Showing posts with label Korean. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Korean. Show all posts

April 5, 2013

SongCook's Authentic Korean Restaurant

After a couple of my travel posts, let's bring things back home so you can actually go and have the food featured on my blog. After coming back from Korea, I was obviously craving for Korean food. I read about SongCook's on a couple of blogs but was hesitant to try it out early due to location. It's inconvenient for me but may be convenient for others. I did my research and made a list of the things I wanted to order.

Arrived early because I hate waiting and I was really hungry around 5pm already. You get a choice of being seated in the heated floor section or the tables. I opted for the seated floors because it reminds me of the times in Korea. It was nice and clean and very spacious. As most bloggers have mentions, the servers here speak fluent English =)


Here are the banchans, nothing too crazy. The jap chae was bland and the kimchi was okay. I liked the green bean jelly aka nokdumuk in Korean aka liangfen (涼粉) in Chinese. It was the first time I seen that in a Korean restaurant. The raw egg is for the seafood soon dubu later.

Got the jajang combo as many has recommended. The jajangmyun was fairly tasty. The noodles had a nice bite without being too soft.
JaJang combo w/ TangSu Yuk 13.00

Many reviews had suggested to pass on the tangsu yuk but I never listen and I want to try it since it seems like it's one of their best dishes. AND... I should of listened. It wasn't that good and pork was dry in the middle with a very strong sour taste.
TangSu Yuk
Now, the kalbijim was a must order recommended by everyone and it was really delicious. The beef rib was off the bone tender and had a really good flavour. It tasted very Chinese to me and so much Korean.  Perhaps more sweet than your average Chinese dish.

KalBiJim (s) 12
The seafood soon dubu wasn't worth anything to write about. It was very average. The rice came at an additional cost of 2.50 I believe which you can pick betweem brown rice and many other varieties. I definitely prefer my soon dubu at Tofu House in First Markham Place.
Haemul Soon Tofu (s) 7

complimentary dessert - not sure what it was but it tasted good

Overall, I liked SongCook's and would come back for the jajangmyun and try their tabletop cooking next time.

Final Verdict: Slightly Above Par


SongCook's Authentic Korean Restaurant on Urbanspoon

November 19, 2012

Mihwa

Hmm... I have a mixed review about this place.

I came here with a group buy coupon. Unfortunately, the owner spent half an hour trying to figure out if I've used the group buy coupon before. Someone crossed out my coupon code wrongfully, so the owner spent a while searching through her coupons to see if I had used it before.

After clearing that up though, the rest was fine. This is a small family restaurant and the owners do not speak English very well, so I'd recommend bringing a friend fluent in Korean here. Or come visit without anything that could be a potential hassle (like don't bring a group buy coupon if that'll cause trouble).

My friends and I ordered a few things here. Pork bone soup, Galbi (Korean short ribs), and some kind of spicy thing. I don't remember what she ordered actually, and she can't seem to remember the name either. Forgot to take a pic of the ribs, but I have pics of the other two below. Also ordered Korean pancake and grilled squid. Interestingly enough, they didn't serve the appetizers first. The pancake came after two of the three mains were served, and the squid came after everything else was served.

I'm kind of sad I didn't take a pic of the Galbi, because in my opinion, that was the best dish of the bunch. But maybe I just really like my meat. Very savory. Delicious choice.

<insert delicious looking galbi photo here>

My friend likes to judge Korean restaurants based on how well they make pork bone soup (gamjatang). She liked her dish. I sampled some of the meat, and though the flavor paled in comparison to the Galbi (which was really good!), the meat was nice and tender.



I didn't get to try the spicy-looking bowl pictured below (which I think might be Dwenjang Jigae, which is pork/seafood with veggies and tofu stewed in soy bean paste), but apparently it was disappointing since there was next to no meat in the dish. The soup is supposedly good though.



The pancake wasn't anything outstanding. It had some veggies tossed in between, and there was some kind of sauce included. Not much to talk about here, but it's worth mentioning that this is the appetizer pancake. There's a main course version with seafood mixed into the pancake, but we got this on the side instead.



The grilled squid was quite delicious. They thought they didn't have any more left, but after double checking with the kitchen, they confirmed it was available. The squid is drenched in sauce, but it's not overwhelming (since the squid doesn't absorb the sauce or anything).



So the food can vary depending on what you order and your tastes, but it's still good overall. Don't expect excellent service though. Well, maybe you can if you speak Korean.

Side note: they have free wifi here. I saw several people on computers while eating. It was kind of surprising.

Rating: . I'd come back for the Galbi.


Mihwa restaurant on Urbanspoon