Review Location:628 Bloor St W
Toronto, ON M6G 1K7
Not too long ago a bunch of other food enthusiasts had a spontaneous craving to go for Korean barbeque. That, coupled with the fact that there was one among us that has never tried pork bone soup before, gave way for discussion to have Korean food for dinner. Word became plans, plans became actions, and these actions ultimately became another food adventure! So off I went with Justine (@foodigatorJ), Joie (@zoeticepics), Charles (@charleslaw), and Kat S, to Korean Village Restaurant located in Toronto's Koreatown. While there are an overwhelming number of options in the area for Korea food, you really can't visually miss this restaurant. They have a huge lit up yellow sign to let you know that you've come to the right place.
Korean Village Restaurant
Chef's Bar
They serve Japanese food here too, but it didn't look very appetizing, even on the menu. I'd probably stick to just the Korean dishes. Seems more authentic
Banchan
As Justine would say: "THESE ARE NOT APPETIZERS, You eat them WITH your meal!" But we were all so hungry we ate most of it before our meal came. Oops.
Yaki Mandu ($9.99) -homemade fried dumplings
You could tell these dumplings were definitely hand made because they were uniform, flat, and nothing like what you get at the grocery store. It had just a morsel of meat inside, deep fried really crispy, and in general nothing overly special.
Spicy Cold Noodle ($10.99) -Buckwheat noodle served in hot spicy sauce
topped with slice skate wing fish and pickled radish
I've seen Korean Cold Noodles at many places, and lots of my friends acclaim that it's one of their favourite dishes, but I've never actually ordered it before. I have a low tolerance for spice, and that crimson red sauce doesn't look like it would be very friendly to me! But to my surprise, once you mix all the noodles, sauce, and other fixings together, it wasn't too spicy at all. It does build up as you eat it, but the sour flavours from the pickled vegetables counter the heat a bit. Still wouldn't call this a favourite dish, but it's a more authentic and interesting one.
La Kal Bi Dinner ($17.99) -BBQ short ribs, soup, rice, kimchi and side dish vegetables
The Kalbi dinner comes with rice and a soup. I was surprised to see that it wasn't chopped up bone side flat. Perhaps this is how it's supposed to be like? Either way, it was nice not having to eat around the those sliced short rib bones and instead have a huge long piece of beef. My only complaint is that the meat wasn't the most consistent. One of my pieces was perfectly tender, while the other was just slightly chewy. But it's nothing the tasty marinate couldn't distracted me from. Overall a pretty good order.
One thing to point out, the bill actually came in Korean! Luckily we had someone who could read it. If you were planning to split bills make sure you take note of how much your own orders cost. Probably a whole lot easier than having to trouble the waitress who seemed very occupied serving lots of other tables.
