends Restaurant was open.

Good Friends restaurant was deserted when we went. No staff were seen except when we looked into the kitchen. We rang a few bells at their front desk but no one seemed to hear, so M started calling out “juh gkee yoh” to get the waitresses attention. After calling for them about 3 times, she came out to seat us at the table.

We actually thought they were closed, but turns about they are open till midnight. Soon after, more people showed up in the restaurants, so we were not the only ones.

Their menu is quite extensive, so it might take you a while to figure out what you want to order.

5 complementary side dishes arrived – bean sprouts, kimchi, zucchini, tofu, and radishes. Since they were closing soon, they also gave us complementary soup for everyone. It was spicy fermented bean soup. (similar to Miso Soup, but with bean sprouts and other vegetables)

These are all bottomless, so it is refillable if you ask. They were all pretty average and nothing too spectacular.

We ordered the Nude Kimbap ($3.50). Its a normal Kimbap but just inside out so the rice is on the outside. There is also a bit of cabbage salad on the side.

We were actually surprised at how the roll was presented because we thought it would just presented poorly since the service was not that great. We enjoyed the roll, it held firmly and it was like any other kimbap roll.

Then we ordered Marinated Beef Kimbap ($3.99), this was exactly like the nude kimbap roll. There was nothing too special and it also tasted like a usual kimbap roll. Again it came with a side cabbage salad.

We also ordered the Hot Spicy Boneless Chicken with cheese ($13.99). This was fairly spicy! It was too much for me to handle, but for the Koreans, it was a piece of cake for them. This dish had rice cake, chicken, jalapenos, zucchini, and cheese.

This dish was good for the price, it was quite big. M was disappointed on the size of the chicken pieces. Since the main feature of this dish was chicken … there should have been more. The chicken was sparse, but there was a hearty amount of cheese.

Lastly, we ordered Fried Chicken (Half order $9.99). There was about 9 pieces and it was very interesting how it was SO HUGE for half an order. They come with dips – salt & pepper and a hot Korean standard for chicken BBQ sauce. You can choose to have your chicken in original or hot flavour. We just stuck with the original since I didn’t want my taste buds to suffer.

The outside was very nice and crispy, but the inside was not very juicy, which was a bit odd. For the price it was pretty good. M complained that there was no way to figure out which piece of the chicken one was eating. Even the drum stick was odd.

Overall, it was decent Korean food but not the best. If you are just wandering around late at night and looking for decent Korean food, this place is as good as any to go to.

Words of Wisdom:

Open till midnight
Large menu choices
Free parking
Average tasting Korean Food
Poor service

We Rate Good Friends Restaurant:

Address:

535 Clarke Road
Coquitlam, BC

In Coquitlam

Wang Ga Ma: Pork Belly and Soups!

April 16, 2011

It was another Wednesday night and a bunch of us have “Korean Night” where we eating through all the Korean Restaurants on North Road one week at a time. This makes my life easier going with Koreans because Fabo, BusanGirl and M do all the ordering for me. All I do is eat!

Wang Ga Ma is located right across from H Mart, the Korean grocery store on the East Side of North Road. ConsultingGirl got lost and ended up at the other Korean Grocery store – Han Nam. Before you venture out here, make sure you know where you are going.

On the inside there are large booths situated all over the restaurant. With the tall walls, you get a private feeling when you are eating. Sometimes this is an issue because the servers can’t see you.

You get utensils – chopsticks and spoons. What I love about Korean restaurants is how they have the paper covering on the spoons. It prevents contamination. You also get tea, but do be warned, the waitresses aren’t always the best at refilling your tea. You probably want to wave them down or ask for a pot instead.

The menu at Wang Ga Ma is quite simple – Noodles, Pancakes, soups, mains, Hot pots and a few special dishes. It is all on a letter sized piece of paper, so it’s quite simple. For me it was quite difficult because I really did not know what was good … or what they looked like, so the Koreans did all the deciding for me!

As you wait for your order,the usual complementary side dishes arrive – Kimchi, Kimchi Radish, and another version of kimchi with thinly sliced radishes. Lots of kimchi! If you are not keen on spicy things, try a little piece and then figure out for yourself if you can handle the heat. I usually find the larger radish Kimchi is not as hot.

You do get scissors to cut up the kimchi because as you can tell, it would be hard to eat the kimchi and radish whole.

Since we all craved Pork Belly (Bossom), we ordered their special dish – Steamed pork with kimchi ($15.95 Large size) This is another one of those put it together wraps. You are given steamed pork belly, lettuce, and thinly sliced radish kimchi.

You are also given this salty shrimp mixture to dip your pork belly to add more taste, as well as jalapeno and soybean paste.

You first take the letture leaf, then add the pork belly, and the other toppings! Voila! Fold it up and stick it in your mouth and munch!

I love being involved with my food! It’s exciting putting it all together and the devouring it! Even though it was exciting, the quality of the meat was not very good. It was below average as the meat was a bit tasteless. Also, for the price you are paying, it is not worth it. It would be way cheaper making it at home.

BusanGirl ordered the BibimBap ($8.95). This is rice, mixed vegetables, egg and beef served in a hot stone bowl. To eat this, you mix up all the ingredients together. If you like a spicy taste, you can ask for some hot sauce to add to this.

M and I ordered the Beef Rib Soup ($8.95). You get a super hot pot of rice (VERY HOT!) and the beef rib soup. Inside the soup are beef ribs, green onions, radish, egg and a bit of noodles. Fabo suggested this dish for people who are new to all the different types of soups. Apparently it’s Wang Ga Ma’s specialty.

The broth was very nicely flavoured, but when you begin eating the beef, it was rather bland and tough.

TaxMan, Fabo and ConsultingGirl ordered the beef broth soup with beef ($8.95).

You have to add your own amount of salt into the dish, which makes this super confusing. If you are new to the dish, you really don’t know if you have added too little or too much salt. TaxMan and ConsultingGirl were very disappointed by what they got and did not finish their meals.Fabo finished all of hers with no problem.

M, BusanGirl, TaxMan and Fabo all agreed this is the type of place people in Korea would go to eat after drinking. You would think this is more of a dinner type of restaurant, but thats how it is in Korea.

Overall, we were not impressed with the quality of their food and will probably not be returning. With so many other Korean restaurants around serving similar items, there is bound to be better.

Words of Wisdom:

Tons of Parking
Under $10
Unlimited kimchi and kimchi radish
Poor service
Limited Menu
Bibimbap is good to order

We Rate Wang Ga Ma:

Address:

329 North Rd
Coquitlam, BC

In Downtown

Ursu Food Truck: Korean Taco Food Truck

April 13, 2011

I go off tangent sometimes at work and play with the food apps on my phone. As you can tell I was really anticipating lunch. Since there are 19 new street carts in Vancouver, I have to eat though all of them =)

There is Ursu – a Korean Food Cart near my work and there was n0 information about them on any website. I assume they are fairly new and have not had a lot of time to start setting up their social media. They are Korean owned and serve up Korean Tacos (~$2) (Chicken, Bulgogi or tofu), Bulgogi Dogs (~$5), and Questadillas ($6.99) (Bulgogi, spicy chicken, and tofu). I tried taking a picture of the menu but my iphone lagged and it took a picture of the ground .

The Vancouver Street Food App indicated they open at 11am, but they were not set up and ready to go till noon. So, do be aware things may happen and Food Cart vendors aren’t there on time or delayed in setting up.

After walking around the block, it was open! You can tell they are quite new in the food cart business since they were a bit slow at getting the food out, and had very little or even no publicity. They are quite popular with the Korean crowd, lots of international students were going up to them and conversing in Korean. I like to ease drop, but I overheard they are going to start having a Facebook Fan page and Twitter in the near future.

I ordered the Spicy Chicken Quesadilla ($6.99). It has cheese, peppers, hot sauce, onions, tomatoes, chicken and lettuce.

I can kinda handle a medium level of spiciness and this was decently spicy but not painful, just subtle. With the addition of the tomatoes, it did make this quesadilla a bit runny, so the juice will leak out. It is very hard to to eat it in one hand on the go. You need a bit of a strategy to make sure it all does not spill out. Your best bet would be getting a fork and knife if you have difficulty eating cleanly.

The quesadilla was just average and was not spectacular. The chicken itself had a very nice flavour, you can tell they use a sweet sesame sauce to cook the chicken. They probably used sesame oil, which is common in korean food.

I’ll probably go back to try their Bulgogi soon and let you know if it’s any good.

Words of Wisdom:

Close to Granvill Skytrain
Cash Only
Open late for Canucks Game days
Usual hours 11am – 7pm

We Rate Ursa Food Cart:

Located at:

West Georgia St. and Richards Street

In Coquitlam

Don’sta: New Korean Donkatsu Restaurant

April 8, 2011

M here, reviewing Don’sta, a Korean Donkatsu restaurant next to the Toad on North Road. Donkatsu is Korean word for deep fried pork cutlets. Design Girl, BusanGirl, and I went out to our unofficial Korean Night, where we take our Korean close friends to eat at Korean restaurants.

On this particular trip, I was pining one of my favourite food, donkatsu and BusanGirl recommended Don’sta. Don’sta went through a lot of owner changes. It used to be called Daeji, then 6, and finally Donsta. Apparently Donsta is currently going through renovations, so we will definitely go check it out when it’s done!

On the outside, you see remnants of the previous names, which makes for a pretty shabby exterior. The interior isn’t much better. Random assortments of chairs and tables that do not match are spread around the room. In retrospect, it is kind of charming and unique. Hopefully both the interior and exterior are being renovated and improved.

The menu is only half a page long. Half the page is in Korean, and the other in English. They really do specialize in pork cutlets, but they also serve pasta.

Once you order, cutlery and water is self service, as is in most Korean restaurants. However, neatest part was the all you can eat salad bar. The salad was fresh and tasty. The banana peppers are incredibly hot, so be careful!

We ordered the Sesame Donkatsu, the Hot Plate Donkatsu, and the Rice Cake Cheese Pasta. The Sesame Donkatsu ($7.59) was by far the most delicious donkatsu I had in Vancouver so far. The donkatsu itself was cooked correctly so that the meat is tender and the outside is crispy. The donkatsu sauce mixed with a lot of sesame seeds and powder is a great combination of sweet and saltiness.

The Spicy Rice Cake Cheese Pasta ($8.26), was very unique and delicious! The rice cakes were soft and the noodles were perfect. I highly recommend trying more of their pasta!

The only negative thing about the whole dinner was the Korean Style Spicy Donkatsu on Grill ($8.26). It was nothing special and rather dull looking when it came out. Usually, donkatsu places would have fish flakes wriggling up from the heat all over the hot plate dokatsu, but not this one. Definitely a disappointment.

Donsta is a great small place when you fell like eating Korean style pasta and donkatsu. Can’t wait to see their new renovations!

Words of Wisdom:

Under $10
Free parking
Authentic Korean Food

We Rate Don’sta:

Address:

#205-4501 North Road

Phone:

604 566 9107

In Cafe

Borandsi: Fusion Board Game Cafe

April 6, 2011

On North Road in Coquitlam, there is a little cafe called Borandsi, or quite commonly known as the board game cafe. People come to Borandsi to eat dessert and grab a drink. They also have a large amount of board games which you can use for a small fee. If you live in Vancouver, it really isn’t worth it to play games here since your bill can rack up to the cost of a brand new board game.

It’s perfect for international students or travellers who do not have games with them.

After eating Pho, Jojocake really craved waffles … so we headed to Borandsi for dessert!

The interior is quite nice. Large tables and couches. It is usually not that busy, so you can always find a seat for you and your friends. People either: a) sit and chat b) study or c) play board games.

At one time they had a spa and a cell phone shop in the back corner, but it has since been removed to make room for more tables.

The menu is all listed on a piece of paper double sided. They have drinks, desserts and some Korean dishes. Yes, it is Korean owned and operated.

KoreanGirl ordered the Brownie & Ice Cream ($5.95). The brownie is not freshly made. When you walk up to the counter and stare at their fridge, you can see all the brownies all chilled and wrapped in plastic wrap. They heat up the brownie, add vanilla ice cream and drizzle chocolate sauce on top.

This is not a gourmet brownie, just your regular brownie.

I ordered the Apple Pie & Ice Cream ($5.95). Similar with the brownie, it is also pre-made and stored in a fridge. I think they microwave it so the crust is no longer crispy. The apple pie still tasted good but I wish it was crispy on the outside. They also added vanilla ice cream and drizzled chocolate on top.

JojoCake was CRAVING waffles, so she ordered Waffles & Ice Cream ($7.95). Unlike the brownie and the apple pie, this was made fresh. How do I know this? I saw a waffle iron while peeping into their kitchen.

The waffle is topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, bananas, kiwis and strawberries. One things Jojocake commented on the waffle was that it was a bit over done.

Overall, great place to chill and catch up for friends. Service is not very good, so you gotta do the usual staring and hand waving.

Words of Wisdom:

Under $10
Good for studying
Average tasting desserts

We Rate Borandsi:

Address:

4035 North Rd
Burnaby, BC

In Coquitlam

House of Tofu Soup: Authentic Korean Cuisine

March 30, 2011

Another night out at Korean Town with my Korean Homies – M, BusanGirl and Fabo! I always rely on them when I we go to any Korean Restaurant. They make the order process 100000x easier for me. What can I say, having Korean friends are handy when I want to check out hidden Korean restaurants around town.

House of Tofu Soup is supposedly has the best tofu soup in the Lower Mainland. Fabo has said that it is even better than the tofu soups in Korea! House of Tofu Soup is located on North Road. It is very hidden and their popularity has spread mainly by word of mouth.

The menu is quite limited but what is awesome about their menu is that they have 3 different translations on their menu – English, Korean and Chinese. If you bring your parents or Grand Parents, they won’t be grumpy that they don’t understand the menu.

The meal starts off with the Korean side dishes – mashed potatoes, seaweed, kimchi, marinated daikon, and pickled daikon with daikon juice. All the side dishes were pretty good and no complaints.

We ordered the Goon Mandu (Fried Dumplings) for $4.99. It comes with 8 pieces. Extra crispy on the outside and has pork and green onion inside. They also give you a light soy sauce to dip our dumplings into.

BusanGirl and M both got the Spicy Dumpling Tofu Soup ($9.99). Even though it look very red and its labeled spicy, this tofu soup will not burn the taste buds off your tongue. The dumplings inside is basically the same ones that we had for a starter but it was not friend.

I ordered the Spicy Seafood Tofu Soup ($9.99). It came bubbling and steaming like it came from the depths of hell. JK. It was just boiling really hard. There was very small bits of mussels and about 8 tiny shrimp in it. There is TONS of tofu in the soup so you are getting your moneys worth.

Also like the other tofu soup, it was not too spicy at all.

They also give you eggs for your tofu soup, no matter what flavour it is. You crack it, dump it in and swirl it around. If you are thinking that I am so cool for cracking an egg with one hand…I actually used two hands but I had to pose with one hand since the other one had to take the picture.

You also get rice to go with your soup. You can dump some into your soup to eat together…or eat it separately.

When they scoop the rice in to the metal bowls, you are left with hot stone bowls with the rice sticking to the side. They pour tea into the stone bowl to soften it up. At the end of your meal, you can scoop this rice/tea into your bowl and eat it.

It’s pretty bland and it’s like eating tea with rice. Some people like it and some people don’t.

Words of Wisdom:

Best Tofu Soup in Vancouver
Under $10
Free Parking in lot or in parkade

We Rate House of Tofu Soup:

Address:

4563 North Rd
Burnaby, BC

In Burnaby Cariboo-Lougheed

Midam Rice Cake Cafe

March 20, 2011

BusanGirl was feeling super hungry, so we headed to Midam Rice Cake Cafe. I’ve never heard of this place because its hidden in Korean Town. It is mostly known to the Korean community.If you are not Korean, you should find a Korean person to help you order and suggest items for you to eat.

Any Korean restaurant that I go to, I always bring one of my Korean friends to help me…or else I would be so lost.

Midam Rice Cake Cafe is located right beside Han Nam Mart (NOT H Mart).

They specialize in food with Korean Rice Cakes. From desserts to main dishes.

The inside of this place is very comfortable and has a traditional Korean feel to it. The music of this cafe changes 3 times during the day. In the afternoon, they play traditional Korean music with Gayagum. Near 5pm, they play kpop and then at night it basically becomes a bar and has louder music.

Most tables fit 4 people and its a great place to study or have chats with friends. Not too many people know about this place so it’s really good to study at.

We got tea in this super cool looking cup.

This is comprised of ice, milk, peanut rice cake, red beans and vanilla ice cream. Imagine this as the Korean version of Chinese Shaved Ice.

The best way to eat this is to try to get a bit of everything on your spoon, or you could mix it all together.

My main thing that I wanted to do was drink tea, so I ordered kukwahcha (chrysanthemum) tea ($4.99). The chrysanthemum tea has a very strange taste to it but I really could not pin point what this flavour is.

The tea cups are SO cute, they are double layered so it keeps you tea hot for longer. The design prevents the loss of heat and lowers that rate.

BusanGirl ordered the Bulgogi vegetable in hot pot . The hot pot has a very nice savory broth. The quality of their bulgogi was very poor and you know it’s not the best quality.

The rice that comes with the hot pot is a mixture of wild rice and white rice, thus the light purple appearance.

BusanGirl’s meal also came with 3 side dishes – kimchi, pickled chives and black beans.

I found ordering here was super hard because the different types of desserts are not always available. I was so confused that I just let BusanGirl do all the ordering. Even though there is english on the menu, it is still very confusing. I still look back at the menu and I really have no idea how to navigate it.

Midam Rice Cake Cafe is the place to go when you want drink and snacks. There is really no pressure and you can basically spend hours here without being shooed away.

Words of Wisdom: