Korean – Page 3 – Michael Eats

Tasty Korean Pastries at Hodo Kwaja

Published on June 17, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 656 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Website: http://hodokwaja.ca/

Hodo Kwaja is a delightful Korean bakery that specializes in walnut cakes, which are bite-sized walnut-shaped cakes that are traditionally filled with sweet red bean paste.

They have three flavours here: red bean with walnuts, mashed potato with walnuts, and mashed potato with almonds. An order of six is delightfully cheap at $3.75, and if you want you can try all three flavours, which is what I did.

They’re all very tasty, though the traditional red bean was my favourite of the three. The mashed potato is interesting; it actually has a similar texture to the red bean, but a milder flavour. All three have a restrained sweetness that works quite well.

As for the pancake-like pastry, it complements the soft filling very well. If you’ve ever tried taiyaki, it’s similar to that, but without the exterior crispiness. It’s a top-notch dessert.

Tasty Korean Noodles at BookChon

Published on April 3, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 315 Dundas Street East, Mississauga (inside PAT Supermarket)
Website: None

BookChon has a bit of an odd setup — they’re inside PAT Supermarket in Mississauga, and if you want to order, you can’t actually do it at the restaurant. You have to line up at the grocery store’s checkout area, and then tell the cashier what you want and pay there.

I’m assuming most of their business is take-out, but they do have a small seating area around the corner.

I ordered the jajangmyun, a Korean dish in which noodles are served with a thick black bean sauce.

It’s not the best version of this dish that you’ll ever have (it’s a bit on the bland side), but it’s tasty enough, with a generous serving of chewy noodles topped with a savoury, slightly sweet sauce.

I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way for it, but if you’re in the supermarket anyway, it’s a pretty solid deal at ten bucks.

Chewy Korean Noodles at Cho Sun Ok

Published on January 3, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 7353 Yonge Street, Thornhill
Website: http://www.chosunok.ca/

Cho Sun Ok does well. I showed up at around 6:00 on a Friday, which you’d think would be early enough to beat the crowds, but nope — the place was already packed. Always a good sign.

And yeah, it’s quite good. While they have a fairly extensive menu of Korean standbys, everyone seems to agree that the cold naengmyun noodles are the thing to order.

I went with the mool naengmyun: “Thin, chewy arrowroot noodles topped with our homemade red pepper sauce, sesame seed oil, pickled daikon, slivers of cucumber, a slice of pear and a hard-boiled egg in our flavourful beef based icy broth.”

The style of noodles here are so immensely chewy that they have to be cut with scissors before you start eating them, and combined with the zippy pepper sauce and the beefy, salty cold broth (not to mention the crunchy veggies), it’s a very satisfying dish. It’s easy enough to see why the place is so popular.

A Last Visit to Momofuku

Published on December 15, 2022 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 190 University Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://noodlebar-toronto.momofuku.com/

Momofuku announced a few months ago that they’re shutting down their Toronto outpost later this month (with their location being replaced by Mott 32, a fancy Chinese restaurant chain). I figured one more visit to the Noodle Bar was in order to say goodbye.

I tried a couple of things. First up: the spicy rice cakes from their greatest hits menu, which the menu describes as “rice cakes seared on the plancha and tossed in a sauce with pork sausage, tofu, sichuan chili, gai lan, and finished with scallions.”

It’s a great dish; the rice cakes have a nice combo of crispy exterior and chewy interior, the flavourful sauce complements them perfectly, and the tasty pork sausage rounds things out. I can see why they consider this to be one of their greatest hits. It’s very good.

Since this is almost certainly my last ever visit to Momofuku (at least in Toronto), I had to get one of my favourites: the extremely spicy noodles. I feel like the level of extreme spice was slightly toned down from previous visits, and the noodles were a bit on the soft side, but this was otherwise a tasty (and still explosively spicy) dish.

Quick Bites: King’s Tacos, Bakerbots Baking, Hanyang Jokbal

Published on September 15, 2022 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Tacos at King’s Tacos

The most interesting thing about the tacos at Kings Tacos might just be the way they serve them — an order comes with a very generous platter of meat (in this case the King’s Special, which comes with pork, beef, chorizo, onion, bacon, and cheese) and tortillas on the side, and you build it yourself. It’s interesting, and it’s a great value, because that pile of meat is not kidding around. That’s not to mention the very generous bowl of free (and tasty!) tortilla chips and sauces that comes with the meal. It’s not just a good value, however: it’s quite tasty, too.

Cinnamon Bun at Bakerbots Baking

I’ve heard the cinnamon bun at Bakerbots referred to as one of the best in the city, and yeah, that sounds about right. It’s absolutely fantastic, with a slightly crispy exterior and a gooey (but not overly gooey and sweet, like a Cinnabon) interior. The pastry itself is top-notch, with a nice chewy texture and a flavour that ensures that the cinnamon bun isn’t just one-note sweet. Is it the best in the city? It could be!

Jokbal at Hanyang Jokbal

I mean, look at that glorious pile of pork. Do you even need me to say anything? Jokbal is a Korean dish featuring braised pig trotters; I tried the half and half, which is half jokbal and half bossam (pork belly, if I recall correctly). You eat it wrapped in lettuce with some of the tasty sides and condiments on the table, and yeah. It’s delicious. Again: look at it.