Koreans in Chinatown

Koreans in Chinatown

Two new restaurants besides Bulgogi Garden… SooRa is the new one where Chuck Brown’s used to be, at least the inside half of chuck browns. The corner half is now a bar that has musicians, open to the street, cafeteria style place… at least on Friday night when I was there….

There is also Seoul House, but that place although run by a Korean family, tries to be more Japanese, as in their Korean food really sucks…. The name is quaint. I used to go there regularly when it was the only Korean/Jap place in Chinatown and dropped $300 there for lunch for two, 6 years ago, with a babe from Montreal… mostly blown on sushi and booze… she could drink, man… and yes, they have a license, and no, I don’t remember their kimchi.

SooRa (SR)…. I stand by my comments about Bulgogi, their ingredients and kimchi are still the best in Ottawa, but it’s like a grocer running a restaurant… the input may be good, but if you can’t cook it…. then there’ll be problems, unless there are other creative avenues, like ‘all u can eat’…

SooRa has decent Korean chefs. The cooking is pretty good in that it tastes good, not because of the ingredients, but the method. The soy sauce and kimchi were still pretty low quality, and you don’t get that green tea or miso soup, the ‘side dishes’/kimchi were especially poor, one being just a green salad…., but the menu is certainly more exciting.

I will do a head to head with Bulgogi and the other new one when I get a chance. I have been to BG for their pork and beef ‘cook at the table’ dinners and the price is certainly comparable. I must say the beef at BG was pretty badly marinated…. (used dark soy instead of light soy) but I have also said this about their squid and octopi before… they are not that good at the cooking part of the equation….

SR also has the cold noodle soup amongst others, like pork bone soup…. very big in Tor right now…, and a better variety of choices, but no booze license yet and the owner just 5 months from Korean… guess I forgot to ask North or South… but he apologized for not speaking English well, which surprised me….. said that they will also have sushi starting next week… the restaurant is only 1.5 months old. The décor is nice and prices comparable to BG. They also have a tatami room and Korean style hot pots. And interesting combo dinners. I had the grilled fish and beef marrow, bone and brisket soup… it was pretty impressively cooked… the fish (mackerel) was nicely grilled with a teriyaki coating, the soup in a separate pot tasted pretty ‘thick’. The kimchi was not great and they had a sweet potato soup (instead of the usual miso) that was ok. $20 for a meal…. About the same price as BG… expensive for Chinatown…. Although Jadeland, across the street, has priced themselves out of the market… so I would have to say…. about average… nowadays.

We leave the comments on the survival of BG till I have tried the ‘compare’ between all three new Koreans in Chinatown.