It seems like there are a lot of Korean restaurants opening up in Edmonton lately! I'm not complaining though, as I love having a wider variety of restaurants to choose from when dining out. The latest to open is Nongbu, located right in the heart of Old Strathcona.

Nongbu Korean Eatery - 8115 104 St NW - Edmonton AB

Mussel Kalguksu
Located off Whyte Avenue next door to Choklat, Nongbu is a two storey Korean restaurant serving up small plates and a few bigger sharing dishes. A small menu of Korean snacks and street eats, fresh hand-cut noodles, and lettuce wraps are accompanied by popular Korean liquors, which is perfect for those looking for quick, late night eats. In talking with the restaurant owner, the menu will be changing frequently to reflect the seasons and current culinary trends in Korea.

Although the menu will change, the size will remain the same. I met up with some friends last week and we happily ate our way through practically the entire menu! The night started with the Mussel Kalguksu, which features fresh hand-cut noodles ($13). Our thickly sliced noodles were soft with a slight bite and sat in a seafood broth with mussels, spicy peppers, and a handful of herbs. The clear broth had a pleasant briny depth and a slight kick of heat which I enjoyed.

Next up was the BinDaeDduk ($8), a mung bean pancake with a medley of vegetables and kimchi cooked into it. I've never had this dish before, and the texture of it actually took me by surprise. I had expected the mungbeans to be ground into a fine flour to make the pancake, but it turns out the beans seemed to be lightly macerated, giving the pancake a crumbly texture. The flavours were there, but I didn't quite love the texture.

One of my favourite Korean street eats is Ddukbokki, a chewy rice cake in stick form. Nongbu gets their rice cakes daily from a local source to ensure that they are fresh and have the proper texture. If they aren't fresh, they won't be on the menu. Those of you who love them as much as me are in luck, because Nongbu serves them up three different ways! We first ordered the Fried version ($7.50) where the ddukbokki is cut in half, then fried and coated in a sweet and spicy sauce similar to gochujang. This was my favourite ddukbokki of the meal as it was flavourful and the outer skin was fried to a crisp, but the interior remained soft and chewy. Delicious!

The Royal Ddukbokki ($11) features long rice cakes cooked in a sweet and savoury sauce with slices of beef and vegetables such as carrots, onion, and shiitake mushroom. The sweet and salty sauce reminded me of the soy based sauce used to cook bulgogi beef. The rice cakes were tender and this was another great dish!

The next dish to the table was DwenJang Kalguksu ($11.50), another hand-cut noodle soup. This version utilized a Korean bean paste to make the broth, and the noodles were topped with ground pork, enoki mushrooms, and some chili peppers. The broth had the same nutty flavour and cloudy appearance you would find in a miso soup. I personally preferred the Mussel version, but both were tasty soups that will easily fill you up.

Nongbu offers a few different ssam (lettuce wrap) dishes, so of course we had to order one for the table. Three ssam options (Bo ssam, ddukgalbi ssam, tofu ssam) are available on the menu, all which come in individual or sharing portions. The dish is accompanied by a bowl of rice, a bowl of soup, and 5 banchan dishes on the side. It's definitely great value for what you get! We ordered the Ddukgalbi Ssam ($16 individual/$30 sharing) which featured two ribeye patties with rice cakes inside. The dish came with cucumber slices, jalapeno, garlic, spicy bean paste and both buttercrunch and red leaf lettuce for wrapping. The meat patties were so moist and flavourful, and the small ricecake pieces inside gave the wraps a chewy texture from time to time. I really enjoyed this one and would easily order it again.


Delicious Ssam
Kimbap (Korean sushi rolls) is another one of my favourite Korean street eats, and Nongbu offers them as a plate of 5 on their menu ($6.25). Alternatively, you can add one kimbap to any snack order for an additional $1.25 if you don't want to tackle a plate of them. The kimbap on the menu can change daily depending on available ingredients, but it will always be a mix of vegetables and rice wrapped up in seaweed. Ours featured asparagus spears, pickled radish, carrots, and shiitake mushrooms served with a side of hot mustard sauce. The ingredients were fresh and the kimbap was a great snack to munch on.

The Gemma Roll ($7.50) reminded me of a gigantic springroll, as it is an eggroll with beef and vegetables wrapped up inside. It's bursting with ingredients and topped with a sweet and savoury sauce - you want to eat this one quick before it gets soggy!

The last dish of the evening was the third of the ddukbokki offerings: the spicy ddukbokki! Short, chewy pieces of rice cake were coated in a dark, spicy sauce and topped with pieces of fish cake. This version is what I think of when it comes to ddukbokki purchased on the streets of Korea, so this is the most authentic of the three varieties. This plate was also delicious, but if I had to rank the three duukobokki dishes we tried that evening, it would be: fried, spicy, then royal ddukbokki!

After a very filling meal I couldn't pass up on dessert. Nongbu offers the well known Melona ice cream bars as well as a Pig Bar, which I had never tried before. The Pig Bar is made by Lotte and named based on the little pig on the packaging, which looks like Piglet from Winnie the Pooh. This vanilla ice cream bar has a strawberry centre and is coated in a thin layer of chocolate and crunchy chocolate bits. The flavour is very close to that of Neapolitan ice cream, and really reminded some of us at the table of the Meiji chocolate gummies. It was a nice cold treat to enjoy at the end of the meal that wasn't too sweet.

I'm really excited to have Nongbu join the Edmonton food scene, as it offers plates different from those you would typically find at Edmonton's Korean restaurants. It's a great casual spot to grab Korean snacks and drinks, and I can see it becoming very popular for the Friday and Saturday night crowds on Whyte Avenue. Prices are affordable and will run $15-$20 per person for a filling meal. I know that I'll definitely be back in the near future, and I can't wait to see what different plates they'll offer on their menu!

Back in my elementary school days my dad would often take me to Swiss Chalet after Saturday morning Chinese School. Our go-to spot was the location on 51st Ave and 97 Street and I enjoyed every single visit. Years have passed since those days, and on a recent drive by my old lunch spot I noticed it now housed a Korean restaurant. Of course I had to check it out!

Tofu House - 5020 97 Street - Edmonton AB

If you've dined at the Swiss Chalet in the past, walking into Tofu House might give you a bit of nostalgia and a flashback to old memories. The owners have taken out only the essentials (anything that explicitly says Swiss Chalet) and haven't changed anything else. The interior still looks and feels like a classic Swiss Chalet restaurant with the wood paneling and booth seating. The take-out room remains, as does the beverage station in the middle of the restaurant. It's a little bit strange, but hey, I'm here for the food.

Some friends and I met for dinner last week and to start we had to try out the signature dish - tofu stew. On the menu there are 8 different types of tofu stews, each of which contains a different protein or a vegetarian option. We chose to go with the Seafood Tofu Stew ($13.75) and Kimchi Beef Tofu Stew ($13.75), both of which were brought to the table bubbling away.

Each stew comes with a raw egg to be cracked into the boiling liquid and slowly cooked, and a large hot stone pot of brown rice with peas and almonds. The Hot stone bowl continues to cook the rice while it is at your table, making the grains smoky and crunchy. To slow things down we were instructed by our waitress to add tea into the bowl so that our rice wouldn't get burnt to a crisp. I love when there are interactive components to dinner, so you bet I enjoyed the tofu stews.

In addition to the shrimp, clams and oysters in the seafood version, we were surprised to find some crab legs in there too. Both stews were mildly spicy but flavourful and loaded with ingredients. It's a generous portion size for one person, so you can definitely considering sharing your stew!

Being big fans of KFC, we also had to order the Fried Chicken ($21). 9 big pieces of chicken (wings, thighs, breasts) were served with a generous portion of slaw. The chicken can come plain or coated in a sweet and spicy sauce, but I always recommend ordering the sauce on the side to avoid soggy chicken. The fried chicken here was fantastic. The batter wasn't overly thick or too thin, which resulted in a crispy piece of chicken that didn't feel oily. The meat was moist and flavourful, and the sauce was sweet with a tiny kick of heat. I didn't care for the slaw as I felt it was pretty bland in comparison to the chicken, but it would be a refreshing bite between each piece of fried chicken.

At Tofu House there is a section dedicated to specialty dishes that many Korean restaurants in the city don't have on their menus. One of those dishes is Bossam ($29). In Korean, bossam literally means "wrapped," so this dish usually features thinly sliced pork belly that can be wrapped inside a lettuce leaf with kimchi, ssamjang (spicy soybean paste), raw garlic, jalapenos, and pickled fermented shrimp. I love wraps of all sorts, and bossam is one of my favourite Korean dishes because you can customize your wrap to your liking, and it is so easy to put together. The ingredients in the dish were fresh, the pork belly was tender and the kimchi was flavourful.

It's great to see another Korean restaurant opening in the south end of Edmonton. The menu is small, but it makes sense since Tofu House is more focused on one type of Korean dish. The food was tasty and the prices were affordable, but I think I would visit this restaurant with bigger groups. Given the larger portion sizes, it feels like a lot of the dishes are meant for sharing. With a bigger group of people you can order more and taste a wider variety of dishes. Great company + lots of food = win-win! If you're in the area, stop by and let me know what you think!

Just as everyone was getting ready for the 2014 holiday season Lee House celebrated the opening of their second location, this one in Chinatown. Offering Korean BBQ, the restaurant is a very welcome addition to the Edmonton food scene, given the lack of Korean BBQ options.

Lee House Korean Restaurant - 10704 97 Street - Edmonton AB

Lee House is located along the busy strip of 97 Street, right across from Lucky 97 Supermarket. It occupies the corner of a building and is much bigger than their location off of Whyte Avenue. The space is clean and furnished with tables, chairs, and decor straight from Korea. The decor is rustic and each table is equipped with a built in stove for Korean BBQ. With all the changes, I was excited when I finally had the chance to visit.

Along with the renovations, Lee House made some big changes to the menu. They kept the classic dishes, like their famous chicken balls, but also added some new ones - most notably, Korean street food, lunch boxes, and more soups.

One of my favourite street foods is ddukbokki, a combination of rice cakes and fish cakes in a spicy chili sauce. Lee House's Dubboki ($9.95) features rice cake sticks mixed with fish cakes, cabbage, and onion in a spicy sweet Korean chili sauce and a hard boiled egg. The mixture is gooey and has a nice spicy kick, and the rice cakes are cooked to a soft, chewy consistency. Unfortunately the sauce was too sweet for my liking, as I like my chili sauce to be on the savoury side.

The Jab Chae Bokeum ($12.95) at Lee House is my favourite jab chae in Edmonton. The combination of the sweet potato noodles with cabbage, carrot, onion, and black fungus in a sweet soy sauce is delicious. The noodles are stir fried with the perfect amount of oil so that the noodles don't stick together and it is deliciously garlicky. I love the chewy noodles and always order this dish when I visit Lee House.

To warm up on a cold day Korean soups and stews fit the bill. The Yuk Gae Jang ($12.95) came to the table in a bright red beef broth with shredded beef brisket, an egg, green onion, and shiitake mushroom. Given the colour, the stew surprisingly wasn't spicy. There was a nice portion of brisket but it felt like the dish was mostly broth. I would have loved if there were more substantial ingredients in it.

Overall, Lee House is a welcome addition to the busy Chinatown strip. Customer favourites from the original menu remain, and I'm looking forward to returning to try more of the new ones. Although I didn't try the BBQ items, I would definitely consider ordering some of the dishes for dinner when I have more time. Service is fairly quick, especially with a built in call bell at each table. The Whyte Avenue location recently re-opened following some renovations and I've heard that drastic changes have been made to the menu. Classic dishes are gone, and it's more of a location offering quick food options. So if you're craving your favourite Lee House dishes, Chinatown is the location you have to visit.

Back in December the spot previously occupied by Badass Jack's in the university area got new signage promising hot dogs and deep fried chicken. With hopes for a new Korean fried chicken (KFC) place, I eagerly awaited their opening.

IT' DOG - 8621 109 Street - Edmonton AB

Edmonton's solution to the lack of Asian-inspired hot dogs has finally arrived, and they're serving up some crispy deep fried chicken too! IT' DOG opened up this past Tuesday and every time I've driven by, the little fast-food spot has been fairly busy. I stopped by on Wednesday evening for a quick bite and was greeted by a friendly cashier, the sizzling sounds from the deep fryer, and the cooks chatting to one another in Korean. The restaurant is small, accommodating 15 at most, but sitting down for a meal is quick, and many orders are taken to go.

The menu is easy to read and split into four different sections: hot dogs, chicken, poutine and drinks. The hot dogs here are 100% beef, and there are 11 different variations of a Korean-style hot dog served on a pretzel bun. If you're not the adventurous type, they offer a plain hot dog too. I chose to try the IT' hot dog ($10), where the grilled beef sausage was topped with bulgogi, tempura shrimp, mushrooms, caramelized onions, green onion, mozzarella and sweet wasabi mayo. The toppings were generous, as each bite allowed me to taste a bit of everything. I found that most of the toppings gave off sweet flavours (bulgogi, onions, mayo), while the saltiness came from the hot dog itself. Every topping had a different texture to it and I actually quite enjoyed the combination. The pretzel bun was soft and warm which, combined with the abundance of ingredients, made the hot dog very filling.

The chicken menu has four choices: plain fried chicken, sweet and spicy, sweet mustard or soy garlic in 5 or 10 piece sizes. We ordered 5 pieces of the Sweet & Spicy Chicken ($13) with the sauce on the side to avoid having to eat soggy chicken, and the kitchen had no problem with the request. The chicken came out piping hot (seriously, I just about burned myself!), and the golden skin looked promising. The KFC here is the real deal! Biting through the thin, crispy skin revealed tender and moist chicken beneath. The chicken by itself was seasoned well enough for my liking, but the sweet and spicy was a great addition too. The sauce isn't overly thick and is more sweet than spicy. I would have enjoyed more heat from the sauce, but overall IT' DOG has some pretty delicious KFC.

If you've got a hankering for some fun Korean style hot dogs or some juicy deep fried chicken, get yourself to IT' DOG soon! They're open at 11:00 AM daily and are available late night Sunday - Thursday until 12:00 AM, and until 3:00 AM on Fridays and Saturdays. Order a nice cold beer to go with your chicken, or order some chicken to sober up, depending on the time that you visit. Full menu & details available on their Facebook page.

After the opening of Mama Lee's Kitchen in the south side I was surprised to hear that another Korean restaurant was opening up in the same strip mall. I'm not the biggest fan of Korean style Chinese food but figured it was worth checking out since it is so close to where I live.

Rae Mi Hyang - 10625 51 Avenue - Edmonton AB

A bunch of us food bloggers decided to get together and check this restaurant out on a Thursday night. The restaurant doesn't take reservations so arriving at 6pm allowed us to get seated at a large enough table for us all. That fateful night was one of the hottest in Edmonton so far for the summer and lucky for us the restaurant has no air conditioning. The combination of the outside temperature, number of people seated inside and the heat coming from the kitchen made it crazy hot in that small little restaurant.

In most Asian cuisines, dishes are served family style so you're able to have a little bit of everything. We were disappointed to find out that none of the cold seasonal dishes were available, especially given how hot it was in the restaurant! But we decided to start with Jab Chae (#19, $20) which is one of my favourite Korean dishes. The dish is comprised of chewy sweet potato noodles stir fried with a variety of vegetables and pork. I really enjoyed the version at Rae Mi Hyang as there was plenty of fragrant sesame oil for flavouring which also prevented the noodles from sticking to one another. There was a generous portion of vegetables, everything was seasoned well, and it even had a kick of heat!

Next up was a crab meat fried rice with XO sauce (#46, $15) which came piping hot to the table. There was a good amount of real crab meat in the rice, some vegetables, and fried egg. A bit of heat came from the XO sauce, but otherwise I found the dish to be quite ordinary.

With a thin, deep fried coating and a smothering in sweet chili sauce, Korean fried chicken seems to be all the rage these days. The Kan Fung Gi (#25, $23) at Rae Mi Hyang is described as deep fried chicken with a spicy and sour sauce. A huge plate of deep fried chicken strips arrived at the table coated in a sweet and very spicy sauce. I'm not a huge fan of sweet & spicy so I was a little disappointed when the dish arrived different from the description on the menu. Everyone else seemed to enjoy the dish though, working hard to eat through the heat of the chilis.

Next up were our noodle dishes, and the first to arrive was the Jajang Myun (#37 - family size, $18). This dish is very popular in Korean Chinese restaurants as it is a dish that originated out of China. A thick sauce is made out of salty black soybeans and Rae Mi Hyang has the flavour spot on. It has a perfect balance between sweet and savoury, and the sauce isn't overly thick. The wheat noodles resting below the sauce were al dente with a slightly chewy texture, and there was a good portion of onions, cucumbers and radish to accompany the dish.

Last but not least came the Jjam Bong, and we ordered the spicier version (#38, $14). Jjam bong is a popular korean dish that is basically spicy seafood noodle soup. We may be crazy for ordering a hot noodle soup on a hot day, but jjam bong is a dish that I love and I wanted to try out Rae Mi Hyang's offering. A big bowl of noodles came out to the table, topped with some jalapenos to give additional heat. The broth itself was quite spicy and peppery with some garlicky notes in there as well. Mussels, shrimp and squid sat atop of the dish, and some digging around revealed half of a small crab in the bowl as well. Surprise! Had I known how spicy their dishes would be, I probably would have gone for the mild version, but the noodles were cooked well and all around it was a solid dish.

Rae Mi Hyang is a cute little Korean Restaurant situated in the south side of Edmonton. It offers up something different from Mama Lee's Kitchen three doors down and the service is quick and friendly. I did feel that some the dishes tended to be more on the expensive side compared to their counterparts at other Korean restaurants, so I hope that extra profit is going towards installing some air conditioning in the restaurant! I enjoyed the noodle dishes and would return for the jjam bong when the weather cools down and I'm craving some Asian comfort food. Check them out and let me know what you think!

There has been a lot of buzz around the opening of a new Korean take-out restaurant here in the south side of Edmonton. There is not much activity in the food scene around Southgate so when a new establishment opens it can be pretty exciting.

Mama Lee's Kitchen - 10633 51 Avenue - Edmonton AB

With the grand opening this past Monday (March 31st), my boyfriend and I stopped by on the way home to pick up some small dishes to add to dinner. Arriving at about 6PM the tiny little place was packed. There was literally no way to walk around the inside without brushing up against someone else. Whoa. The two of us originally thought it wouldn't be too busy and we would be in and out of there in under ten minutes. Guess not! Congratulations to Mama Lee for having a successful opening day!


Two of three coolers // Assorted kimchi
Mama Lee's Kitchen is a family venture opened by a Korean family that has lived in Edmonton for quite some time. With the mother of the family constantly praised for her cooking, the family took the opportunity to open up a little take-out place. When you step inside you're met by a quaint space with a few seats for dine-in (maybe 8-10 seats at most). You're immediately greeted by three huge refrigerated coolers full of different pre-packaged foods made in house to take home. From soups and banchan (side dishes) to marinated meats and 11 varieties of kimchi, there are so many interesting foods to try out! But if you're looking to order freshly prepared food you've got to head towards the counter to make and pay for your order.

Since we already had some food being prepared at home we decided to pick up just a few other dishes to add to our meal. Of course I had to pick some of my Korean favourites, and Kimbab (R4, $8.50) is one of them. Carrots, spinach, egg, pickled daikon, pickled vegetables and hot dog were rolled up in rice and wrapped in seaweed. These ingredients are your standard for kimbab and I love that Mama Lee really packs in a lot of ingredients in her version.

The one dish I was really looking forward to was the Tteo-kbo-kki (A5, $10.50), which is my favourite Korean street food! There's something about the chewy texture of rice cakes I just love. Unfortunately the kitchen had run out of enough tteo-kbo-kki to make a full order. However, they were willing to let me have a bit of what they had left just to try it out! Typically, the rice cakes are sitting within a thick spicy sauce with fish cake slices. As you see above, there was no sauce left so that the rice cakes were beginning to stick together. I didn't mind because the flavours were all still there! Many tteo-kbo-kki that I've had before were sweet and spicy, and I don't particularly enjoy the sweetness. Mama Lee's version is salty and quite spicy which is right up my alley. So yummy! I can't wait to go back for a full order of the real deal.

We also ordered the Seafood Pancake (A1, $4.50) as an appetizer for our meal, to see how many ingredients would be in it. Mama Lee's is full of vegetables, but there isn't too much seafood. I found mostly shrimp as the seafood component and would have loved to find other crustaceans in there. But for the price of $4.50 the pancake is a decent size with lots of ingredients. There's a light crisp to the outer edge of the pancake while the interior portion remains soft.

Since Mama Lee's is intended to be a take-out place, there are a variety of items that are built as a fully-loaded meal. Of the combos available we went with the LA Galbi (S1, $10.90), which features a marinated beef short rib. Galbi is always my favourite protein in Korean cuisine as I love the sweet and savoury marinade paired with the chewy texture of the tendon around the bone. The galbi here is sliced thin and full of flavour. At $10.90 it is such a good deal! Every special combo also includes some japchae (glass noodles), kimchi, vegetable tempura, bean sprout salad, and steamed rice. The sides were good, but what stood out to me was the kimchi. Just the right amount of spices and tanginess from the fermentation process made this kimchi perfect.

Picking out just one side dish from the coolers was probably one of the tougher decisions I've had to make lately (I know, tough life!). With things like seaweed salad, lotus root, marinated crab and cuttlefish, I managed to settle on trying out the dried radish ($3.38, weight dependent). The side dish seemed to be dehydrated daikon radish strips marinated with sugar and chili paste. I loved the crunchy, chewy texture and it paired so perfectly with rice! I think I might whip up some congee to put the extra into!

With nothing similar to it in the south end of Edmonton, Mama Lee's Kitchen is a great new spot. The food is pretty good and the prices are reasonable. There's a huge variety of side dishes available that you can't get elsewhere in the city (so awesome - I have so much to try out!), and the take out options can make weeknight dinners so much easier. I should also mention that they have daily specials - meals for $40 that can feed 4 people are available from Tuesday to Saturday with a different meal option each night. With so much demand already on their opening day I'm hoping this family business can keep up with the crowd! Stop by if you have a chance to check out their offerings -- open Monday through Saturday, 11AM - 7PM.

Pop Up dinners. I'm a big fan. There's just something I love about not knowing what menu is being prepared, something I love about trying something new in a familiar setting. Back in August, The Common (which I think is notoriously known for hosting pop up dinners - my last one was Filistix) hosted a four course Korean meal, featuring the talents of their new Korean chefs Jake & Julie Kim.

Our first course was Modeumjeon, a trio of meat, vegetable, and seafood Korean pancakes. First off, how ingenious was it to garnish this plate with a deep fried piece of lotus root? This sparked conversation at our table, about how we should make chips out of them. Definitely need to try this out soon. Anyway, this dish was a nice light start to the meal, and my favourite had to be the faux crab combined with pickled radish & asparagus. The vegetable portion added the different texture that made it so much better.

Next up was Bibimbap, a traditional dish consisting of beef and assorted veggies atop of a bed of rice, all mixed together with a red chili paste. I had been wondering exactly how big this course would be, since bowls of bibimbap run quite large, so the small bowls were something new and cute. I discovered that the bits of ground beef weren't sitting in the bowl with the other toppings, but rather was being incorporated into the red chili paste - therefore it was hard to find in the dish. The beef was there, just in minute proportions. Unfortunately, the amount of red chili paste wasn't enough to give the whole dish flavour, so our server gladly ran to bring out a big bowl for the whole table. More sauce, more flavour, great dish.

The star of the night, in my opinion, was the third course: Galbijim, soy braised short ribs. The beef was so flavourful and fall off the bone tender, while the vegetables braised along with the beef also fully absorbed the flavours. The kimchi wasn't very spicy, but hadn't been fermented for long enough to have that sour zing to it that I love. I really only wished that this dish was served along with a bowl of rice, as eating the dish alone was saltier with each bite, given the nature of the sauce.

Finishing off the night was our dessert: Gyung Dan & Maejakgwa, crispy rice balls in fruit juice & crispy pastry with honey. Wow, I really had no idea what to expect, and I have to say the presentation was lovely. The mixture of the warm reds and orange contrasted with the blues was really pretty! Upon eating it, I was completely surprised. Watermelon, canteloupe, raspberries and blueberries were floating in a grapefruit juice, which made the seasonal fruits a little bit sour - something I'm definitely not used to. In reality, the "crispy rice balls" were soft, but chewy, and the honey pastries were quite hard to bite into. Not the best dish for me, but it was my first time being exposed to Korean dessert (unless you count Melona? Mm.)

At the end of the night, I wasn't full, but my stomach was content and happy with the meal. Chef Jesse Morrison-Gauthier stepped out of the kitchen along with Jake & Julie to give us their story and background - which I was surprised to learn that the duo had just moved to Canada from Korea a mere four months earlier. Prior to the dinner I had wondered exactly who these two chefs were and where they were coming from, so it was great to have this introduction, and it is so wonderful that The Common was able to give them a chance to showcase their talent!

The next pop up dinner at The Common is coming up on October 16 - Occupy Common 2. If you're interested, follow the link to get your tickets - hope to see you there!

When in the mood for all you can eat Korean BBQ, most people will think to head to Ginseng Restaurant in the south end of the city. The last time I went out for BBQ at Ginseng was about two years ago for a friend's birthday. I distinctly remember it being expensive, in the $30+ range per person - one of the big reasons why I haven't returned since. Being spoiled by the cheap prices in Vancouver and LA has forced me to stay away from Korean BBQ.. and I've been looking for other options.

Korean Village Restaurant - 7729 85 Street NW - Edmonton AB

Little known fact: when I can't fall asleep at night, I do one of two things: a) open up the FML app on my phone and read, to make myself feel better, or b) troll around on Urbanspoon looking for new places to eat at.

A few weeks back I did the latter, and came across the Korean Village Restaurant. I called them the next day to see if they offer AYCE Korean BBQ, and they do! For the price of $25.95/person.

On the drive over, we felt like we were heading in the wrong direction, as if the map was leading us to the middle of nowhere. We were driving around residential streets, and magically found the restaurant in the middle of nowhere. There are about 2-3 other Korean shops next door.. but really, this restaurant is in a random area.



The interior of the restaurant has a very homey feel to it. There's even a set of stairs that leads to a second floor, to a party room where they can host karaoke.

While Korean BBQ is a self served, self cooked meal, the staff at the restaurant were friendly and very inviting. They prepared hot food (spring rolls, tempura) at our request, and were available when needed.





The selection of food at Korean Village is limited when compared to Ginseng, but the selection available at the restaurant is sufficient to fill any BBQ craving. All the meats available (with exception to the shrimp) are seasoned and marinated perfectly. It all tasted so delicious! My only wish would be for them to have more banchan (side dishes), as they only have kimchi and beansprouts available. Some seaweed salad would be awesome!







After the meal, I gave a call over to Ginseng inquiring about their Korean BBQ. It seems as though their price has dropped from $30+ to $29/person! Seeing as their selection is greater, I would likely head to Ginseng if I craved Korean BBQ. But if I was in the area, I wouldn't hesitate to come back to Korean Village. If you like lots of variety, head to Ginseng. If you prefer a quiet, cozy meal, head to Korean Village.

One thing I should mention about Korean Village though, is that they have a stamp card program. Ater having BBQ nine times, the tenth is on them! So eat up, and check this place out if you're in the area :)