Potter’s Garden

Potter’s Garden
5599 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

The day following my visit to the Great Bear Pub, I was once again in the Kingsway area of Burnaby and, as usual (?), I was in the looks for good eats. I was originally thinking on getting something heavy with meat in it but changed my plans at the last moment because I had already something heavy with meat earlier that day, not to mention I was planning to go to the Greek Day the day afterwards. Hey, I am a heavy meat eater but at the same time I have my limits! Now, I wasn’t sure if vegetarian will cut it; besides I couldn’t think of such type of restaurants at that moment. So, I went to what seems to be next best thing: Korean! And, just by coincidence, I was driving close to Great Bear and right next to it, Potter’s Garden.

Now, I don’t think it was a complete coincidence: I could have gone to any of the other Korean restaurants nearby; however, Sherman not long ago wrote about it and had sort of an idea of what to expect. So, well, here I go!

Now, in what seems to be common (or, at least from what I have personally experienced) in Korean restaurants, there wasn’t anybody waiting for customers. Instead, I had to wait until a waiter noticed I was standing there when finally I was guided to a table. *shakes fist!!!!* OK, actually, once I went past that small “hurdle”, things improved in a good way. (Though, after ordering, it seems it took its time for the dishes to show up).

What seems to be “usual” in Korean restaurants, I was presented with banchan, here, from top left, clockwise, bean sprout, seaweed, kimchi and potatoes. I won’t say it was particularly exceptional but, hey, it was four types and did the job so won’t complain much here!

Given that, unlike Sherman, I was there by myself, I could only order that much. A plate of japchae won’t have been something I would have wanted to tackle myself. So, instead, I order single serving type dishes, here, sundubu – spicy red tofu soup with squid, shrimp and vegetables. There was an egg there as well but, who is counting? As for the listed components… Tofu? Check. Vegetables? Check. Squid? Check. Shrimp? Well, there was a one here and there but, truth is, I didn’t miss it that much. Not sure if I might be overstating it, given that most sundubu are similar but, here, it was quite smooth. If it wasn’t because it was quite hot, I would have been slurping it rather than “eating” it.

Just for kicks, I ordered an “appetizer”, though that might really be a wacky way to describe it… (It was even wackier when it arrived when I was already going through the sundubu rather than at the very beginning). Here, a plateful of steamed eggs. For $4, I was expecting at most a small cup but no. It was literally a big bowl! It wasn’t as smooth as the tofu in the sundubu but you could still “slurp” it. There were pieces of squid and one or two shrimp at the bottom, which worked quite well to contrast the softness of the savoury custard. One thing that would have worked better when preparing it was adding some soy sauce but it is possible I am comparing a bit too much with the Chinese version.

Overall, I will have to say I quite like the dishes I ordered. Granted, most Korean places would made them almost exactly the same but, well, what can I say… There was *something*. Also, it might not be really representative of a meal like the one Sherman had but, then again, it showed that I (as a single diner) could go to Korean restaurants by myself and order something good. And for that, I think I can see myself here sometime in the future.

Tagged under: Burnaby • Kingsway • Korean