Korean Food in Myeong-dong – Seoul

August 11, 20141 Comment

Bulgogi

Hungry after a day of shopping in Myeong-dong once again, it was time to look for some food. There’s food literally everywhere on the streets, with many of them on higher levels of the buildings. So many choices that it’s actually hard to figure out what’s good. We ended up walking down the main street of Myeong-dong and closer towards Euljiro-1-ga station, we found a Korean restaurant that featured many barbeque dishes. They barely knew English, but with some hand movements, we were able to communicate. First, we got the Bulgogi, which had an amazing sauce, but we felt ripped off by the meat. Apparently, you are supposed to grill the meat on the grill on our own, but we were lazy, so we asked to have it grilled for us in the back room. We ended up getting a dish of meat that looked like leftover meat. Bits of minced up meat that you could barely pick up with a pair of chopsticks. The sauce however was very flavourful. We felt sort of ripped off since we got leftover meat, whereas other tables had normal looking meat…

Spicy Tofu Soup

Next was the Spicy Tofu Soup. It came in a bowl that would be suitable for a one person meal, but we shared it anyways. A spicy kimchi flavoured broth, with lots of soft tofu. The spice wasn’t too hot, and was delicious when eaten with rice. Tofu was silky smooth. It lacked any other ingredients though. Purely green onions and tofu.

Seafood Pancake

Last but not least was the Seafood Pancake. It came with squid and green onions. No other seafood. We were slightly disappointed with this since we’ve had way better seafood pancakes in Vancouver. This was seriously under average and it wasn’t even cheap. Prices were quite average here.

Overall, we were quite disappointed with this restaurant. I wish I had got the name down, but it was all in Korean. I’m also not able to locate it on Google Maps. But then again, food in Korea can’t be too terrible. It’s whether you want above average or not.

Richmond Night Market

June 1, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

The Richmond Night Market opened around 2 weeks ago, and I’ve already gone twice! There isn’t much to do in Richmond, so what better than to go take a stroll and grab some food. I ended up going again the second week it opened, and went there on a mission to fill myself up for dinner. Admission is $1, but there’s free parking and quite a huge lot, compared to the $5 parking at the Summer Night Market by Vulcan Way. It gets quite trafficky along the River Rock Casino area though, but they have people patrolling, so it’s not too bad.

Chef James Xin Jiang Man BBQ – Chicken and Lamb Skewers

Any 3 skewers for $6.75 or 5 for $11
We saw that the line up was long, but decided it must’ve been good for it to be so long, so we lined up. Waited for probably at least 15 minutes before we got called for our order, but the girl told us that there weren’t any beef skewers left, and we could either wait a little longer, or just choose another skewer. We ended up choosing another chicken skewer, but I was still pretty disappointed with not getting what I had ordered!
Both Chicken and Lamb Skewers were still really delicious though, with tender meat, and a great flavour. This was probably one of the better stands of the night.

Takoyaki

$5 for 6 mini takoyakis
Probably one of the worse takoyakis I’ve had! It was all dough, with one tiny piece of octopus. The dough felt as though it wasn’t even cooked properly. It was all mushy as you can see from the above picture.

Bakudanyaki – Original Giant Takoyaki

$5 each
Since we were so disappointed with the takoyakis at the last stand, we ended up going to Bakudanyaki to get a Giant Takoyaki. Their poster claimed that there would be squid, cabbage, corn, red ginger, shrimp, rice cake, quail egg, and green onion, which were no lies. The Giant Takoyaki was filled with all these ingredients and the dough was thin and crispy on the outside. Wasn’t mushy like the last stand. I thought the quail egg inside was pretty interesting too!
They had 4 flavours: Original, Curry, Chili, Wasabi

Dim Sum Express

What’s night market without my favourite Curry Fish Balls? There were quite a few Dim Sum stands, but we just ended up at Dim Sum Express since it was close by and there seemed to be quite a crowd too.

Curry Fish Balls

6 for $3.00
Wasn’t anything amazing, and have had better ones before. Not very saucy, and not as spicy as most stands would serve. Spice was just right for me though, since I can’t take spice, but I wish it were a little more saucy.

Shrimp Dumplings

4 for $3.50
Didn’t try this so can’t comment 🙂

I ❤ Tofu – Sweet Taro Cold Tofu Pudding

$3.50 for just Tofu Pudding; add $0.50 for each topping
Smooth tofu and the sweet taro was a good compliment with a bit of chewiness to it. Perfect dessert after all the greasy food.

BBQ Squid

$6 a bowl
Last item I really wanted was the BBQ Squid. We looked around different aisles to find a good place for it, and many had large line ups. We ended up at the stand named BBQ Squid, which seemed to only sell BBQ Squid, and there was quite a large line up, so we assumed it would be good.
This had to be the worse item we had of the night. After waiting around 5 minutes, we got our Squid, which was freshly grilled in front of us. It tasted full of this curry powder that I had saw them sprinkle while grilling, but that was probably the only seasoning they used. The squids were also not cooked properly or not to the type I had wanted. I wanted the squid to be crispy at the ends, but they were totally not. So disappointed and definitely not going back here again. We even ended up throwing more than half of it away since it was so bad!

Ice Cream Churros

$5
Didn’t get a picture of the stand, but it’s the only stand that sells Ice Cream Churros
I had this the first week I went to the night market, and thought that it would be pretty cool. I mean ice cream and churros? I had imagined the ice cream to be inside the churro, but clearly I was thinking too much.
It’s basically 4 churros with a scoop of ice cream, which you can choose the flavour of. I ended up with vanilla ice cream. I have to say it was a disappointment, as I felt that the churros weren’t even cooked fresh. They were pretty hard and seemed like they had sat there for a while. The ice cream just tasted like cheap Safeway ice cream, but I have to say the ice cream was probably the best part of it, which is pretty sad.
Nothing special, and definitely not worth $5!

Kin Resto Bar

April 26, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Hand-made Lotus & Taro Chips – spiced soft tofu dip

Spicy Tofu & Mushroom – garlic honey, chili & soy sauce

Grilled Lemongrass Chicken – vermicelli noodles & herbs

It’s been so long since I’ve blogged, but I’m back! Exams are finally over and now I have two more weeks of summer until summer school starts again… Anyways! Finally got a chance to try Kin Resto Bar after seeing it probably a year ago while wandering around in downtown Vancouver. At first, Steph and I thought it was a restaurant with Caucasian food, but looking closer, we realized it was a Vietnamese restaurant that was of higher class I guess. Not the typical pho places where there’s mediocre decor and service. I think Kin used to be called Chau, and I overheard a customer speaking with the manager, and said that he just became the new manager recently. I love the brick walls on one side of the restaurant, giving a really vintage feeling to it.

We first got the Hand-made Lotus & Taro Chips which were really delicious! I especially liked the lotus chips. The sauce was a little spicy but really light and flavourful. It was also a great portion for $6. Next we got the Spicy Tofu & Mushroom. I thought it was really spicy after a few bites and had to drink lots of water! But the spice was a good spice. It made everything come together and the honey evened out the spice. Lastly, we got the Grilled Lemongrass Chicken. At first, I thought they had given us BBQ Pork at first since I hadn’t seen lemongrass chicken that was red before. The ones I always got at pho places were a light yellow colour. But when I tasted it, it was totally lemongrass! Weird. The chicken was very tender and easy to bite and worked well with the vermicelli at the bottom. I love how all the dishes are so different from traditional pho places, and they have a different flare to it. Service was also prompt and friendly. A great place to go to if you are around the Robson area and want some Vietnamese fusion food.

What8ever Cafe

April 12, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Vanilla Ice Cream Toast

Taiwanese Deep Fried Tofu

Hadn’t gone to What8ever Cafe for a while so decided to go on a weekday night. It’s almost assumed that you’ll be waiting if you go on a Friday or weekend night as the place is extremely small and everyone loves going there. What8ever Cafe is famous for their Ice Cream Toast, which is a must try if you have not tried it yet. It’s basically a loaf of bread with the center taken out and cut into french toast sticks and put back in, then layered with ice cream and all sorts of treats. This one was the Vanilla, which I believe was the first one they started with. They now have strawberry and green tea too. Would love to try the green tea next time! Also got some Taiwanese Deep Fried Tofu, but found them not up to par. They were quite deflated as you can see in the picture, and I’ve had better ones at other bubble tea shops. Overall, great place to hang out, but does get quite busy so it’s not a place where you can talk the night away.

Sunway Restaurant

March 3, 2012May 3, 2013Leave a comment

Assam Red Milk Tea with Agar Aloe

Taiwanese Road Side Fried Noodle

Special Deep-Fried Tofu

Mayo Dried Pork Egg Roll

Three Spice Chicken

Popcorn Chicken

Second visit to Sunway Restaurant now! Sunway is a very small Taiwanese restaurant located in Empire Center in Richmond. I believe it is a small family owned business. The whole atmosphere makes you feel like you’re at home. The restaurant it extremely small and they probably only make one round of business during dinner hours, so be sure to go early to grab a seat! Tried their Assam Red Milk Tea this time, and it was so good! They use a special red tea that is called “Assam”, which I really like the taste of! The Agar Aloe was a good addition to it and having it hot was great on a chilly day. The Taiwanese Road Side Fried Noodle was just okay. I expected more from it as it had the words ‘road side’ in the name, but it was definitely lacking some flavour. Quite bland for my taste, and I don’t even eat very feisty food usually! Next, we got the Special Deep Fried Tofu which was so delicious! The sauce made it extra tasty, but after my second tofu, I found the spiciness of the chili sauce starting to kick in! Good regardless though! Next up was the Mayo Dried Pork Egg Roll. I really enjoyed this! It reminded me of those Taiwanese beef rolls, but it had dried pork and egg inside instead. The mayo on top was a great complement to it. We also decided to try the Three Spice Chicken, which I felt was made and tasted a little differently than the ones I have tried elsewhere. They had a lot of vegetables with it, but I found it not to be as flavourful. Lastly, I had to get the Popcorn Chicken again! I swear that I looked around and every single table had this dish. It was pretty much why I wanted to come back. Their popcorn chicken is made so differently that it is to die for. I find that it is not as oily as others, and the fried coating tastes so different from other restaurants! I don’t know what it is, but I would definitely get that again. Delicious meal! And pricing is quite reasonable. I find it a better deal than other bubble tea places like Pearl Castle. Only downside is that seats are limited so go early!

Bubble World

January 18, 2012May 4, 2013Leave a comment

Tofu Dessert with Red Bean

Matcha Ice Cream Slush with Agar Jelly

Been to the Bubble World in Richmond a few times already actually, but never really took pictures in the past… Bubble World is usually really packed during after dinner hours, especially on weekends. I went on a random weekday in the afternoon though, so it was basically my table and another table. Quite empty so service was really quick. They’re similar to Pearl Castle, with a variety of food and drinks to choose from. I tried their Matcha Ice Cream Slush with Agar Jelly which was quite large in size to my surprise. The Matcha was not bad, but I wish it actually had ice cream in it. I didn’t really get the ice cream texture, and it was more like all slush and ice instead. It was my first time trying agar jelly, which I heard was pretty good. I wanted a change from the normal pearls and coconut jelly. To my surprise, it didn’t really have any flavour to it, but it had a very nice chewy texture – not as chewy as pearls or coconut jelly. Nice change for once, but I think I still prefer coconut jelly!

ABC Cafe

September 29, 2011April 26, 2013Leave a comment

Vermicelli in Fish Soup with Fish Tofu and Beef

Black Pepper Spaghetti

Wandered around Aberdeen to decide what to eat, and ended up ABC Cafe again. This is my second time and it was a lot more empty than during their grand opening. I decided to try their “Make your own noodle soup” menu and was quite surprised that the portion was quite large. Overall, it was pretty good, with quick service and decent food.

Han Ju Tofu Hot Pot

September 23, 2011May 4, 2013Leave a comment

Korean Style BBQ with Rice

Seafood and Tofu Hot Pot

Han Ju Tofu Hot Pot is one of my favourite korean places to go! I don’t especially think of it as a Korean place though, since they only offer a few types of Tofu Hot Pots, and the rice. So, basically people come here to eat these few dishes. They do offer a few snacks and bubble tea drinks, which I find a little bizarre. I love their seafood hot pot though! It’s got these clear noodles inside the hot pot along with rice, so it’s really filling. You can also choose how spicy you want it. This one is mild. I have yet to try their Korean Style BBQ with Rice though! My friends always get it and say it’s their must have here! Their prices ranger from $5.95 to $6.95, so quite reasonable for a good portion. Don’t expect any fancy furniture or service though, as even their serving board is just similar to a fast food plastic one. Also gets quite busy during dinner time, so get there early!