bakery/cafe... If you like to chill or study at places like starbucks or tim hortons and think its too expensive, you should definitely check out Better and Better Bakery Cafe in Korea Town. This family run bakery/cafe is always quiet, with plenty of tables and seats. They serve freshly baked goods including muffins, bagels, pastries and fresh home made soups. The best thing about this place is that there is Free Wifi, which makes it great for those who like to study at coffee shops.
I always get bagels there, which are freshly baked. They are super soft and chewy! With cream cheese, the bagels are $1.85 and for an extra $0.50 they will even add vegetables (which usually cost $0.50 each at Tim Horton's. My friend Florence always gets coffee ($1.85 for a large mug) and according to her, the hazelnut flavoured coffee is the best with their homemade chocolate chip cookies ($0.55/cookie). These cookies were soft, chewy, had plenty of chocolate chips in it and you could taste a bit of salt added which made the cookie sweeter as a hole (although they are pretty average for size). Better and Better Bakery Cafe also has a daily homemade soup and daily specials for breakfast and lunch (ex. $5, taxes included for a sandwich and coffee, between 11am- 3pm everyday).
Better and Better Bakery Cafe is a great quiet place to study or chill at in Korea Town (just west of Bathurst, on the north side of Bloor, across from Honest Ed's). All of their baked goods including bagels and pastries are freshly baked and affordable. Every time I've been there, there have always been plenty of seats and I never get hassled for staying too long (ex. >2 hrs). In addition to this, the Free Wifi makes this place much better than typical coffee shops like Starbucks and Tim Horton's. They are open until 10 pm everyday.
Better and Better Bakery Cafe 586 Bloor St. W. 416-530-4666
korean food... After another fun and long day at the beach, a couple friends and I were really hungry so we we decided to grab some Korean food from Korean Village Restaurant in Korea Town. I'd passed by this place many times, but never actually tried it before. The first thing that came out were the Korean side dishes which included Kimchi, Sprouts, Salad and some random pickled vegetables. These were alright and we refilled them quite a few times.
I ordered a Dolsot BimBimBap (~$8), which is stone pot rice with vegetables and meat served with an egg on top). The BimBimBap was pretty standard and tasted good as it came out hot and sizzling. One of the best orders were the BBQ Beef Ribs (~$15), which came as 2 big racks of ribs with a bowl of rice as well. I tried a piece of this and it was tender and marinated with lots of flavour. We also ordered some spicy korean stew and Kimchi fried rice (although the person who ordered this did not like it at all).
The employees were really friendly as well and the meal was finished off with lollipops! Korean Village Restaurant doesn't really specialize in a certain type of Korean Food (ie. Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu and Joons), but their dishes were all pretty solid in terms of portions and taste and we all left satisfied. They also serve sushi, although none of us tried any. Korean Village Restaurant is right in the middle of Korea Town (628 Bloor Street W). For parking, anytime before 9, you have to pay for street parking, or you can try risking it by parking behind the Taco Bell/ KFC building next door (not sure if its legit parking though).
tofu... One of my favourite Korean restaurants is Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu, which serves homemade tofu stews and a few other common Korean dishes such as bugolgi and bimbimbap. They have less than 10 items on their menu, most of them being different types of the tofu stew. The different Tofu Stews (aka Soon Doo Boo) come in different flavours including Kimchi, Vegetable, Seafood and Soy Bean.
I went with a few other friends and among us, we tried the Kimchi, Vegetable, Seafood and Soy Bean Tofu Stew (each of them ~$7). Each one comes hot and bubbling in a mini pot with tons of soft homemade tofu in it. It is also served with hot pot cooked mixed purple grain/white rice and you can also ask them to adjust the level of spiciness of the stew. If you like spicy, the Kimchi one is a good choice, if not, the Soy Bean Tofu Stew is not spicy at all. Each soup also comes with a raw egg that you crack into the soup while it is still bubbling hot. These stews are especially good on a cold winter day, but they are equally tasty any time of the year.
As this is a Korean restaurant, they also serve side dishes/ appetizers (unlimited as usual). This time, they only had kimchi, sprouts and some kind of sweet beans (the selection varies from time to time, as I have had some kind of seaweed side dish as well).
The Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu that we went to is located at Yonge and Finch in the Korean area of North York (5445 Yonge St.). If you are driving, you can try parking in the area behind the restaurant (although spaces are limited). They also have another location in the Korea Town on Bloor (691 Bloor St. W), which is frequented by many UofT students downtown.
korean... Having craved Korean food for awhile, we decided to grab a meal at Seoul Restaurant in Korea Town. It is not the nicest place, as its decor is closer to cafeteria style, but this place has some delicious food at cheap prices. This place is known for their big hot pans, so we decided to get the Budae Jigae (a big spicy stew with spam, pork, cheese, tofu, kimchi, vegetables, rice cakes, $18). All that stuff might not sound to appetizing, but it is seriously delicious and adding $2 for instant noodles is worth it as well. We also decided to share some pan fried dumplings to share ($5). Another dish we got was the Jia Jiang Mian ($8), which is noodles with meat sauce/ paste and this was pretty flavourful here. Finally, to fill us up, we wanted to go with something a bit spicier, so we tried the Dduk Bokki (stir fried rice cake in spicy sauce with vegetables, fish cake, $6), which was pretty cheap for a pretty big portion, although I'm not the biggest fan of really spicy stuff.
Seoul Restaurant also serves your typical korean foods like Gam Ja Tang (pork bone soup), but it is definitely worth sharing one of the Budae Jigae with a bunch of friends. The Buda Jigae here is much better than the one I wrote about from Toong in North York. This place is good for a very casual or quick meal and from what I saw, it was filled with many UofT students. If you want to check it out, Seoul Restaurant is at 621 Bloor Street West (on Bloor, South of Bathurst).
Joons... The other day, three of us went to Joons Korean Restaurant specifically to get the Dak Galbi. Dak Galbi is diced dark boneless chicken and a bunch of vegetables (green onion, cabbage, sweet potato) all stir fried together with a chili paste sauce (Wikipedia for more info on this dish!). These dishes are meant for sharing. You choose how many portions you want and also select add ons such as mozzarella cheese, rice cake, more veggies, more sweet potato, fried rice, instant noodles, etc.. and it is all cooked in one dish at your table. Joons also serves a version of this called HaeMool Dak Galbi that also has assorted seafood (baby octopus, shrimp and mussel). We ordered three portions of the normal Dak Galbi and chose to get the Add On's of Mozzarella Cheese, Rice Cake, Instant Noodles and Fried Rice. Eating this dish seemed like a multi step process, as we were served the Dak Galbi Dish (+ rice cake add on) and the waitress would come and cook it for us. The Cooking/Eating Process.
The waitress would go around the restaurant cooking the dishes at different tables.
Each add on were then thrown separately, one at a time. Instant Noodles were thrown in first, followed by the Mozzarella Cheese.
Throughout this whole process, we would be digging in at this tasty dish and with each add on thrown it, it was like a new modified dish.
After most of the dish was all eaten up, we then asked for the fried rice, which tastes awesome after it soaks up all the extra sauce and whatever is left.
The pictures show the different stages of the Dak Galbi, while it is being cooked and things are being added on
This dish is really tasty and is great to have if you are with 3 or 4 friends. Dak Galbi is a dish that is meant to go along with drinking and it is awesome to chill with some friends, have a drink and share a tasty Korean meal. Joons also gives you korean side dishes / appetizers including kimchi, pickled Turnips, brocolli and a sweet mashed potato (the best one). These side dishes are unlimited, so if your not full on the Dak Galbi, you can keep ordering the side dishes.Quick Notes: The Dak Galbi is $8.25 (+ tax/tip) and the seafood one, HaeMool Dak Galbi is $9.25 (+ tax/tip). These prices are per portion (usually one portion for each person is good) and the pictures that I put up are 3 portions. The add ons cost between $1- 2, and the mozarella cheese, instant noodles and fried rice at the end are must haves when ordering this dish. Joons is located in North York at on the West side of Yonge, North of Sheppard (4852 Yonge Street). They have a parking lot in the back in this location.
There is also a Joons location in Koreatown (605 Bloor St W), which is close by to UT. I have also included a very short video of the waitress cooking our Dak Galbi:
spicy...Pork Bone Soup or Gam Ja Tang is a spicy Korean stew made with pork bone, vegetables, green onions and potatoes served with a bowl of rice. To quote a friend who I ate with last night, "Pork Bone Soup is the Pho of Korean People!" A bunch of us went to the "Owl of Minerva" restaurant in Korea Town (Bloor/Christie) for a late dinner at around 12:30 am. We just won our intramural semis basketball game!, so we needed to recharge with some delicious Gam Ja Tang. Owl isn't the best place, but it is open 24 hrs which is great for late night partiers or even people who just want to eat this spicy stew for breakfast. Like most Korean places, Owl provides side dishes. Unfortunately the only side dishes they have are kimchi and some pickled turnip (no pics). Other places (ex. Oh Geul Boh Geul and Ka Chi) have up to 10+ types of side dishes. If you haven't tried it and are scared that its too spicy, most places offer a mild version of the Gam Ja Tang (Owl does not offer this though). Last night, one of my friends who can't take spicy food ended up finishing up the the whole bowl, even all the soup, so it really isn't thaaaat spicy. Quick Notes: There are better places for Gam Ja Tang, but Owl of Minerva is a good alternative to Mcdonalds when nothing else is open. The Gam Ja Tang/Pork Bone Soup ($6.20 +Tax) is definitely the most popular dish, although they offer other korean dishes like bugolgi, calbi, etc. (lol, i can't name any other ones). In case you didn't know, the side dishes (ex. kimchi) are unlimited and can be refilled. This location in Korea Town (On North side of Bloor, South of Christie) is great for UT students and downtowners but Owl also has a location around Yonge/Empress and also another location at First Markham Place (Highway 7/Woodbine).
bakery/cafe... If you like to chill or study at places like starbucks or tim hortons and think its too expensive, you should definitely check out Better and Better Bakery Cafe in Korea Town. This family run bakery/cafe is always quiet, with plenty of tables and seats. They serve freshly baked goods including muffins, bagels, pastries and fresh home made soups. The best thing about this place is that there is Free Wifi, which makes it great for those who like to study at coffee shops.
