Kimbab Cheonguk

First off, I wanted to apologize for the lack of posts this past week. It's not that I didn't want to, just that between forcefeeding myself accounting (because it's ever so fun..) and finishing up some last minute course work, there wasn't much time to go out to eat, let alone blog about it... I promise, a million posts now. You won't even be able to keep up I'll be writing so much uselessness. :3

Anyways, with the ending of exams, I met up with a friend from SFU I haven't seen in at least a year. Our schedules never work out with each others, but with the semester finally ending, we thought it'd be a good chance to catch up before summer activities ate away at our time. So we headed over to Kimbab Cheonguk, per her recommendation, and grabbed some korean food. : ) As far as I'm aware, there's not english title/name shown on the restaurant front. Just korean.. But the awning is bright, and hard to miss if you're looking for the place.

Now Kimbab Cheonguk is rather small, and save for the korean pronunciation of the dishes written in english, doesn't give much in terms of description for dishes. Beyond kim bab (korean sushi rolls), my friend had very little clue as to what to order either. Haha; that's alright. I'd just play the "I'm not korean" card, and ask as many questions in english as possible. It's also nice that they've got big bright pictures on the side of the wall so you get an idea of what you're ordering. And can point at whatever you think you want to try.

Since the menu is rather small, it makes it easier to order too; haha
However, I didn't spend too much time looking at the menu, but instead at this..:

No. Not the right. To the right. Effeminate popstars are great, but with my stomach growing I was looking at the printed out special they had on the wall. I asked my friend what it was; she shrugged her shoulders. I asked the server, and she could only give me a name: albap. Huh. Well then. I guess we'd just order it and find out!
Oh, I should note that while the server didn't speak much english, server was prompt and nice.

After we ordered, they set us up with a kettle of... soup. Mmhm. Kettle of soup. And let me tell you, this was very good soup. Savoury and warm. Great for the rainy day.

They set us up with everything pretty quickly. Although there is only one side dish, pickled daikon, they refill that when you ask.

Bugolgi kim bab (left), and tuna kim bab (right). Both $3.50. It's a pretty great price for such a large amount, yea?

However, this was definitely a premade roll. Luckily, the seaweed hadn't gone to gummy unchewable rubber in that time, but it wasn't the freshest either. Still-- for the price, this was great. My only wish would be that the filling (specifically the meat/fish component) was dispersed more evenly throughout the roll. If you compare this picture to the one above it with the end pieces, you get an idea. It was kind of like that all the way through. Some had lots of meat/fish, others almost none.

Albap ($8~?). This was definitely the star of the night. More than large enough for the both of us, it consisted of yellow daikon, seaweed, tobiko, carrots, tuna, and... cheese? That's right. cheese. Or at least something equivalent to cheese. There are two sauces to the left (red and beige. Spicy and. Sweet and spicy), which you incorporate with the dish as per your desire (aka. we dumped the pot in. Okay not really... but close), and when we mixed the contents together there seemed to be a substance that melted to resemble cheese and stick the components of the bowl together. Perhaps it was the sauce that had a cheese-like component in it? I'm not sure. But I'm almost sure it was cheese. Either way, no matter what it was, trust me. It was good. Really. Really. good, despite how strange it sounds.
(Also, I apologize for using the Japanese names for all the ingredients in the dish.. I'd say the korean. If I knew what the korean was.. This is what I get for working at a japanese restaurant...;; sorry! Would someone like to tell me the korean names for the components?)

I liked the slight sweetness of the beige sauce over the spiciness of the red one (which tasted very similar to the sauce they use in kimchi), but they both were very flavourful.

And this is definitely the first stone bowl rice dish (bibimbap,albap,anybapreally..) that has actually crisped up my rice. Seriously. Completely crisped up, wherever it touched the bowl. The crisped rice is the best part of this dish, and I've finally found a place that can actually do it right.

Also, if anyone is wondering, the only difference between bibimbap and albap is the fact that albap has roe in it.

I wish I could show you more, but at that point I realized I had forgot to put my memory card back into my camera, so I couldn't take anymore pictures. You can be assured though that we finished this dish right up.

In all, I had a great night catching up with a friend and eating away at foods I didn't know the names of. Which my friend made a note of because I said bibimbap with all the 'b' sound, and no 'p'. That's right. Despite how it's written in english, it's pronounced with more of a p... and yes she wasted no time in teasing me about my pronunciation. Haha~ Make note ladies and gents.

And with a bill of $15 for two with leftovers, it's a great price. I urge you to check it out? Even if you're not korean, just point at stuff... And pronounce your b's with more p. You'll be fine. : P

Kimbab Cheonguk

Food:

• Great value $
• homestyle korean food
• Simple, yet comforting

Service:

• Prompt, polite, nice
• Limited english, depending on the server

Atmosphere:

•  The lighting + setup remind me of a cold dorm room.... But they place trinkets and posters here and there to give it a homier feel