I’ve been going to DAAN Korean Restaurant many time since it’s opened because it’s close to home and also delicious! Located in the Garden City mall on Blundell and Garden City, the restaurant offers some simple but delicious Korean dishes.

I love their banchan here because I eat all of it! I always hate it when there’s some banchan I’m just not a fan of. I’ve been here quite a few times so have noticed that the sweet potatoes and kimchi are always a staple. They seem to swap between the marinated bean sprouts and marinated broccoli, both of which I enjoy. My favourite is their kimchi though as it’s just the right amount of spice and the radish is extremely juicy. If you order take out, you will only get the kimchi and sweet potato. However, if you eat in, you can also get 1 free refill of all these items.

Korean Style Fried Chicken Wings

After visiting many times, S and I have noticed we always seem to order the same items. S’s must orders are the Korean Style Fried Chicken Wings in the orginal flavour. You can also choose sweet and spicy or soy garlic. The wings are a decent size with the batter very crispy and chicken being juicy. Even when we ordered it for take out, it was still pretty crispy.

Soy Garlic Boneless Korean Fried Chicken Balls

S love Korean chicken so he also loves getting the Soy Garlic Boneless Korean Fried Chicken Balls. I haven’t really seen this at other Korean restaurants, but essentially it’s chicken meat wrapped with some batter and deep fried. They are sticky on the exterior but juicy inside. The garlic flavour is very strong so make sure you’ve got some mints after!

Soft Tofu Soup

My must order is the Soft Tofu Soup which is served with a side of rice. You can choose between seafood, beef, or mushroom and customize your level of spiciness. I always go for the milk with beef. The bowl comes sizzling hot and the broth is extremely flavourful.

Japchae

We also tried their Japchae which is stir-fried potato noodles with beef and mixed vegetables. There are plenty of vegetables in the dish with the veggies giving the dish a nice crunch.

Bossam

We also tried their Bossam which is a popular Korean dish featuring slow cooked miso braised pork belly. We got the small size which costs around $18 but the portion was extremely large for two. The meat was tender with the fat melting in your mouth. They give you some soy bean paste, spicy pickled radishes, jalapeno peppers and raw garlic. You can wrap all of this with the cabbage. We found that their cabbage pieces were all too tiny to wrap the meat easily though. However, the dish still tasted great and I would order this again if we have more friends with us.

DAAN also offers a variety of sizzling plates but we found the portions to be too large for two so haven’t tried them yet. Overall, I enjoy this neighbourhood gem and have been revisiting many times since.

Pros:
– Solid Korean dishes
– Prices are reasonable

Cons:
– May need to wait a bit during peak hours

Price Range: $15-20 per person

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 4 Service: 3.5 Ambiance: 3 Parking: Free parking in the complex Overall: 4