Korean Archives - Page 8 of 8

In Event

Man Ri Sung with Chowtimes

March 13, 2011

I was super excited when I signed up to attend the Duck Feast at Man Ri Sung with Chowtimes and a bunch of other people. I brought along with me – M, Fragileboy, InsecureGirl, and MedicalGiraffe.

I have been to Man Ri Sung a few months ago before they closed down in Coquitlam. They serve up authentic Korean dishes and is most famous of their peaking duck feast.

We were all pretty gung ho about getting to the dinner and left Brentwood Mall a bit before 6pm so it would ensure us that we would arrive on time. Sometimes, things are not always according to plan. In this case, trying to navigate our way to Man Ri Sung was the most failed moment for me in a long time. Our anticipated 30 minute car ride became an hour car ride.

Brentwood Mall to below the airport

( Typed in wrong address into iphone…3211 instead of 8311)
We arrived right on time at the wrong plaza, but after roaming around we couldn’t find it anywhere. So, we looked it up and realized it was on the other side of Richmond. At this point I was like “OMG”, InsecureGirl was like “We should call Ben to tell him we will be late”. I replied saying “People usually don’t give their cell numbers to a stranger….Go tweet him! Tweet him now! Everyone must have 3G by now”.

Below Airport to Richmond Auto Mall

(Typed in 831 instead of 8311)
As we were making our way towards the other side of Richmond, I got a bit more confident that we would make it in 15 minutes late. Yet again the fates were seriously against me… every intersection there was a red light. I’m lying…it was most of the intersections but still it was annoying. Eventually, the phone led us towards the Auto Mall. In our heads, there is no way there would be a Korean Restaurant here.

Richmond Auto Mall to Man Ri Sang

Eventually finding the right address, I drove like a mad woman on the stretch of road back to the center of Richmond. This time, we knew we had the right location!

Long story short, we arrived and were welcomed by Ben and the other guests. They even saved us food! At this point, I was pretty exhausted from driving along Westminster Hwy, so I accidentally left my phone in the car and told MedicalGiraffe to take my camera and start taking pictures. She seemed excited, so I let her go at it.

There was a lot of other customers in the restaurant, so it was packed with other large groups also having the duck feast.

The duck feast is composed of several items, such as the korean side dishes (Banchan), Korean Pancake, Jap Chae, Soon Dae, duck wraps, duck congee, duck and Duck hot pot. All for $18 per head for our group.

The Banchan composed of 3 side dishes – Bean sprouts, sweet potato and kimchi.

They saved us some Korean Pancake, so the picture isn’t really representable of what it looked like when it arrived at the table. It was still warm when we began eating. The korean pancake was a bit less than 1 cm thick and contained green onion, red pepper, onions and some other items.

M enjoyed this dish because being Korean himself, he really missed the taste of traditional korean food. He also said it was comparable to the Korean Pancakes he would find back home.

Another item that came with the feast was jap chae. It is made out of korean cellophane noodles, stir fried with sesame oil with different vegetables such as onions, meat, scallions, and other items.

MedicalGiraffe commented saying she really loved it and wished she had more.

Another dish was Soon Dae (Blood sausage), it’s a traditional korean dish made out of intestines stuffed with cellophane noodles, barley and pork blood. This may sound disgusting but it does not taste bad at all. To add a bit of taste to it, you can dip the Soon Dae into a salt mixture. Just be sure to not smother the sausage in the salt.

The main feature of this feast is the duck wrap! You are presented with a dish of sliced duck, onions, green onions, sauce and tofu skins.

It’s a great dish because you can interact with your food and put it together. You first take the tofu skin and add the onions, sauce and a slice of duck .. wrap it up and begin eating. The duck did taste different this time around, it was not as moist as it was when I had it in Coquitlam. I also did not like the slightly charred bits of the duck skin.

Overall, the duck wrap was ok, but not as addictive as before. Perhaps since they were so busy that the quality suffered a bit.

They don’t waste any part of the duck, so they also give your the wings separately. They are super crispy! I have to admit, it was hard to eat but you can essentially eat the whole thing…even the bones! For me, when I got closer to the tip of the wing, it was really burnt and was super difficult to eat since it really felt like I was eating cancer. I know some people like eating the whole thing, so just a bit of personal opinion.

The next dish was duck congee. I asked M if it has a special name in Korea and he said it was called “jook”. Same name in Cantonese! The rice that is in the congee is not pure white rice, they mix a bit of white rice and wild rice, to have a bit of a purple look to the congee. Inside they do use a bit of duck in it.

The last dish to come with this duck feast is Duck hotpot. Like some of the other dishes it has duck, green onion, hand cut noodles, and other stuff.

Like the other dishes, still pretty good but we wished we had another utensil to easily pick up the noodles and soup. I don’t think any of us wanted to put our chopstick into the pot.

In the back of the restaurant, there is this machine that serves hot ool moo cha (Job Tear’s Tea) for 25 cents. Ool Moo Cha is ground barley powder sugar drink. I found this to be creamy and slightly sweet. I really did enjoy it! Also, supposedly it helps create a soothing effect on the stomach. Very nice ending to a meal!

Photo Credits: Cory Roan, Globetrotting & Adventure Gourmet

I think everyone had a great time at the dinner! Everyone was about to share their thoughts on the food as well as talk about other random subjects.

Since it was a busy night, the service was quite poor. For a table of 11, they kept bringing us one pot of tea when it would be more effective to give us 2 pots. There seemed to be only 1 or 2 waitress(es) serving most of the tables and seemed scrambled most of the time.

Overall, I thought the supporting dishes of the duck feast were well executed. The quality of the duck did not compare to the last time I had the dish. Not as juicy and succulent as before. Also, a bit burnt when it came to the large wings of the duck. The price of the duck feast was a good price!

Words of Advice:

Reservations for large groups
2 hours advance notice for duck feast
Free parking in the parking lot

Address:

8211 Westminster Hwy
Richmond, BC

In Coquitlam

Myung Dong Kal Gook Soo (Korean Knife Cut Noodles)

March 9, 2011

Fabo took M and I here after class. We wanted to go to the House of Tofu soup but unfortunately it was closed. We didn’t know where else to eat dinner, so she suggested Myung Dong Kal Gook Soo. It is located in a mini mall near Hamnam Grocery store. It is kinda like an open food court but just for this restaurant. It is known well to Koreans as having authentic Knife Cut Noodles.

I was super skeptical when she brought us here because I had no idea what knife cut noodles were. I could just imagine a bowl of knives with kimchi. Eventually I did lighten up once I saw the pictures of the food. hehehe.

This little place seats about 30 people and all items are under $10.

Then menu is located on the board, you probably would want Google search on your phone to figure out what is on the menu. Or, you can do what I do and keep a Korean on hand at all times to do my bidding and translating.

Along with your meal, you get the side dishes – kimchi and sweet potatoes.

We started off with the Wang Mandu – King Dumping ($8.55). This is a HUGE dumpling! It is filled with pork, chives and other items. It is the size of 1/2 of a baseball, it was packed with meat , so much meat.

M ordered the Bulgogi Dub Bob – Fire Meat on Rice ($7.95). It is beef and some vegetables over rice. It also comes with an egg drop soup.

Fabo and I both had the Karl Gook Soo – Knife cut noodles ($7.60). This was a massive bowl of noodles MASSIVE. You could probably split one between two people. They really give you your moneys worth. The dish has the knife noodles, beef, carrots and zucchini. The broth was a nice bone soup.

I really couldn’t finish my bowl and I felt super bad, so I just drank all the soup.

Words of Wisdom:

Authentic Korean Knife Cute Noodles
Under $10
Free parking
SO MUCH FOOD

We Rate Myung Dong Kal Gook Soo:

Address:

103 – 4501 North Road
Burnaby, BC

In Downtown

Dae Ji

February 8, 2011

I went to Dae Ji during lunch and the hamburg steaks just looked pretty good. Dae Ji, serves up korean Pork cutlet and many other dishes. It is very popular amongst international students. BCIT, SFU, and a bunch of language school are only a few blocks away.

The interior is very orange and not too bad looking inside. The kitchen is an open kitchen, so you can watch the cooks cook up your meal.

THe menu isn’t too large, but there’s everything you need to be happy for a lunch.

I ordered the hamburg Steak ($8.50). Hamburg Steak is basically hamburger patties without the bread and fillings.

The dish came with 2 patties smothered in gravy and ketchup. There is also rice, macaroni, coleslaw and pickled radish.

The steaks were very moist and delicious, but the ketchup was a bit too sweet to go with the steak. it’s just a personal opinion, some people love it with ketchup.

As for the sides…the coleslaw and macaroni were really bland.

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 Downtown

Kimbob E Ramyun

January 21, 2011

Since I go to SFU, this is essentially a few steps away from the Downtown campus. It’s cheap, it’s fast, it’s Korean.

This restaurants has mostly students that come to eat since SFU, BCIT, and a lot of international schools are less than a block away. Most of the tables are in 2’s and 4’s.

FYI, the store is self serve, so you must go up and order, grab utensils and get water yourself.

When I first came here a few years and at first…..I was like …what the hell is written on the board.

Translations:

Ramyun = Ramen
Kimbob = Korean Sushi
O Deng = Fish Cake in Soup
dukbokki = Spicy Rice cake
Rapbokki = Spicy Rice Cake with noodles
udong = udon
bibimbob = white rice topped with various vegetables

I had the Kimbob and Ramen combo ($6.45). You get a bowl of spicy ramen noodles, it’s essentially instant noodles, they use shin brand ramen noodles to make it. You also get 2 rolls of their Kimbob and a small dish of kimchi.

You don’t need soy sauce for the kimbob since it’s not supposed to be eaten with it.

Did you know, it is debated where the origins of sushi came from. Koreans believe it originated from Korea, and Japanese believed it originated there. With their history, it seems like they both have beef with each other. Plus, the war didn’t help it either.

Words of Wisdom:

quick and cheap food
authentic korean street food

We Rate Kimbob E Ramyun:

Address:

423 Seymour St
Vancouver, BC

In Korean

Jang Mo Jib (Robson)

January 18, 2011

NotFauna, Mandu, BusanGirl and KoreanGirl were out at Tunnel for Girls Night to get free cover and free bottle of champaign. We were aso craving Jang Mo Jib, so we left early to get some soju and hot pot. When we arrive, we found out they close at 5am…..5AM! Intense!

The inside is quite big as it has another room in the back. It’s good for large groups of people as well.

They give you tea, but apparently, they have hot and/or cold tea! If you get cold tea, it’s not a mistake.

Since it was nearing 1am, we wanted to order all our alcohol before then. We got 2 bottles of soju ($15 each). It was a bit expensive since you can get it at the alcohol store for less.

They also have deals on Soju on Thursdays for cheaper.

Since I drove, I opted for a less potent drink. Blueberry Soju Cocktail. One part blueberry juice, one part sprite, one part soju.

It came in a tea pot which seemed a bit odd at first. The others wanted it to be strong, so they did half soju and half cocktail.

With anything you order, you get complementary sweet potatoes, seaweed, kimchi and kimchi radishes. Free refills too. Apparently, these dishes are suppose to be eaten with the meal…but since half of us were Chinese…we just ate the like pigs!

Our main item was Gam Ja Tahng + extra 1 person ($27.65 +$15). This is a great meal! My favorite! This has pork back, pork neck, green onion, various vegetables, potatoes in a traditional korean broth. You can have it mild, little spicy, or spicy.

I find it can fill 4 girls pretty well without adding the extra $15.

Since we left the table a mess, it was a good night.

Words of Wisdom:

Amazing korean hot pot
Open SUPER late – 2am and 5am

We rate Jang Mo Jib:

Website: www.jangmojib.ca

Address:

1719 Robson St
Vancouver, B

In Coquitlam

Man Ri Sung Korean Restaurant

January 11, 2011

Man Ri Sung is an amazing Korean Restaurant located on North Road. I always went here with my sister and they have the most amazing BBQ duck special. It seems like thats the only item we ever order.

Today, PinappleBun, MandaPanda, and Officialmaglee decided we should go for the oh so yummy duck!

THe interior has many wooden tables and chairs. Sometimes the decor is very mismatched…like the chairs we had. Don’t expect too much from the decor since it’s all about the taste of the food here.

They have lunch specials and other traditional korean dishes.

For their duck special, for $49.99 you get side dishes, Crispy duck wings, DIY duck wraps, hot pot, and your choice of Japchae or dumplings. This set feed about 4 – 5 people. We had a group of 4 girls eat this and we were all full!

They first start off by giving you a few korean side dishes – bean sprouts, kimchi, sweet potato and cucumber/tofu.

This time the chef did not come out into the dining room to slice the duck infront of us. They gave us the wings of the duck first and they were very crispy. Some parts of it was really good, but we did not have the teeth to eat through it.

The main feature of the set menu is the tofu duck wrap. You are presented with various slices of duck meat.

You also get tofu skins, green onions and sauce to wrap it all together.

I like to put the sauce on first, and then the green onions and then the duck. Fold it over, and BAM you put it in your mouth and enjoy.

The next dish we had was the JapChae. JapChae is a traditional korean dish made out of sweet potato noodles. It is stir fried with sesame oil and various vegetables and beef. It was good.

The last dish made out of the duck remains were a hot pot. The soup and the noodles in this soup made this a very hearty dish. It is not spicy like other types of korean hot pots. Very delicious, but by the time we got to this dish… all 4 of us wished we had stretchy pants.

FYI, we all gathered enough strength and stomach space to finish it off!

One thing I found super creepy was how the washroom was located in the basement…you must walk down these creepy stairs to get there.

Words of Wisdom:

Parking in back
Lunch Specials
Call ahead to order BBQ Duck special. PS it’s AMAZING!

We rate Man Ri Sung:

Website: www.manrisung.com

Address:

609 Clarke Road
Coquitlam, BC

In Chinese

Flying Tiger

December 29, 2010

I heard of Flying Tiger because a friend works here. So, I looked it up and it seemed like a pretty good place for modern asian cuisine. But, today he wasn’t working so IndecisiveGirl and I just ate and complained about how crazy people at Metrotown were….and how hard it is to get anything done due to the crazy Boxing Week rush.

Flying Tiger in Kitsilano features modern asian street food. Imagine the Terracotta Modern Chinese Restaurant but Flying Tiger would encompass other types of dishes from Korea, India, China, Japan, Philippines, etc.

The restaurant is pretty narrow, but still can fit a lot of people. It is best to make reservations before hand just in case they have a busy night.

If you are seated near the back of the restaurant, you will be able to see the chefs at work.

Their menu is mostly tapas, drink and a few desserts. We asked the waitress what was good on the menu….and after rambling on for a bit… she basically recommended the whole menu. She was quite helpful actually. She explained the the dishes near the top were smaller and lighter, while the dishes on the bottom were larger and heavier tasting.

The special of the day was Sapporo on tap for $4.50. So myself and InsecureGirl got one each.

We ordered the Ebi Mayo ($12). There were about 5 pieces of shrimp. The size of the prawn were pretty large and nicely prepared. Sadly, this still was not as good as the ebi mayo I had at Toratatsu.

Next we had the Pulled Duck Confit Crêpes ($19). It contained Duck confit, Philippine lime, charred scallion, jicama & cucumber salad, Vietnamese coriander, mint, basil, and sesame oil crêpes. I liked how interactive this dish was. You can make your own dish by adding how much of anything you want.

You basically pile up the ingredients in the middle with a little bit of everything and the wrap it up.

When it is all wrapped up, you can bite it and enjoy.

Lastly, we had the Hawker Street Noodles ($15), it had Fresh egg noodles, shiitake mushrooms, free run chicken,wild sea prawns, squid, snap peas, gailan, nam prik pao, oyster sauce, and crispy garlic. This was very well prepared and was filling. Since we were so full from everything, we decided to pack it up and it came in a really cute chinese take out box.

The damage of the bill came out to be $61.60. Flying Tiger is not the best place to go when you are super hungry. It is quite expensive, but I guess you are paying for atmosphere.

Words of Wisdom:

Free parking at adjacent roads or street meter parking at front
All dishes are meant to be shared…tapa style
Have daily drink specials
Pretty expensive tapas

We rate Flying Tiger:

Website: http://www.theflyingtiger.ca/

Located at:

2958 W 4th Ave
Vancouver, BC

In Cafe

Berry Good

December 21, 2010

I went to Berry Good with my food buddies – SFUPretender and FinanceGirl. Berry Good serves desserts, coffee, and tea. Their specialty is Japanese and Korean inspired desserts. Perhaps the owners are Korean and Japanese.

They are located in Richmond near Garden City Road. The location is slightly hidden in a plaza, so you may want to google it before you go.

The interior is small and cozy. Since it is getting close to Christmas, they even put up a small tree.

Most of their daily desserts are displayed near the cashier. You have to go look at them before you order. They have about 8 cakes on display. Not a large selection, but you know they put effort and care into their desserts by keeping the quantity low.

They offer combos with a dessert and drink from $6- $9. These drink can range from cold and hot teas and coffees.

SFUPretender ordered the Raspbery Chocolate mousse. The raspberry chocolate mousse is layered within chocolate cake. I tried a bit of it and it was ok.

FinanceGirl had the White Chocolate Cheesecake. It was really good. it was on top of a bed of oreo cookies. The cheesecake was very flavourful and rich. I would recommend people getting this.

I got the green tea mousse cake. The bottom was made out of vanilla cake, then green tea mousse, red beans, and green tea jelly on top. I originally thought the red beans would be through out the cake, but as I was eating it, it was only on the outside. If you hate red beans, there really isn’t that much, so don’t be scared by it. The green tea mousse seems to be a popular choice at Berry Good. It’s unique!

After we finished our dessert, the restaurant became packed. All the tables were full an everyone seemed like they were enjoying the desserts. There were lots of couples too.

Words of Wisdom:

Parking in font
If you afraid of disappointment, look online for more reviews.
They accept cards and cash.

We rate Berry Good:

They are located at:

#1120-8766 McKim Way ( In Excel Centre)
Richmond, BC

In Korean

Nor Boo Korean Restaurant

November 10, 2010

It was another late night and M, InsecureGirl, FragileBoy and I were scrambling to find a place to eat after class. Tuesdays are double date night for us… and since class ends late…not that may places are open past 10pm.

One place which we wanted to go to was Nor Boo…M was excited because there is actually a restaurant in Korea called Nor Boo with the exact same logo. He wanted to see if it was the same as back home.

You can’t go to a Korean restaurant without some type of Soju. We ordered 2 bottles of lemon soju ($9.95). The soju cocktails taste so much better than plain soju. It’s nice an fizzy and doesn’t taste like alcohol. It’s made out of lemon juice, soju and sprite.

Rabokki ( Hot and Spicy sauce on ramen noodles and rice cake).

Egg roll..as it states on the menu. I think what they tried to say was omelet. I know… it still does not look like an omelet, you are thinking it’s a salad. Well, buried deep inside this mixture of cabbage, mayo and ketchup lays an omelet inside. This was a bit bland and the egg didn’t have much taste.

Bi Bim Bap (Stone Rice)

M got the Pork Cutlet Katsu, he thought it was good and he kept saying how it’s been a while since he had pork cutlet before. Compared to the other dishes, it has a nicer presentation.

I got the Dumpling soup, which has a very awful appearance. It took me a while to figure out what the weird things floating in the soup and it turned out it was just egg. There were about 10 dumplings,

In Nor Boo, you will see this strip of writing across the restaurant. Can you guess what it means? You are probably trying to make out a few symbols..but did you just realize that a few of those are chinese characters? Some are even Japanese. I kept pointing at this and asking M what it meant…but I guess it was one of those moments where he thought I was slightly stupid.

The food is reasonably priced and has way more selection that some other korean restaurants. One thing that sucked was the service, it was has to get refills of tea…our drinks did not come…when asked for our drinks..they came way way later. The presentation of their dishes could have been a bit nicer. The food was pretty average. Usually most Korean restaurants give free side dishes of kimchi, sweet potatoes, and other dishes…but today they didn’t give us any.

Words of Wisdom:

Closing hours do vary depending on how many customers are there that night. If you plan to go here in the night, call ahead of time to see when their last order and when they close
Large variety in menu
Service is bad!

We rate Nor Boo :

They are located at:

1536 Robson St
Vancouver, BC V6G

In Chinese

Poke’m

October 8, 2010

Poke’m Food Cart is spelled like Pokemon but with no “o” or “n”. Without all the hotdog carts in Downtown Vancouver, it’s time to forget sausages and go for the balls!

Poke’m has a very vibrant green cart on the corner of Robson and Hornby street. Serving up all types of balls, one would surely be amazed by their exotic sauces.

Drinks!

I got the combo ($7) so I chose the cuttlefish balls with Japanese sauce and chicken balls with Korean sauce.

I really didn’t like the Korean sauce because it had pork floss and it’s more Chinese than Korean. If they wanted it to be more Korean, they would have had Kimchi sauce or some type of Kimchi in it.

Overall, it is a smart concept to have a ball place but you can make it at home for way way cheaper! For $7 for 8 pieces of balls…. That’s almost $1 per ball!

We rate Poke’m:

In Korean

Pork Belly Beer House

September 18, 2010

At first glace, you would think Pork Belly Beer House is the most shady place you have ever seen. A restaurant with no name, crappy interior décor, lots of white fans everywhere, and lot of plates and soju bottles everywhere equals major sketch. If you are Korean and know your way around town, this place serves all you can eat Pork Belly! Pork Belly is basically like bacon but so much more thicker.

Interior is quite small.

When we sat down, we looked at the menu and just went with the $16 buffet, which included meat, salad, side dishes, soup, rice, and pop. Totally worth it and you get more than the $10 option. We wondered how they could keep their prices so reasonable but we concluded that the crappy décor probably kept their costs down.

Once the meat arrived, we did not waste another second to put the meat on the grill. All 9 of us were really excited to eat it but sadly we had to wait till it was nicely cooked.

It would have been nice if our salad, rice and soup all came at the same time…. These items came half way through our meal. Totally not a “buffet” if they don’t give it to us in the beginning.

When the meat is done, you can put it in the lettuce with kimchi, bean sprouts, jalapeño, and garlic. Once assembled inside the lettuce wrap, you can dip it into the miso paste or in the salt and pepper sauce.

If you grill the kimchi, bean sprouts and the garlic, it will make the wrap a lot better! Thanks to BusanGirl for that tip!

To add to this buffet, we got beer and Soju. I am a light weight, so having both got me a bit tipsy.

The service was not great since they would forget an order and take way too long refilling our food. Conversing in English would have probably been a problem but luckily I had 4 Koreans with me to do all the ordering.

Also, some of the meat the gave us was VERY FATTY ( 85% fat and 15% meat). It was pretty gross and they “boys” table got that so I think it ruined their start of the night since their meat did not cook well cause it had so many fat streaks in their pork belly. The “girls” tables got lucky since their meat turned out nice and brown.

The damage of the bill came to be over $200… but after splitting it up, it turned about to be about $26 per person.

I would advise you to not eat this often…maybe once or twice a year because this is quite fatty. We left this restaurant smelling like BBQ, I woke up feeling oily, and one person spent a while in the washroom…if you know what I mean…

When you go here, make sure you have a Korean with you. The service may be pretty crappy and if all the items in the buffet do not arrive, do ask them because you are paying for it. The pork belly should be nicely marbled with fat….and not strips of fat…so send it back if there is too much fat. Remember you are paying for all you can eat pork belly and not all you can eat fat.

We rate Pork Belly Beer House: