Friday, May 1, 2009

Toong.

toong... Another Korean bar where you can drink and get lots of good Korean food is Toong. From what I've learned from a friend, the name "Toong" comes from a slang in Korea when people in your group are not drinking but still want to do the "cheers!" I went to try this place with 3 of my friends for a second dinner and drinks after we originally ate dinner somewhere else, but were nowhere close to being full. This place serves lots of different Korean food in single servings and also big platters that you can share. They also have the popular Alcohol Combos that many Korean bars have (ie. Kokuryo and Kimono), which are the best deals when coming to these Korean places for food and drinks. The Alcohol combos come with either 5 beers of 1 bottle of Soju and a big platter of food. Like all the other korean places, there are also free appetizers such as kimchi, yam noodles, a sweetened mash potatoes and some other stuff. Toong is more like a Korean restuarant then places like Kimono and Turbo, so these appetizers were pretty much unlimited as we got them refilled many many times.
For food, we chose to go with the Budae Jjigae (direct translation: Army Stew). This is a popular Korean dish, which is basically a big spicy stew that you can share with a bunch of people. According to my friend, the Budae Jjigae is called Army Stew because people in the army would throw together whatever food they had, make it into a stew and eat it in the Army in Korea, back in the day (lol, clearly my history knowledge is lacking). Budae Jjigae consists of Kimchi, mushrooms, onions, rice cakes, Spam, Hot Dog wieners, and other vegetables boiled in a big pot. Some of these ingredients may seem weird (ex. spam), but it tastes awesome, especially if you like spicy food! At Toong, they also had cheese in their Budae Jjigae and we added $2 to throw in some instant Noodles. The Budae Jjigae Alcohol Combo was around $20-25 (before tax/tip) and the stew went great with the cold beer. Toong also has a special going on for some Soju! The Soju is $9.99 / bottle, which is awesome as Soju costs minimum $14.99 anywhere else. So we ordered a bottle of Soju and a couple more beers (~$3).

Quick Notes: Toong is located right at the Yonge and Finch Intersection in North York. It is on the west side of Yonge, South of Finch (5588 Yonge St). This place used to be called Harubang and it is pretty much the same thing now. I also saw they had some lunch specials and possibly other Soju specials, but my friends Korean reading was limited.
  • Parking: There is a parking lot behind Toong (entrance of southside of Finch), but it is paid parking (at all times, I think max $3 late night). That parking lot also connects to the parking lot behind Shoppers, which is free, but the signs say customer parking only for Shoppers, so park here at your own risk, although its no big deal from my experience.

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