Bulgogi Garden or the best kimchi in Ottawa?
Will report more on this place in Chinatown, but if you liked the kimchi at Arum’s, you will find the ex-owner has moved to the Bulgogi Garden, on Somerset, between all those Chinese establishments.
(There are actually two more Korean Jap places opening soon, besides the Seoul House. Can Chinatown really handle it? Traditional Chinese usually do not like Korean or Japanese food. They don’t like raw, cold and spicy things, despite what the common knowledge is. But then you know my opinions on Szechuanese food in Ottawa…)
The reason why the kimchi is so good is that the ingredients are good. And the ingredients at this place are so good because the owner is from Montreal where she ran a Korean grocery. She has all the right sources of supply and when they moved to Ottawa, they started Arum’s, which is the restaurant, with an attached grocery store. The stuff is more expensive, but the input is good, so the output quality is very good indeed. She has sold both the restaurant and the grocery on Bank Street…. And each (Arum’s and the attached grocery store) now make their own kimchi. And I have tried kimchi from all three places as well as all the other Korean restaurants in Ottawa and quite a few in Toronto and Montréal. (Besides other provinces, countries and continents.)
And my opinion is that Bulgogi now makes one of the best in Canada. But then it is somewhat a question of taste. I have to add though that other ingredients, such as soya sauce at Bulgogi is first class as well, as is the dried kelp used to make futomaki, the radish pickles, etc. But can they cook….. Ummmm, I am still trying other things, but cooking is not a strong point at Bulgogi as in all Korean food…. BBQ and kimchi and iced noodles soup…. What else is there? The cooking at Arum, where the old cook is still at is still reasonably good, and a 20% price differential… you be the judge… is it quality of taste, or quantity of food for price….? Even the miso soup is bigger and better at Bulgogi, but gotta say that the squid and octopus’ sauce was great, but needed more infusion into the rubbery meats…. Arum’s cook still can do that.
I am going to try their ‘cook your own’ dinners for two, but split for one… the advantages of knowing the owner…. Lim is her name, and the waiter’s Eddie. Tell them Richard sent you…. Maybe they’ll do it for you too.
Buffet to come soon plus all you can eat ‘cook your own’, which was something very big in Toronto a few years back and I had been suggesting to Lim to try since.
No booze license and they will sell you the kimchi separately if you like and ask. They are thinking of having a small store upstairs in the near future. For a place that has been open 8 months now, they sure move glacially. Maybe that’s a good thing in this time of tumultuous change?
2008 06 30.
2 comments:
I must have a different taste than you Richard. I don't think the food at Bulgogi is good. I think they won't be able to survive given the patrons they have right now. Let's wait and see.
I don't normally publish anon comments, but I would agree that they have a problem with a customer base. (The times I have been there, they had only two or three other tables, out of twenty, occupied...)
I never said the food/cooking was good.... I said it's pretty easy to cook Korean food and the cooking at Arum's, the owner's old place is even better. But that the ingredients at Bulgogi is good. That's why the price differential and that's why in Chinatown nobody goes there.
I hope the owner, Lim or husband Dave, reads these comments.... as they have to find an answer to their high price without compromising quality.....
(the chinese restaurant, New Asian, on Bank I noticed is closed... elsewhere on this site...)
If you don't like spicy kimchi, you won't like the food here. That's about the only thing that's good.
The chinese community, read Jadeland and So Good (oh, the owner of this place, Peter, is the worse....!!!), has been very down on this place BG because of price, but then these chinese guys go and raise their prices, and effectively have priced themselves out of the market. I was going to post something on this, but....
And there are now 4 Korean places down in Chinatown....
But I am repeating myself....... that's why I don't get involved with one way conversations....
All of these comments in context of course... my bet is that they will survive... depending on pricing from the other two new restaurants, whom the owner of BG knows well and I got a description of their capabilities... but I will hold off on comments till I have tried them out... just like I did not comment on BG till I tried it out... I had heard about them through the chinese restaurant community since they opened....
(I also have comments on the horrid service at Korean Gardens.... but that's another story...)
I tried their 'half' cook your own dinners (pork) and came away with a $22 bill for one with no booze... That's very expensive in Chinatown, but not so much after these chinks have raised their prices..... (the ingredients were great though and I thoroughly enjoyed my meal.... but I had to cook myself.... no, not Hannibal Lector style...)
And if you try it and you don't like it, then you can read my comments in future in context, like I read Anne DesBrisay's......
I do take care to be a 'careful' commentator as I know there are a lot of readers out there... but you have to take things in context and read astutely..... I am a very good writer.....
see Carlo Rota's Food Canada for info on places in Canada to eat... he is good....
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