I’m thinking that you probably guessed Mexican, à la Chicken Enchiladas, or maybe Italian, especially after I add that noodles and a red sauce were included in the dish we ate, too.
But no, the “Chicken, Cheese and Noodles in Red Sauce” dish that we tried, while out for a Sunday lunch with our friend Andrea, was enjoyed at a Korean restaurant.
The date came about after talking to Andrea about her time spent living in Korea. Nick and I were not very well acquainted with Korean food, so we asked if she would show us the ropes.
She gave us a choice of a place that serves BBQ, where small grills are provided right at the table and you cook the food yourself, or a restaurant that specializes in a chicken dish called “Dakgalbi“, which is a popular Korean dish made with sauteed marinated Chicken and a spicy red chili paste based sauce. Hancook, located in Korea Town at 605 Bloor Street West (just west of Bathurst), goes a step further with the traditional recipe and offer it with grated cheese over-top. In fact, their complete name is “Hancook Cheese Dakgalbi”.
Our curiosity won out and we selected the latter.
↑ Soon after we were seated, we were each brought a dish with three small appetizers – a pickled radish, some macaroni and some creamed corn. ↑
↑ Andrea suggested a bottle of “Makgeolli“, which is a sparkling rice wine beverage. ↑
↑ To eat, we all agreed that we’d have the house specialty, with the added option of Ramen noodles. ↑
A propane-powered hot plate was placed on the table and ignited. Then the Dakgalbi was brought over in a large frying pan. The server added the ramen noodles and stirred everything together, leaving us to serve ourselves.
↑ Also, at Andrea’s recommendation we had some “Seafood Soft Tufu”, which was described as a soup containing “uncurdled tofu, seafood and green onion”. I’m not sure if steamed white rice normally came with the dish, or if Andrea just knew they went well together. ↑
The food was delicious! And, of course, we appreciated the company of our sweet friend.
After lunch, we walked along Bloor Street through Little Korea, popping into a couple of gift/stationery shops along the way.
↑ I was in this shop (called Mr Pen) another time in late August. There was a mother and daughter in there too, the girl being about 9. I overheard the mother say, “ok, we’re only in here for school supplies, nothing else”. I remember feeling a stab of envy on behalf of my younger self … this would have been exactly where I’d want to shop for school supplies when I was a girl. A resounding “Yes please” to the peeled banana pencil erasers, carrot shaped pencil case, and corn cob decoration for my backpack! The crocheted head things are key chains, where the keys tuck up into the head. ↑
↑ Yes, there you have The Poop Café, “Toronto’s First Toilet Themed Dessert Bar”. Say what?! ↑
We had a great time going out and trying something we’d never had before. Here’s to adventurous eating!
Thank you for reading,
xo loulou
