SongCook's

Here's a quick post.

My mother-in-law recommended SongCook's for some authentic Korean cuisine.

My boyfriend loved the food so much we returned again 2 days later.

Here was the food from our first trip.

Complimentary kimchi. Too vinegary for my taste buds.

Iryewon Asian Fusion

Trying to catch up on my blog since been so busy at work so here is a quick post.

Me and my boyfriend were starving so we just picked a plaza and decided to give Iryewon a try.

Shanghai Pt 2

Here's a quick post since it was just a midnite snack although to some it may be a huge meal. Ok it is more than a snack.

My boyfriend was hungry so we went out somewhere close to home for a quick bite. He was craving for fluke sashimi but since it was close to midnight we did not have many options available. Most of the places we went to they were either closed or did not have what he wanted.

We finally gave up and just went to one of our usual spots for a quick bite.

Normally at Shanghai we would order the jajangmyun but I wanted to try a new dish.

Here was the complimentary banchan. The kimchi was fresh and wasn't marinated too long so it didn't have that strong pungent vinegary taste.

Man Doo Hyang

Man Doo Hyang, a dumpling and noodle house located along Yonge, was not what I expected.

We were starving so we decided to give this place a shot.

It was around noon when we arrived. The place was empty. Actually think the employees were either having a meeting or eating their lunch but since we walked in they all scurried quickly away to the kitchen.

Here is a complimentary plate of dumplings. They were pretty bland. It was in need of a lot of seasoning. Not very promising considering it was a dumpling house.

Here were the side dishes. The kimchi was really tasty and fresh.

I got just plain noodle soup and plain it was. The broth was extremely bland and once again in need of seasoning. Do they not have salt in the kitchen? Don't understand how it can be so flavorless. The noodles however, were homemade and yummy. There was too much noodles so I couldn't finish my dish. I kept trying to throw some noodles into my boyfriend's bowl since he complained there was too little noodles in his.

My boyfriend got the dumpling and noodle soup. He found his tasteless as well. He tried to add some seasoning to it so it wasn't too bad after.

My brother-in-law got some soup with beef in it. It looked like bulgogi but just in soup.

My sister-in-law got the dumpling soup with rice cakes. I think she was the only one who enjoyed her dish. Maybe I should have ordered that instead since her dumpling did appear appetizing.

I thought this was cute so couldn't help snapping a picture of it. It says Kam-sa-ham-ni-da which means thank you in Korean.

My sister-in-law informed me that their Mississauga location is much more popular and it's always packed.

I don't know how much better it could get but hey I'm willing to give it another shot since they produce their own noodles. Maybe we just didn't have the right chef that day.

I wanted to try their cold soy bean soup with noodles however, it was only available in the summer. Hope it doesn't disappoint me again.

TOTAL BILL $45...MAY EAT AGAIN?!

Man Doo Hyang

6068 Yonge Street

(b/n Finch & Steeles)

416-512-2007

Seoul House

Hands down one of the best restaurant in the west end.

Seoul House serves up authentic Korean cuisine and is owned by Korean people NOT Chinese people. Some customers may get confused when they browse through the menu. Even though there's a section that displays Chinese food it''s actually Chinese-Korean fusion. Regardless, it's real Korean fare here.

My boyfriend brought me to this place. It's one of his favorite restaurant to go to for some fresh sashimi and Korean food.

From the outside the place didn't really look that big however, once you enter it is spacious. Inside it was decorated with a lot of figurines and other cutesy stuff.

Here are a few side dishes.

Here is mul naeng myun. It is buckwheat noodles served in a clear cold broth topped with sliced beef, pickled radish and boiled egg accompanied with hot mustard sauce. It was refreshingly delicious. Perfect for a hot summer day although outside it was freezing cold. Other places will add pear to it as well which I like better with the touch of sweetness. Nevertheless, it's really tasty. Cold soup may sound weird but believe me it taste really good.

Here is the kalbi. The beef short rib was juicy and tender. Just melted in your mouth.

My boyfriend's favourite was the sashimi. He had ordered tuna, red snapper and scallop. It was perfect. The scallops were so fresh my boyfriend claimed "he could taste the sea" lol. I agreed. It was the freshest scallops I have ever tasted. Also the tuna and snapper were tasty as well.

The roll I ordered was the red dragon roll. It was the best red dragon roll I had ever ate. Don't know if it was the fresh tuna or the sauce that was drizzled all over it was utterly delicious. I practically ate all of it. Well I did give my boyfriend one hehe. You snooze you lose. Okay that's mean but hey what can I say I'm a pig when it comes to food.

When we asked for our bill they gave us a complimentary cinnamon drink. It was a great way to end the meal. I love this drink. Sweet and refreshing.

If you are ever in the west side head to Seoul House. You will not regret it. The freshness of the fish and yummy food will blow you away.

TOTAL BILL $90...EAT HERE NEXT!!!

Seoul House

265 Enfield Place, Unit #100

(Hurontario & Burnhamthorpe Rd. West)

905-848-5556

Tofu Village

My cousin wanted to try out Tofu Village in Koreatown. The name of the restaurant definitely suited the place. They were not kidding about the tofu. There was so much tofu I couldn't even finish my soup.

When we first arrived there were only 3 other tables of customers. By the time we were eating the place was packed.

One thing I did like about the restaurant was the placemats. While waiting for our food we were reading the placemats learning how to pronounce some basic sentences in Korean. Don't know if we pronounced it correctly however, it was a fun and productive way of passing the time.

Here were the side dishes.

The kimchi was okay.

The purple rice had no beans and not as fluffy as Mot Na Son.

We had ordered the house special and the seafood soon tofu soup. Both mild. Both soup looked identical with the abundance amount of tofu hidden below the fiery red surface. It was delicious but boy was there a lot of tofu.

The food was mediocre nothing outstanding. Good portions at fairly cheap prices so can't complain there but will try other places since there's so many restaurants to choose from in the Annex.

TOTAL BILL $15...MAY EAT AGAIN?!

Mot Na Son

Although it's raining cats and dogs outside it still did not stop me from going out for some pork bone soup. I didn't feel like waiting in line at the Owl so I decided to stop at a Korean restaurant just a few stores up the street.

This was my second trip to Mot Na Son and once again it was another gratifying dining experience.

It's a cozy restaurant which can accommodate up to 40 people.

Upon entering you can hear a Korean soap opera playing on the tv right at the counter. The owner automatically looked away from the tv box and came and greeted us with a warm smile.

I let my boyfriend do the ordering. He wanted to order 2 soups and a meat dish. The owner suggested that we order the combo special #23 which comes with BBQ beef ribs and 2 soups of our choice. We obliged and went along with his recommendation.

First off the side dishes. I have to say it was the most tastiest banchan I have ever had. It was flavorful and so ridiculously delicious I almost finished it before the real food even came. There was just one dish I was puzzled by I just couldn't figure out what kind of green vegetable it was. When I asked the owner he said it was some kind of grass but he didn't know the English translation for it. It was really yummy. It was a great start to the meal. My rule of thumb is if the banchan is great then the remaining dishes will not be a disappointment. I was right.

Here is the glutinous purple rice mixed with beans. My boyfriend says it's the diabetic's rice since it's low in starch. I don't know how much of it is true so don't take his word for it. All I can say is this rice was well prepared since it tasted very fluffy and light.

Here is the pork bone soup. It's not similar to other places where there's a mountain of garnish floating on top. No sireee. This is all about the pork bone. You can taste the pork flavor in the soup. It was delicious.

Here is the seafood tofu soup. I actually enjoyed it very much. It's prepared differently then other places but much more tastier.

Here is the kalbi. It was yummy as well.

The chef at this restaurant has a passion for food. You can taste it in the cooking. The owner was very informative. There was a group of people that came wondering in. They never had Korean food before and the owner was glad to explain what each dish was and what was popular. He didn't seem to mind missing out on his soap opera which was a very good indication of how much he valued his customers. I will definitely return and might try out the grilled mackerel since he made it sound so good when he was describing it to the newbies.

TOTAL BILL $34...EAT HERE NEXT!!!

Mot Na Son

5374 Yonge Street

(close to Finch)

416-222-1170

Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu

With less than 10 items on the menu, Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu is one of the top picks for best tofu soup in the city.

Their hearty soups is their specialty and is what keeps drawing fans back for more.

For less than $10 you can get a soup, 4 side dishes and a bowl of rice. A meal that will stuff you to the max.

Me and my cousin ordered the soybean soup with beef and mussel and the kimchi soup. Both were soup-a-licious.

Cheap, filling and satisfying who can complain.

TOTAL BILL $16...EAT HERE NEXT!!!

Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu

5445 Yonge Street

(south of Finch)

416-537-0972

Cho Sun Ok

BEST tofu soup in Thornhill EVER!!!

Located at Yonge and Clark, Cho Sun Ok is the place to go to for a hot steaming bowl of tofu soup. Perfect on a cold winter day.

My boyfriend ate here on Monday night and he rated it 10 out of 10 which sure means a lot since he's a very picky eater.

Today I asked him to bring me and my friend along so we can see if it deserved the rating he had claimed.

Once again, he was right.

He said the most popular dish is #6 which is the seafood soft tofu soup. We ordered 2 of this. One mild and one regular. Me, on the other hand, didn't want to order the same dish and decided to try #7 instead which was some sort of stew.

Here is the banchan. My boyfriend's theory is if the side dishes are good then the entrees will be good as well. Let's just say, in this case, he was right again. My favorite dish here was the fish cake. It was tasty.

Here is the infamous soup. I think it looks suicidal. This was for my girlfriend. I think she got a bit intimidated when she first laid eyes on the firey red color but she gulped that soup right down to the last drop. Guess it wasn't so spicy after all for her.

Here is the same soup but stirred so you can actually see the chunks of tofu floating about. Doesn't look so scary compared to the previous picture. My boyfriend had this as well but he chose the more mild version since he was saving his stomach for another dish which you will see later on. I tried the mild soup and it was insanely delicious. I kinda wished I had ordered the seafood one instead since the broth was very flavorful. It smelled like seafood but in a more pleasant savory way and not the disgusting fishy way if you know what I mean.

Here is the dish I ordered. Doenjang stew which is soy bean paste stew with tofu, beef, squash and onions. It was good but I still think the seafood one was better. If I hadn't tried the previous one I would have claimed this as one of my top fave soup.

Here is the dish my boyfriend was saving his stomach for called chulpan sundae bokkeum which includes traditional Korean style sausage with cabbage, clear noodles, rice cakes, green onion, carrots, kelp, spicy red bean paste, and last but not least pig ears. I don't think I have ever tried pig ears before and I still don't know how it taste. I ate everything in one bite so not sure what was even in my mouth. All that matters was it was good but too spicy for me. I was in need of cold water. Hot tea seemed to just increase the heat more in my mouth.

The dish is stir fried on the table until the sauce is thick and caramelized. Here is the final outcome.

We satiated ourselves at dinner. Maybe a bit too much. Niggaitis was creeping in slowly. We were ready to jump into bed. We couldn't finish the last dish since technically it can feed a family of four (man we're pigs) so we had to doggie bag it. We were given these yummy candy with our bill. I have never tried it before. I still don't know what it is. At first it tasted like pure sugar but since I was impatient I bit into it and it was hard. Tasted bits of nuts and the rest I still don't have a clue but I like them. I stole my boyfriend's candy since I liked it so much.

Portions were great. Food was delish. It was a full house when we left. Patrons were lining up by the doorway. It's a small place so be sure to arrive early if you don't want to wait.

TOTAL BILL $63...EAT HERE NEXT!!!

Cho Sun Ok

7353 Yonge Street

(close to Clark)

905-707-8426

Joons

It was hot! Hot! HOT!

I'm talking spicy hot.

To others like my boyfriend it will be nothing but a tickle to their taste buds but not for me. I, on the other hand, cannot handle the heat but boy do I try.

I went to Joons today for some Korean cuisine. Located right next to the busy intersection of Yonge and Sheppard we were pretty lucky to find a free parking spot right behind the restaurant.

I wanted to try the dish called HaeMool Dak Galbi. It includes boneless dark chicken meat, baby octopus, shrimp, mussels and some veggies such as sweet potato, cabbage and green onion. It is all stir fried together with some sort of chili paste sauce. There were 3 types of sauces to choose from which were non-spicy teriyaki sauce, Joons original spicy sauce and the last choice is suicidal spicy sauce which actually costed an additional 50 cents. My boyfriend chose the original sauce and let's just say when I was done my belly was scorching. I could feel it burn in my stomach. I don't even want to know how suicidal is. We also added rice cake and noodles to the mix.

Here is the food when it first arrives to our table.

Here is a picture of the food just simmering in the spicy juices. The waitress goes around to each table stirring the mixture so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

About 10 minutes or so later they add in the noodles and here is the finished product. Finally we can dig in. It was delicious. Although it was spicy it was a tasty spicy rather than just pure heat spicy. The more I ate the more hotter it became yet at the same time the more tastier it got so even though my mouth was screaming "STOP! PLEASE STOP!" I just couldn't since it tasted so good.

Here were the accompanying side dishes. My favorite was the mashed potato. It was sweet and creamy and very refreshing on my scorched tongue. However, I didn't really like the kimchi since it was too sour for me.

One more thing the dish is served by portions that is one portion per person. The seafood one we ordered was $9.25 per portion. We ordered 2 portions which was just about perfect for me and my boyfriend, surprisingly. The add ons, rice cake and noodles, were an additional $2 each.

Overall great food although my tummy is still burning but it was worth every tear.

TOTAL BILL $26...EAT HERE NEXT!!!

Joons

4852 Yonge Street

(close to Sheppard)

416-840-0589