The great thing about eating in Vancouver is the incredible number of restaurants. With a diverse population you get a diverse choice of what to eat for dinner.
In Vancouver’s prestigious neighbourhood of Kerrisdale, right at the heart of it all along West 41st and Arbutus sits a new hideaway Korean restaurant. There is a vibrant Korean community in Vancouver, and many live in Kerrisdale.
Stumbling into “The Kitchen” Korean Restaurant
One day while exploring the neighbourhood we stumbled across a new Korean restaurant. This was a tiny little hole in the wall and was located along West Boulevard and W39th (or 40th, I can’t recall correctly as it’s so new and not listed).
Anyways, turns out this is a mom and pop shop with about four tables inside. Having spent a year teaching and living in Korea, I can say that I am very familiar with traditional and authentic Korean cuisine. This was going to get interesting.
I decided on the spicy pork on rice, Jaeyuk dapbap, which normally costs around 4000 won in Korea (or $4USD). Here, at “The Kitchen” it was $8.95. My wife opted for dolsot bibimbap, which is rice with veggies and egg and some meat in a hot stone bowl. This dish, if I recall correctly was $9.95.
Since the food was made by the wife in the back, while the husband worked the front, it did take a good 15 minutes for it to arrive. There was one other patron eating in the restaurant.
Upon sitting down in this tiny restaurant, which is VERY small I might add, we were handed paper menus and poured tea in take out cups. Not very environment friendly, but I guess this is how they cut down on costs?!
Below is my wife’s dish along with the kimchi side dishes (which can be refilled, in typical Korean fashion). She enjoyed it and it was actually very authentic to what we tasted in Korea!
Here’s my dish…the spicy pork on rice. I loved the huge portion on my plate and it really filled me up. The taste was spicy and with a touch of sweet, and there was enough pork to satisfy my hunger. My dish also came with a miso-type soup, which was tasty too.
I did have a small chat with the owners with my little knowledge of Korean. The husband was a banker in Korea and now they have been living in Vancouver for some time.
What was a very nice touch, was that the wife gave us (and the guy at the next table) a free order of gimbap to go once we were finished! This was complimentary, and gimbap is Korean rice roll (like sushi, but don’t say that to a Korean, LOL) with ingredients. A very nice way to end the evening.
Our total bill came to just over $20 after tax. A very reasonable price for Korean in Kerrisdale, that is very authentic and tasty. We will be going back.
Here is the debut of our new rating system:
Food [rating:4.5]
Service [rating:4.5]
Ambiance [rating:2.5]
“The Kitchen” Korean Restaurant is so new that it is not listed online. You can find this restaurant off West Boulevard and W39th/W40th:
