where jess ate

I had a craving for Korean food one evening and ended up at Korean Village Restaurant, located on Bloor between Bathurst and Christie. Just look for the bright yellow sign!

Apparently the restaurant has been around for a while and walking into the restaurant, they have a wall full of pictures with their famous customers.

The decor reminded me of a Japanese restaurant and while reading their huge menu, I noticed that they also serve Japanese food. But I stayed away from that.

To start the meal, we were served the typical Banchan you get at Korean restaurants. The dishes here consisted of kimchi, bean sprouts, cucumbers and pickled radishes. None of them were really anything to write home about.

The first dish to arrive was the Hwe Dup Bab – assorted raw fish, vegetables and rice with hot sauce ($15.99). If you’ve never had this before, think of it as a Korean chirashi. The Hwe Dup Bab consisted of small pieces of chopped raw fish and vegetables which all tasted quite fresh.

While it was served in a large bowl, the majority of it was filled with rice and not a whole lot of fish. At $16, I felt this dish was overpriced.

Next up was the Kimchi Fried Rice – with mixed vegetables ($8.99). When it arrived at our table, I was dying to dig into it since it looked so promising. Sadly, I was left a little disappointed. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t anything special either.

We also ordered the popular Gam Ja Tang – pork bone soup with rice ($9.99). After inquiring about its spice level, the server informed us we could have it milder. Since she said milder, I didn’t think she meant no spice at all. The pork bone soup arrived completely unspiced in a clear broth. While we all really missed that bit of spiciness that gives pork bone soup that great flavour, I thought the broth was still quite nice and didn’t taste quite as heavy as the usual spicy broth.

The restaurant features some table top BBQ on their menu, so we decided to order the Kal Bi – boneless short ribs of beef marinated in special sauce with rice and soup ($24.99) and Pork Belly – sliced loin of pork marinated in spicy and hot sauce ($18.99).

The servers brought a grill over to our table and plates of raw meat to grill. The Kal Bi came in the form of two large bones which we cut up before placing them on the grill. While the meat was tender and had a nice marinade, I found the marinade a touch too sweet. In addition, I found the price to be a little steep at $25. As for the pork belly, I didn’t find it anything special and again, found the price to be a bit on the high side.

Overall, I was a little disappointed by my experience here. While nothing was particularly bad, I didn’t find the food to be anything special and the prices were a little steep compared to other Korean restaurants.

At a glance:
• Large menu which also features Japanese food
• Located on Bloor, between Bathurst and Christie
• The food wasn’t anything special
• Prices were on the high side

Ratings (out of 5):
• Food: 2.5 stars
• Service: 3 stars
• Atmosphere: 3 stars