Zabu Chicken
1635 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC

I might be overstating the obvious here: Restaurant business is a cuthroat business. Even more so in Vancouver where restaurants seems to come and go. Restaurateurs blame the economy, HST, drinking laws, etc. However, what they forget is that eating out is not a necessity; is a luxury. If you can’t make people come to your restaurant and generate revenue and income, probably you are doing something wrong. While I do miss some restaurants that are long gone, those empty spots are usually filled up by something else down the road. Or, in some cases, just close for a week and reinvent themselves. Fuel, in Kitsilano, for example, turned into Refuel. Am I digressing here? Maybe; however, thoughts like these came to my mind when I saw Zabu Chicken…

Wait, what is the deal with Zabu Chicken, isn’t it a new restaurant? Maybe? It might be a case of Deja Vu. Long time ago, way before my days of food blogging, 1635 Robson Street, across from Robson Market and next to Capers was home to Roscoe’s, a home cooked type, European restaurant. For some reason, despite living really close, I didn’t feel it was welcoming. Don’t get me wrong, I am sure their culture is; just that, the exterior didn’t reflect it and, as a result, I never walked in. Fast foward, to summer 2010. After some remodeling, an izakaya was supposed to open here. It’s name? Kosetsu. However, some wacky scheduling on their side prevented me from going there and, instead, I ended up going to Guu Garden. A couple of weeks later, it was suddenly closed and, wala!, a new restaurant pops out. This time? Kim Bob Chun Gook, which I went for lunch with PO. Yes, yes, it is gone and now it is occupied by Zaku Chicken. At this rate, one can’t help but wonder if this spot is cursed or the new tenants are avoiding the Canada Revenue Agency by closing and reopening (wacky thought, most likely no, as the bill from Kim Bob Chun Gook and Zabu Chicken both had the Kosetsu business name in it). But enough back story, now to this visit.

First, I am not completely unfamiliar with how Korean fry their chicken. Granted, I have not been in Korean nor will claim any expertise. However, what I can say is that, after my experience in Red Chicken and Chicken Party, at least, I sort of knew what I was up to. The question is whether Zabu would deliver.

Once again, partner in crime PO and I arrived at just after 12 o’clock, just to find a somewhat confused wait staff, as if they weren’t expecting any customers. Now, I could say that would have been “possible”: before this actual visit, we tried to go there a couple of instances just to find out they weren’t open yet. Let me try again: their original (hand written) hours were Monday to Thursday, opening at 2:00 p.m. Yup, this is one of those “WTH?” moments. What is the point of opening at 2:00 p.m. if the lunch rush is way gone? Or could it be Koreans eat later during the day? Anyway, we were seated in the dead middle of the restaurant and given the menu.

At this point, you can guess their menu is quite straight forward: Fried chicken. They have it in three different possible iterations: “original”, which meant either whole or half chicken; “sitcks” referring to drumsticks; or wings. You could also order a combo which is a mix of wings and “sticks”. Similar to Chicken Party, they have “flavours”, from the generic “fried chicken” to their soy original, hot oraiginal, lemon and “soy sal-sal”. Anything else? In addition to booze, a “zabu chicken katsu” and “zabu chicken salad”, you can say that is about it. And probably in sort of lack of judgement we ended up ordering 12 pieces of their soy wings and 5 pieces of their drumsticks, plus a salad to share. After making our orders, we got…

Now, I know that a lot of us are used to banchan – those small side dishes; here, we got a small coleslaw-like “salad” and some radish. You know what? I am OK with this. As for the radish, I thought it was a bit too acidic but, otherwise, eaten as an appetizer, it was a sort of good starting point. As for the coleslaw, too much dressing for me. On that note, it was a creamy type dressing, not too different from a ranch dressing, though without that acidic taste behind it.

From there, things went downhill… OK, to those who haven’t fried food, it is, in a way, a test of patience. Vegetables are quite forgiving because you can appreciate if they are still a bit raw, while, if overcooked, well, still edible because it is covered by the batter (or something else). Meats? That’s when it gets tricky. Depending on the oil temperature, you can end up with something that looks burnt outside but still raw inside. And then there is the timing: it has to be cooked through while the exterior is still nice and crispy. Given how much emphasis they were making about their chicken, I thought, well, they might do it old school, which might require 20+ or so minutes for it to fry. And how long it took for our food to arrive at the table? How about 30 minutes after ordering? In fact, by minute ~20, PO and I were starting to debate about how the food will be presented. I.e., plump pieces? Or some run off the mill pieces? Or, as they say “we cook the freshest, not frozen chicken”. Hmmmmm…. Will see if that’s true. Anyway, the first dish to arrive was (at the 30 minutes mark already)…

The chicken salad. Why the hell we were ordering this? Probably because we needed vegetables? I will go outright and say this salad is a sore disappointment. In a way, it can be considered to be the coleslaw salad it was given the us original, with some extra lettuce, chicken and in a larger portion. That is because the dressing used here was basically the same. What didn’t help was that they didn’t hold back in the dressing. At times, I felt slurping it. Darn… But, one thing was decent: the chicken pieces were crispy, though, wished it was juicier. Then again, chicken breast, should I have expected more? Regardless, it was that dressing overkill… Come to think about it, I prefer the chicken salad from Costco to this. In a way, I guess that basically tells the story.

Shortly after the salad came the wings. Looking at them I had to chuckle a little bit. At just over $12 the order, we are talking ~$1 a piece. It would have been OK if it was a regular size wing. But, alas, it wasn’t. I was wondering if these were cut out from baby chicken or some specialty type chicken because these were small. Compare it to places where it is sold per pound (Wings, House of Wings, et al, or a Beaver and Mullet visited recently), these were definitely losers in the pricing category. But, wait, the proof is in the taste, isn’t it? So, how was it? Meh. From a “soy” perspective, I didn’t notice anything soy-ish there. In fact, I was wondering if this was borderline a honey garlic type “sauce”, more on the lines of honey than garlic. Furthermore, if that wasn’t enough of a killer, there was the fact it felt overfried. See, wings is one of those cuts that stand overcooking quite well because of the fat/skin ratio to meat compared to other cuts so, unless overcooked, the meats can still “flake” out and/or keep itself juicy. Alas, these were extremely crispy, which means overcooked wings…

Moving to the drumstick version, we ordered the hot version. I was a bit hesitant because it could be a repeat of what happened at Red Chicken, i.e., a chicken so spicy that cold liquid didn’t really help. Here, I was wondering if they used a sweet chili sauce because spicy it wasn’t. As for the meat, similar to the wings, it was starting to get crispy “inside”, while the outside part, given it was layered in sauce, was a slightly better but not by much. At one point, we were wonder if the skin was removed because we couldn’t determine why it was so dry. Alas, skin was on. So, as a result, don’t ask me what is going on here.

At one point, we wondered if we should have ordered a whole fried chicken instead. While we did “argue” about it, in the end, had it been the whole chicken, there were parts that wouldn’t have helped anyway. The chicken breast, for example, considering how the wing and drumstick were dry. But here is the one killer: timing. Why it took so long for the food to deliver? It didn’t feel it was fried to order, specially considering neither the wings or drumstick were pipping hot (temperature wise). So, did I miss something? Probably the moola we had to fork? Total bill was in the $36 range (tax included) and we paid $40. At the risk of alienating readers for saying it but, for that $$$, we could have easily bought a rotisserie chicken with some sides at Safeway (< = $20) or, in a fried chicken comparison, I might have even gone to KFC or Church’s. In fact, we joked we should have done exactly that! Yes, I know people will ask for my head for making this comparison but, when the food was so sub-par, even to KFC, such statement is not overkill and might hold some truth in it. So, once again, Zabu Chicken is a no for me…

Kim Bob Chun Gook
1635 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC

Some things go around and comes around, in a quasi cycle of cause and effect (aka Karma). In my case, I always believe that, if somebody does something for you, you should reciprocate and show gratitude. If you show generosity, it will be shown back to you. Such was the case of PO, who did a favour for me some time ago and, to thank him, I invited him for lunch. Of course, there is that eternal question of where. For no particular reason, I remind him of a (then) tapas place called Kosetsu (which I failed miserably to go with Mariko due to them not being open yet, as in we were there too early). However, that was months ago and, for some reason, it re-lanched themselves as a Korean restaurant named Kim Bob Chun Gook (now, this is based on what I saw, if the transliteration is correct, I can’t say!). OK, that sounds good so let’s go!

Upon arriving, it seems we surprised the wait staff. They were all in the back of the restaurant, as if there was some sort of meeting or not ready/open for business. Once we were acknowledged, though, we were promptly guided to a table; however, rather than a table inside, I asked for a table outside (as that day was sunny). In a way, that resulted in some wacky service through the meal: while it was attentive, at the same time it was a bit of hit or miss, since we were not on their direct line of sight. I know, that sounds strange: have a patio yet no easy way to call for assistance and so on…

One thing I asked PO: Do NOT hold back on what to order! However, even then, PO held himself back a little bit so in the end, I decided to (over?) order some dishes to share, starting with the Korean version of a makizushi: the kimbap. Here, their bulgogi kim bop. For the most part, it would be similar to most sushi rolls (though it would be more on the lines of a futomaki); however, I was slightly disappointed it didn’t have as much savouriness compared to other rolls. Probably the because the sheets aren’t toasted before preparing it? Otherwise, it was good/decent in its own ways.

As expected (?) from a Korean restaurant, some banchan or side dishes. I won’t say there was anything extraordinary but, otherwise… Average? Not sure if I should have expected something else. Again, it is “free” so I won’t say much else.

PO ordered the Jang Tu Guk Bob, which was served with some rice. Alas, I wish I could provide a better explanation: their menu is not even remote similar to that of most restaurants in BC and it seemed to cater more towards their specific target population. Sorry, it seems I am bashing but I can’t help it! (I know some of you might be saying the same thing about Chinese restaurants!). Anyway, PO thought it was OK and nothing else. So much for trying to figure out dishes… >_<

As for myself, I went for their spicy rice cake and vegi. Despite there is a picture of the dish in the (lunch) menu, I wasn’t necessarily sure what to expect. See, whenever I hear rice cake, I automatically think of the Chinese version. In this case, we have the Korean version and, for a good part of the meal, I just drew comparisons between the two just to be safe. As for the dish itself… Well, it is not something I would order by myself but won’t mind having it as a side to share with other – almost in the same lines that a lot of people would share jap chae in Korean restaurants. The issue is that the rice cake was a bit chewy (expected, probably more than what I wanted it to be) and a somewhat uni-dimensional flavour: almost that of being spicy but not there (read: didn’t really break a sweat). Acquired taste? Or… Carb overload???

The “other” dish I ordered to share since PO seemed to be holding back. Here is their Gochujang Samyopsal (sp?!). Or to put it simply, slices of grilled pork belly (though, it looked and tasted more like pan seared/fried) and with some hot pepper paste. It is a semi-known fact that I sweat bullets when eating spicy food but, in this case, I wasn’t sure if it was the food or the sunny day. Regardless, these fatty pieces of pork were heavy (still pieces of fat present) and lacked some more caramelizing. Still, it was an interesting eat, I just have to pace myself if I were to eat this again (pace myself as in once every other month!).

As we settled the bill, I noticed that the CC receipt still had the old name, i.e., Kosetsu. I wonder why it still had that name. Regardless of the reason, as for what it is now, from a lunch perspective, it is OK for what it is. However, I am still unconvinced: One of my main flaws is that, most of the dishes I would end up ordering are the same usual set of suspects set up by all the different Korean restaurants. Without a Korean guide, I might feel lost in this sea of possibilities. Until then, it is sort of a coin flip: you might like it or you might not…

Chicken Party
205 – 3355 North Road
Burnaby, BC

OK, let me reassure you that, despite the name of this post, it is a PG post. Yes, there is a double entendre with the title of this post which is also the name of this restaurant. If you don’t know about that possible other meaning… Well, I won’t explain it (feel free to Google it). So, the question is… Why I was in a restaurant with such a strange, almost risque name? In that case, I will finger point shokutsu of Foodosophy who wrote about this place a couple of weeks ago. And what shokutsu end up getting? Based on that post, I will assume fried chicken!

I won’t deny that Burquitlam is an area I have to visit more often. I am sure there are good eats and, if you keep on driving to Port Moody, you have other type of good eats, like Rehanah’s Roti or Cake-Ya. However, getting there for me is a bit of an exercise. With that in mind, I wasn’t exactly sure where Chicken Party was until it was slightly too late and I drove past it. Unfortunately, I had to drive several blocks before I managed to turn around (and I do NOT mean doing a U turn!). Eventually, I arrived, walked in and…

OK, I have had strange situations in restaurants, like me walking to a Latin restaurant with all Latin American people then staring at me because I look Chinese. In the case of Chicken Party, something similar happened, except it was Korean people looking at me funny. Hey, what can I say! There wasn’t anybody at the cashier and eventually one of the cooks realized I was there and I was finally taken care of.

The menu is pretty straight forward… Or at least I could make out from what was written in English. They had (written in big English), fried chicken + fried chicken with spicy-sweet sauce + fried chicken with garlic soy sauce. In addition to that, some sides like fries, and so on (but no kimchi!. That’s on the sign on top. On the walls, it was full Korean… Sorry, I wasn’t going to take a chance and end up ordering a case of soju! (Though, of course, for some people, there is nothing wrong with that!).

Anyway, given it is basically chicken and some variations, I ended choosing an order of 10 pieces of garlic soy to go. I was told there will be a 15 minutes wait which I found reasonable if you are frying your chicken to order. After 12 or so minutes, I was given a styrofoam container which, at first, was oddly too light. Without saying anything, I walked out to the parking lot and…

At first I was suspicious about the chicken as it didn’t have that strong fried chicken smell but then I realized something even stranger… While there were physically 10 pieces, it is not 10 pieces the way most of us would count 10 pieces. That is, wings, drumstick, thigh and breast. Instead, some of the pieces would be split into two. For example, there were two pieces of white meat which I would safely assume they are from one chicken breast. At least the wing wasn’t split into the wingette (sp?) part and the drumette part…

With that sense of doubt I popped one piece and… At first, neither the garlic nor the soy sauce hit me. However, after I finished chewing and started swallowing, I started to “feel” some strong hint of garlic and some saltiness right there. Yup, there was some soy sauce and garlic indeed, just not at the first bite! The chicken was still quite juicy and nicely fried. In the end, rather than splitting the fried chicken into three or so meals, I ended up eating everything that night.

I will have to admit, this chicken is pretty good; however, the fact that the way the chicken pieces are cut makes me a bit suspicious. And, then is the long drive for me, which will certainly result in me not visiting them anytime soon. However, I am quite sure I will raise some eyebrows (and chuckles) if I yell aloud I am going to (a) Chicken Party…

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.

Happy Day Metro House
5021 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

I am not afraid to say this: There are a lot of ethnic restaurants that, unless you are from that specific culture, they are not that inviting of “other” people. Take for Chinese, where service can suck royally (but something we are used to) but it is not that welcoming to non-Chinese (or even Chinese who can’t read/write). How so? Because part of the menu is not in the local lingua franca! At other instances, the exterior looks so un-inviting that, unless you know the cuisine very well, chances are you won’t visit it. To me, that is the case of Happy Day Metro House in Burnaby. If I look from outside, it looks like another corner restaurant. However, with tall booths, dark windows and not too bright exterior, I always wonder if there is some sort of gang activity going on! But, my sense of adventure for food beat that fear, which lead me one day to visit it…

The “uninviting” part somehow continued after I walked. Now, don’t get me wrong, the waitress didn’t do anything wrong; just that, by noticing I was by myself and the fact I felt disoriented somehow meant I would end up seated at a hidden corner of the restaurant. In fact, you can’t really see the rest of the restaurant from my vantage point… >_<

Regardless, I won’t let that take away from one thing: I was there for the food and will make judgment solely based on that. Alas, because I was by myself, I had to restrict on which dishes I could order. It is not that I couldn’t order any of the other dishes; just that, by doing so, I would have to end up ordering a lot of food… In the end, I ordered…

OK, first the banchan. Here, they had the usual suspects in the form of the potato, bean sprout, kimchi and broccoli. For the most part, I will have to say they were similar to what I have had in other places. Actually, the potatoes might have been slightly sweeter but, otherwise…

Let’s try again… I ended up going for the seafood sundubu. It was bubbling hot at first but that went down quite quickly. The tofu was silken soft and easily slurp it down. Unfortunately, it was still pipping hot and burned my tongue slightly! ^_^;;; The seafood part, though, was a bit disappointing. It was mostly in the form of mini-shrimp and some dried seafood. Still, tastewise, it wasn’t that bad and something I would eat; just that don’t expect much in the terms of seafood.

After finishing my meal and I went to pay, I quickly took a look at dishes ordered by other tables and there were your usual suspects in the form of galbi and japchae (among others). However, one table that really caught my attention was some pieces of fried chicken with a reddish sauce smothered on top. That reminded me of that chicken I had in Red Chicken!

As for what I had, I won’t say it was spectacular. In fact, for the most part, it was quite similar to what I have had previously. But, it did what it was supposed to do so, from that perspective, I guess it served its purpose… Still, I might be tempted to come here just for that fried chicken…

Toyo Sushi
2211 Cambie Street
Vancouver, BC

As I have mentioned previously, one of the perks from blogging in general is that of meeting people. And, in the particular case of food blogging, that of meeting people for a meal. That was the case when Erin (of My Life in the E List) wrote a comment and, finding she is a blogger, one thing lead to another and that meant us meeting for lunch. Of course, that brings the question of where. After checking her blog, I found out she likes sushi and that meant we would originally meet in Ebisu on Broadway. But, alas, it was closed on the day we were supposed to meet for lunch! So, that led us to plan B: Toyo Sushi.

I am aware of Toyo Sushi, even before the construction of the Canada Line; however, for some reason, I wasn’t really enticed to visit the restaurant. That was until shokutsu (of Foodosophy) visited it last year and blogged about it. Furthermore, Elaine (of Parker Pages), recently dropped by and, likewise, her experience was positive. Given all the feedback, it sounded like a good plan B!

When we arrived, we had some bad vibes. It was already noon, yet the restaurant was empty. We were quickly seated and given the menu. Now, since it was the first time for both of us in this place, the eternal question popped: What to order? We both had thoughts on what to order and after a couple of random thoughts, we got…

Edamame. Now, we did not order this; rather, this was complimentary. I was really puzzled at first, as neither one of us ordered it so I double checked. Well, indeed, it was complimentary. Not much to talk about other than it was free. (However, see note further down below).

As mentioned above, we had an idea of what to order but wasn’t sure if we would like the other’s option. So, instead of guessing, each decided to order that one dish we knew we should order, starting with goma-ae, my selection. Actually, these were quite decent. Albeit slightly overdressed, that extra dressing wasn’t overpowering. Still, it had the texture of fresh spinach so, from my perspective it was good.

On Erin’s side, she mentioned she had to have spicy agedashi tofu. I will have to admit, these were quite good. Unlike the ones found in some other restaurant, the tofu had some more texture (as if they were using a firmer version of tofu) than other places. Furthermore, the exterior formed a crust you usually find in fried goodies. And, in what I found to be one of the “best” moves, was that of not having too much broth which would have ended up making the tofu mushy. It was a good choice!

Toyo Sushi does not make any claim it is authentic Japanese and the fact there were Korean dishes most likely meant this place is Korean run, which meant having Korean dishes in the menu. Since we ordered sushi (specifically a roll, details in a moment), we thought of ordering a Korean dish which ended up being dolsot bi bim bap. While the usual vegetables, beef and egg was there, the question was… What the #@^!#@$@ is the krab doing there? Regardless, after some hot sauce and mixing it, it resulted in a hot, savoury rice bowl. A bit more sesame oil at the bottom would have helped crisp the rice a little bit (or maybe I was a bit impatient when I started mixing it) but, otherwise, it was good (hey, we finished the bowl, you know!).

As mentioned, we also ordered sushi, in this case, what seems to be one of their signature roll… OK, I will admit something: while I like nigiri sushi, you can’t really share these (unless you order one piece per person, which partially defeats the purpose of sharing). That’s the reason we went for their crazy dragon roll: unagi + avocado on dynamite roll w/side mayo, spicy and teriyaki sauce.

Once again… Krab… Yes, that is the main reason I try to avoid rolls as it is too oftenly used as filler. However, past that one part, there was the crispiness of the shrimp tempura plus you could notice somewhat the eel. Come to think about it, that was the weak part: it didn’t have too much of that eel taste, nor the sweetness I am used to.

I didn’t really try the sauces as it was quite difficult keep its shape and try to put the whole piece in your mouth. (Sorry, everybody, while I do take candid pictures once in a while, I wasn’t going to incur into Erin’s wrath in this case!). Would I order it again? Well, depends… If I am on my own, again, I would fall back again to nigiri sushi; otherwise, if with somebody else, yes, that might be an option.

When we asked for the bill, we were given this to finish the meal. Notice, we did not order it, rather, similar to the edamame, it was “complimentary”. As for the orange itself, it was sweet but, then again, can you go wrong with fruit?

Because we were the only customers until halfway the lunch, it wasn’t that difficult to notice I was taking pictures. Of course, the fact that Elaine wrote about them recently, there was that feeling I might be a food blogger as well. As a result, the waitress was quite attentive with us. But, then again, it might be my paranoia at work and it is possible that is their regular hospitality (not to mention, the edadame and orange are actually “free”!). Regardless, despite it is not “authentic”, I didn’t find any major faults with the food and, in fact, it is a lot better than some other places I have been. As a result, it is a good option for me and might come back in the future.

Dae Bak Bon Ga
1323 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC

Just a caveat: due to other timing, this post was shuffled around and almost ended up being lost in the pile. That of course brings the question: when did I actually go to Dae Bak Bon Ga? How about almost three weeks ago? And that was in part thanks to the Foodosophy team and Sherman (of Sherman’s Food Adventures) who went there recently – though to their Kitsilano location. Since I have been meaning to try different cuisines, I thought, hey, why not! So, I convinced PO to tag along and there we went.

While there is a noticeable sandwich board outside, the truth is, unless you are looking that way, it is one of those restaurants you won’t notice it is there. This is specially considering there is a Starbucks in one end and a Hon’s at the other end. But, the fact it has been there for quite some time already means they have their clientele.

When we arrived, I was a bit hesitant. How come the restaurant is almost empty?! Except for two tables and a large table at the end, it was a bit scary to see such large restaurant with so many empty tables. I wonder if it is because they focus more on the later afternoon/evening crowd. It did not matter; we were there and we were hungry!

PO started with a king gyoza (?). When he got it in the table, we were both wondering… What the !@#$%!@#$ is this! I mean, if you look at it, you might call it a (Chinese) bun instead and nobody would have challenged you. However, rather than fully steamed, PO mentioned the bottom was slightly crispy. I guess that qualifies it as a gyoza instead… Taste-wise, however, it ended up like a bun so, if you call it a gyoza or bun, it won’t matter!

For his main, PO ordered the dish above. To tell you the truth, I was so busy taking pictures of my order I completely forgot to ask him about what he ordered and how it tastes, So, why I was so busy? Because I ordered BBQ lunch special (or set menu for one) that had pretty much everything but the kitchen sink. So, a picture of everything before I go to the actual description/thoughts of the food.

Click on this picture of a large version of the banchan or side dishes. Will open in a new window.

There are times where I wonder: would a single morsel be considered a “dish”. It was barely enough for me to give taste it and, a lot of times, I had to concentrate hard. I like different flavours; however, if I can’t give it a second shot… Well, it might be disappointing. For the most part, they were decent; though, at the same time, they were quite similar to the ones offered in other Korean restaurants. I know I might be overgeneralizing those banchan/side dishes but, then again, it is part of the whole order. One part that sort of disappointed were the salads. Now, I am among the people who can have a salad without dressing and won’t complain. It fulfilled the role of providing some vegetables in the meal but I could have easily skipped them.

Click on this picture of a large version of the meats. Will open in a new window.

As for the meats, unlike most other similar Korean places where, for a single diner, they won’t turn on the burner, here, they did. Wow, I wonder how much is their monthly gas bill if more people went to eat by themselves (like me)! Portion wise, it was quite decent for the price, though, of course, after it cooks, they will shrink somewhat. It was decently seasoned and it wasn’t chewy at all. Then again, when it is sliced so thinly, there is no way it should be chewy (unless it was cut along the grain). Of course, that pose a problem: if all the meat was in the burner, how can you guarantee they won’t burn if all of them were in the burner at the same time? That was partially a problem, as the waitresses kept pushing the meats on to the grill – I guess partially to make sure the burner wasn’t turned on the whole time. In the end, some pieces ended up charred and some others stuck on the grill.

To finish the meal itself, I was given “dessert”. To the left, a piece similar to Japanese mochi and, to the right, a glass of a sweet drink. It had a slight ginger-y aftertaste but, other than that, I can’t think of a better way to describe it. Then again, I am not crazy about sweets, so…

I will have to say that the fact I was snapping pictures the whole time might have had an impact in the service. As mentioned above, they were really trying to hard to have everything done for me. In a way, it was somewhat obvious when they asked me if I was a journalist. My negative reply resulted in a bit of disappointment. But, putting that aside, I thought the food was decent in its own ways, despite it was falling into the situation of providing too much but too little. Would I come back? If I was by myself and wanted some galbi and cooking it myself, may be. Otherwise, there are other Korean establishments I should visit before making a judgement.

Ddoo Gau Bee
203-4501 North Road
Burnaby, BC

OK, after a small break from Asian, with yesterday post of FatBurger, I am back with Asian again! ^_^;;; Fortunately (?), rather than sticking with only one area/country/region, I have been jumping back and forth. This time, I went for Korean. And, the most interesting part? Rather than a place in Downtown Vancouver or Kingsway, I went to an area of Vancouver I have started to expand: Lougheed, the border between Burnaby and Coquitlam. While Insandong is the most popular one, I dropped by Ddoo Gau Bee instead.

When I arrived, I was acknowledged by a waitress and guided me to my table. After that, I think the best can be described by Sherman in his recent post of Nor Boo: almost non-existent service. Now, I must remind everybody I am a person who does not really care much about service and, when I make mention of this topic, it is because things are really good or things went south in a catastrophic way. Yes, pretty much something happened here: I waited and waited and waited for them to take my order. In the end, I had to raise my hand… And waited easily for over a minute before another waitress noticed me. Was it really necessary? Now, before somebody tells me I should have “rung” to catch their attention, there was no such device in the table I was given. However, once I made my order, the food came pretty fast. And what did I order? OK, how about some pictures first?

Yes, that is a lot of food! However… I did NOT consciously order all that! I know I am a heavy eater but this was way more I would eat, specially considering it is mostly carbs. So, how come I ended up getting all this? It just happen that in their menu there is a hot special. However, it does not have an exact description; rather, there is a picture of what see above. However, at $10, I thought that most likely, there won’t be too much food so why not. In fact, I thought, why not order some ya ki man doo

OK, that’s a lot of food so how about what was actually on the plate? So, let’s try again: The black noodles is ja jang myeon (?), which is noodles with black bean sauce. Once the sauce was “mixed” with the noodles, it provided a light sweet taste (probably due to the onions used?) which worked in a strange way with the bite of the noodles. Not the best but it did not stop me from eating it. As for the jam pong (?), the one under the red broth was mostly meh. There was a piece of shrimp and a piece of octopus (literally) which served more as a token to tell you it had some seafood but nothing else. The noodles had a bite similar to that of the ja jang myeon (well, it is almost the same noodles!) but the almost tasteless broth did not work the same way.

The rice reminded me of omurice, that omelette filled with fried rice dish found in Japanese cuisine. The egg was really thin, which makes me wonder how it was made. Not too eggy, in fact it felt it was mostly token. The rice was moist, though, and had some vegetable broth-like taste. Otherwise, there wasn’t anything else in it.

The mandoo was interesting and plain at the same time. Similar to Chinese dumplings, they were fried rather than usual process of being steamed or pan fried and then steamed. Hey, it is fried so it should be great, right? Well, it *could* have. The problem is that the skin ended up still chewy. The filling was also disappointing, as it did not have that much of a taste, unless you tried really hard after almost dunking it into the dipping sauce. In that case, you could taste a hint of pork. C’mon, really?

Despite all the issues, I ate most of what I was served. Unfortunately, I regretted doing it afterwards, as I basically skipped dinner that night. I guess I am somewhat of a glutton. Argh… As for coming back, not in a hurry. While I am sure this dish isn’t too representative of Korean cuisine (still, the two tables next to me ordered it), it did not impress me either. It felt… Average. Oh, well…

Nor Boo Korean Restaurant
1536 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC

To a certain extent, despite there are so many Korean restaurants near my workplace, I seldom go to these. It is not that I do not like them; however, for some reason, I feel that it is “better” to go with somebody else or in a small group. However, that does not mean I haven’t to one myself – check my post on Ma Dang Coul. So, when I checked a colleague to go for lunch, I suggested Nor Boo Restaurant, one of those nearby places I haven’t been. In a funny way, others joined us…

I remember when Nor Boo opened several years ago. Actually, it wasn’t the restaurant itself; rather it was a character drawn outside, I couldn’t take a picture of it but, let’s say that I thought it looked similar to a djinn. A friend of mine who lived in Korea told me there is a legend/tale associated to this character (which, according to him, the restaurant is named after), but doing some searches around became fruitless. But the fact it has been there for some time ought to mean something, right?

As a funny note, in almost all Korean places I have been, there is usually a button you press for service. However, here in Nor Boo, probably due to the seating arrangement, which looks somewhat open, does not have that. I guess you just try to flag your server… And, come to think about it, despite there were not that many customers (we were having a somewhat early lunch), sometimes it was difficult to do so…

Once we “chose” a tables, which unfortunately ended up being inside (it was sunny that day but cool), I ended up on the corner seat. Oh, well, unlike some other bloggers *cough* *cough* who might even stand up to walk around to take pictures, I chose not to go this way. Instead, I limited myself to those around me. Anyway, after given the menu, rather than ordering to share, each one of us ordered his/her own dish. Too bad for me, I guess. But, then again, it as lunch and some of us might not have wanted a large meal (not to mention we had to go back to work soon). And as for the food itself, below are the pictures of what was ordered. I apologize for the quality of the pictures, given the somewhat odd light conditions. Also, I will apologise for the name of the dishes, as I did not take notes of them.

Banchan – bottom left, kimchi; middle row, bean sprout and pasta salad; in the back, stewed/sweet potatoes.

Wait, if there were three adjacent seats plus myself, that makes four dishes. How come there are five??? Well, what happened was that I ordered the last one, a seafood version of dolsot (stone bowl) but somewhow the waitress understood the next dish in the menu which happened to be something similar to chirashi, i.e., sashimi over rice. I took my chances I sent it back, though there was some confusion by the waitress. I don’t think they liked the fact I did that and “warned” me it would take an additional 7 or so minutes (ended up being ~10 minutes).

Sorry for the fuzzy picture. Tried several times but…

But, putting that aside, most of my colleagues mentioned their dishes were good so I leave them at that. As for my dish, I think it was slightly disappointing. It was piping hot and, as per the dish name, it had some seafood in it. To add some contrast, it also had some chestnut. However, I won’t say I really like it. For some reason, I couldn’t taste any seafood flavours. Come to think about it, I couldn’t “feel” any of the texture either! If I had to make a wild guess, I think it was because everything was so hot (as in temperature – due to the stone bowl?) that ended up masking any potential from the dish. Probably my mistake but…

As for the place in general, I would have to say it falls in a limbo. To me, there wasn’t anything unique, anything that make it stand out to the other Korean places nearby. However, and again, my colleagues liked it so that should count for something… Service, well, they did change my order but I couldn’t shake some odd feelings about it. Regardless, there are still other Korean eateries…

Red Chicken Korean Restaurant
833 Bute Street
Vancouver, BC

[Editor's note: This is a "bonus" post of sorts, as it was originally scheduled to go live on Monday - See the "other" post below or the "previous" post. However, since this coming Monday is Labour Day...!]

In a way, this post was and wasn’t overdue at the same time. See, a couple of months ago, I went there with a friend and tried their food. I was almost ready to post it when Wilson from La Petite Vancouver wrote a post. Why did I hold back? Well, according to my friend, the name of the restaurant is due to a dish – buldak: Chicken wings and legs marinated in a very hot spicy chili sauce grilled which happens to be of reddish colour. Since Wilson wrote about it – buldak included, I thought my post would fall short without it (not to mention the pictures in my original visit were a bit… below average). So, it was a matter of when I would re-visiting them and have some buldak. And I did recently…

Before I jump to the buldak, I should start with my first visit. My friend and I were working in some projects and we were both late in the office that night. So, we agreed to have dinner afterwards. I left the decision taking process to her and she mentioned a place her friends had been: Red Chicken. I was slightly hesitant: Why go all the way to Bute Street when you have several Korean restaurants further down in the West End. But, hey, it is sometimes that sense of adventure so I just agreed.

When we arrived, it was a bit late yet the restaurant was 3/4 full. I asked my friend about the restaurant name and she mentioned the story above about buldak. Unfortunately, when I mentioned my friend about my reaction to spicy food (when it hits certain threshold, I start to sweat… A LOT), she thought it might not be such a good idea to order buldak. In an unusual way, I relented… Since were sharing, we ordered…

Sundubu-jigae

Japchae

Jjin-mandu

Now, these names are taken “as is” from their take out menu so any misspelling errors, most likely it will be mine! So, starting with the sundubu, a spicy red tofu soup with squid, shrimp, clam and mushroom, I had some mixed feelings. It was hot (temperature and spiciness) yet somehow the other flavours seemed muted or overpowered by that spiciness. I might be missing the point but, hey, you ought to be able to flavour the other components of the dish, like the seafood! However, that brings another problem: there weren’t that many pieces of seafood! Despite we were sharing this, I don’t think or feel she scooped all the morsels so, from that perspective, I felt slightly disappointed.

The japchae – stir-fried sweet potato noodles, beef with vegetables – was, well, japchae. Probably I am a bit more used to eating vermicelli-type noodles so I did not notice anything too different or did not pay too much attention to notice anything different. And, finally, the jjin-mandu, steamed pork dumplings. Now, there might have been a lost in translation here because I am sure we ordered gun-mandu – panfried dumplings. When it arrived, my friend and I looked at each other in a funny way, probably asking the same question: didn’t we order the pan fried version? Regardless, we were hungry and decided not to send it back. Again, probably I “missed” the point here but I think I prefer the Chinese version of dumplings: in this case, I did not feel there was some harmony in the fillings. Now, I am not saying that Hon’s is better, I think it has more to do with style.

And your usual banchan – side dishes. This picture was taken on my second visit.

And, of course, the side dishes, which included something I have seldom get from other Korean places: potato salad (which, in the picture above, looks like scooped ice cream). In lieu of this, it is usually the seasoned potato. Regardless, it had an interesting soft, almost mash-like texture. I wonder if they use mayo and how much, hehehehe. One thing I must mention: there is a note in there menu that says you could “refill” one of these once. After that, you are charged $1.50 for each additional refill. I guess this is to prevent customers who order cheap dishes and fill their tummies by re-ordering them endlessly…

At this point, I won’t say I was impressed with their food but it wasn’t that bad either. I mean, it had the basics, nothing overly fancy and, budget-wise, it was fine. However, when there are some many other Korean eateries, doing “just fine” does not cut it. And that is when buldak came back to me. Since I did not try this dish, how could I make an assessment of this restaurant? So, after some time, I managed to convince a work colleague to go to Red chicken for lunch… And this time, no matter what, I will be having some buldak.

On this second visit, the heat wave that hit Vancouver was already history but they were selling some summer type dishes. In our case, we both ended up ordering cold spicy noodles, in my case, the regular “beef” version, my friend, the squid version. And, here they are:

I will admit these noodles were quite interesting and had some oddities as well. (As a reminder, I am more used to the vermicelli rice noodles). Here, the noodles were quite long and stringy, i.e., they did not break as easily. As a result, and partially thanks to my lack of skills handling chopsticks, they were a bit difficult to eat (imagine slurping on the noodle for half a minute…). Did I try to bite it off? Yup, I tried but did not really easily break! And, yes, as per its name, it was cold, as in icy cold. How icy? How about this icy:

I wonder if they “chilled” the liquid at the bottom (similar to the preparation of stock) or it was a “mistake”. Regardless, I did not pay too much attention to that and, instead, kept slurping and slurping! ^_^;;; Was it good? I have mixed feelings: on its own, it was a cold treat, yes. However, I was expecting something else, something with more umami characteristics. It is possible it was there but couldn’t taste it because of… The buldak…

I know that some might be wondering about the second picture. I am sure it is not that noticeable but those are gloves. Supposedly, these are so hot (when we were ordering it, the waitress warned us these are *really* hot), they give these to you “just in case”. The funny thing is that, being my colleague and me, they supplied us with only one pair. I guess one glove of each of us only? Anyway, when I took the first bite, I did feel some sweetness and after a while, I felt the spiciness. Initially it was pleasant but, after the second bite, I did not feel like eating it anymore (now, we did finish the dish). Here is the reason why: it was a burning type spiciness. In the past, whenever I have spicy food, I could eat something else and still savour the flavours of the other dishes. This, oddly, encourages you to eat another bite (and then repeat that process). But, here, that was not the case. Wait, burning? Yes, if you have ever put a spoonful of really hot soup into your mouth and burned your tongue, it would be somewhat similar to that. Reality is, unlike other type of hot/spicy dishes I have had, it overpowered anything else you could taste afterwards. I guess that is part of the reason I might have enjoyed the cold noodles as much. Now, here is the kicker: my colleague who went for lunch with me had similar thoughts about the chicken: too much “burning” spiciness, nothing else.

Overall, I can’t say I really enjoy my two visits to Red Chicken. Other than the buldak, the other dishes would be something you can find in other eateries and were about the same. No real twist… However, what my friend calls the “signature dish” felt a bit flat in my expectations. Would I come back? Well, there are many other Korean restaurants in the area I haven’t tried yet…