The staff at Tinga Kim Taqueria are so pleasant that they make the experience. They’re welcoming and flexible on seating arrangements, offering their cute patio out back, which we were contemplating until we saw a table coming back complaining about bugs.

Being in the dingier indoor area has its benefit: such as the ease of getting their attention and placing our order in three stages to control the pace of the meal.

We started with “appetizers” including the K-Wings or Korean style wings in both flavours. I preferred the Oro K-wings ($20 for 6) the crispy chicken left neutral but having been marinated in arbol (type of chili pepper), soy, and oyster sauce was very flavourful. Juicy and crunchy this is what makes Korean fried chicken so good.

The Rojo K-wings ($20 for 6) were too strong for me: the gochujang, ginger, soju, and oyster sauce base tasty on the first bite but overwhelming by the last. Rest assured, Tinga Kim doesn’t baby their diners and makes these spicy.

I’m glad we got the quesabirria ($18) for the table as the shredded beef saturated in consommé was so rich and salty that one is sufficient. They don’t skimp of the cheese so it’s nice and gooey but could use more raw onion and herbs to counteract the heaviness. Strangely this arrives with chili oil and a sour cream aioli instead of the beef consommé you’d expect to dip it in. It seemed more quesadilla than quesabirria.

Their single order tacos are great for building your own main. Ideally, the chef should have left the shrimp in the pingo Coreano ($12) neutral rather than saturating it in soju, soy and oyster sauce. By this point, I was getting tired of this flavour combo and was looking forward to what the menu describes as shrimp, soju-based salsa, guacamole, cotija & Oaxaca cheese, and cilantro. No where did it mention soy and oyster sauce, which completely covered the sparse guacamole and cheese but did help soften the tostada, so it was foldable and easier to eat. I’m really reaching for the silver lining here.

The maapo libre ($10) tasted the same since the main protein was Korean marinated galbi. Except this was topped with an overly salted citrusy red cabbage slaw. Quite frankly, by this time I’m not sure what on their menu doesn’t contain soy sauce.

After all that salt I was craving something sweet. The Mexican flan ($10) was calling and while it wasn’t terrible, if the recipe includes white chocolate in the custard they really should have left the syrup thin rather than dousing it in a thick caramel that brought this to cloying sweet level. Moreover, the custard became too dense. The silver lining? At least each order contained two mini flans that makes it perfect for sharing.

My perception is that the chefs at Tinga Kim create one sauce then use it on everything. That same caramel was drizzled onto the already sweet tres leches cake ($17), which means yes this is tooth achingly sweet as well. At least the cake was nice and moist.

Even the cinnamon sugar dusted churros ($10) didn’t escape the sauce, which needs to be served on the side. The actual pastry was a bit dense but at least freshly deep fried and hot.

Writing this post really has me going back to the practice of gratitude journaling – amongst everything that goes wrong, what is the positive thing? Tinga Kim is lucky their staff are so sweet… much like all their desserts.  

It’s been over a decade since I last stepped into Cho Sun Ok and on a rainy weeknight it’s as busy as ever. Thornhill is an area that’s stocked with Korean restaurants, but somehow this place continues to draw a crowd since opening in 2004.

Having tried a host of the “individual” dishes on my first visit and finding none of them impressive, this time I switched gears an opted for a jeongol or Korean hot pot, which occupies a quarter of their menu.

For $50.95 the price of the gamjatang jeongol may seem steep but it’s the equivalent of three (if not four) pork bone soups. Even though the menu states it serves two, the dish is enough for four people if you add an appetizer and extra bowls of steamed rice. In fact, when the metal platter first arrives with uncooked glass noodles sitting on top, it’s so full that our server removes two bones and soup into a separate bowl to make room for the noodles to cook down.

The pork bone was boiled long enough so that they easily broke apart, allowing us to get to the meat without much work. Yet, the broth just wasn’t flavourful enough. Yes, it satisfied but didn’t contain enough spice to really whet the palette.

Luckily, Cho Sun Ok’s kimchi had more than enough heat to make up for the tame gamjatang broth. Combining a hunk of meat, a scoop of rice, and a piece of the crispy fermented cabbage made for a great bite. I was so impressed by the side dish that I got a small tub to go ($11.99).

The meal arrives with a nice selection of banchan including fish cake slices, kimchi (cabbage and daikon), sesame oil laced bean sprouts, and chewy gelatin slivers. It was more than enough for our duo, but they regularly came by to see if we needed anything else anyways.

If anything, what stood out most about this visit was the attentive service. Despite being packed and us sitting in the far corner of the dining room, food arrived quickly and there were always people walking by at regular intervals, so no one felt ignored.

It’s taken me a while to return and while I can’t say that I’ll become a regular of the restaurant, their kimchi is so good that it may have me stopping by for a grocery pick-up.

If you’re an indecisive person, don’t go to Arisu. Their menu will start giving you heart palpitations as you realize you may never make it to the halfway point. Korean barbeque, Korean dishes of many kinds, sushi, and even more are displayed in full glory. Move over Pickle Barrel, this menu has you beat.

Let me try to help you out here. With cooking stations at every table, Korean barbeque is a natural choice. Go for the porky and piggy set for two ($59.99) that offers three cuts: pork belly, shoulder blade, and honeycomb (like pork belly but more tender). Grill up the pork and tuck slices into the lettuce wraps along with sauces and a bit of the scallion soy.

The set even comes with a host of sides: a puffy egg custard that needs to be eaten quickly; corn smothered in cheese and butter; a host of traditional banchan, steamed rice, and even fresh vegetables for grilling. You’ll have all the bases covered.

You’ll want to start off with a set before adding on extras like chicken ($18.99) to Korean barbeque. There’s not much that arrives with it, just a piece of marinated chicken leg. After all, to miss out on the steamed egg custard is a shame.

If you’re dining as one or don’t like the idea of having to cook for yourself, order Arisu’s porterhouse steak ($41.99 special price; regular is $46.99). Obviously, it wouldn’t rival a steakhouse, but I found it was prepared better than HK café places – the steak was a thick cut and cooked to a rare / medium rare. And it’s a hefty portion complete with mashed potatoes, grilled vegetables, and a bowl of spicy tofu soup.

For those dining as a group, getting a bunch of dishes to share is ideal. The seafood pancake ($35.99 for large) was one of the better ones I’ve had - the batter airy and pan-fried forming tons of crispy edges. Large chunks of seafood, scallions, and vegetables are strewn throughout so there’s a great ratio of pancake to filling.

The cheese tteokbokki ($31.99 for large) consists of soft chewy rice sticks and fish balls tossed in a mild spicy sauce (Arisu also offers a spicier version). The rice cakes are surprisingly delicate (perhaps they use the frozen versus dried variety) and being covered in cheese gives the dish an almost creamy finish.

Only the fried chicken breast ($33.99 for large) was a bit disappointing. I liked that it was freshly prepared to the point it was burn-your-mouth hot. But it also wasn’t overly exciting… a simple salt and pepper seasoning with the breading almost too light so it wasn’t very crunchy.

Unlike other Korean barbeque places along Bloor, Arisu also wasn’t too busy, which is surprising because their food was decent and the service great. Perhaps it’s because they’re further away from the bar area, but our Friday visit was relatively quiet, and they could even take walk-in clients.

The separators used in the dining room, provided some privacy to allow our group to get boisterous without becoming disruptive. After all, it takes time to order, so you can get through a bottle of soju before a lick of food arrives. Who knows, two bottles in and you may just be ordering the full menu.

156 Cumberland elicits a sense of mystery. Not in a murder mystery, speak easy, or blind tasting sense. Rather, you’re not quite sure what to expect. It starts with their name… merely repeating their central Yorkville address, good luck figuring out what this restaurant’s about.

Even their menu left me perplexed, a simple one liner printed at the bottom ‘Hanjan, dujan, sejan, floor’ – 156 Cumberland Team. Google translates this for me as ‘One drink, two drink, three drink, floor’. So, there’s a sense of cheekiness and a Korean inspiration to 156 Cumberland.

The beef tartare ($15) are flavourful bundles of joy – for your mouth that is. Sweet, savoury, and spicy elements combine with the minced beef before being stuffed into fried tofu skin. An egg yolk drizzle adds a thick creamy element while the chives a burst of freshness.

If the avocado mousse wasn’t so over salted the hiramasa ($25) would have been perfect. A generous portion of yellowtail incorporated a hint of heat from white kimchi gel and horseradish along with briny bits of oiji (a Korean pickle). While the avocado helps bind everything together, it was overly seasoned, so I ended up scraping most of it off to allow me to taste the fish. The little toasted seaweed chips were a great choice to scoop this up.

The intensely flavoured appetizers did leave the Korean bouillabaisse ($34) tasting flat. Perhaps it’s why the kitchen chose to serve the bouillabaisse with the white kimchi on the side. Ultimately, it lacked the saffron hit that makes the seafood sing. At least there was a decent number of clams, bay scallops, and haddock and the thin circles of rice cake were an interesting chewy texture against the seafood.  

The #AvecJayden’s white kimchi ($8) supports a fellow chef – the sous chef of Richmond Station who began perfecting his recipe during the pandemic and later starting an enterprise to sell it. Given it doesn’t rely heavily on spicy gochujang, Jayden’s version is light and fresh so didn’t detract from the seafood.

Give me an entire dish of sujebi ($37), the slices of silky Korean pasta swimming in a decadent buttery sauce. Chunks of duck leg, meaty maitake mushrooms, sweet corn, and fried sage made this the highlight of the meal.

There wasn’t an ounce of fruit in the banana milk tiramisu ($13), but I don’t mind. My best guess as to where the banana was incorporated may be the cake. Regardless, the dessert satisfied and aptly fit the menu’s description as being not too sweet.

The kitchen’s efficiency seemed to put a strain on the front-of-the-house. Even though service was friendly, they were so busy running food and drinks that switching plates became an after thought. A new plate would be ideal between the starters and the bouillabaisse, at least we managed to get one for the sujebi after waiting a bit.

Dinner also seemed rushed with little time between dishes. I didn’t feel like I could really settle in and relax without letting the mains go cold. Slow down 156 Cumberland and let the diners converse and drink. After all, how can we fulfill ‘Hanjan, dujan, sejan, floor’ if we’re out after two?

There’s a cheekiness to Té that I enjoy. The French flair added to “tea” to form their name, the unexpected breezy décor that flies in the face of traditional Korean restaurants, or even the silent black and white Sailor Moon that graces the television in their bar area. Té is different and certainly won’t please everyone.

Starting with the rustic look of their kimchi devilled eggs ($7 for 3). The yolks are mixed with sesame oil and kimchi paste, instead of creamy mayonnaise, creating a stiffer paste to pipe back into the egg white. I could certainly taste the nutty oil that always makes my taste buds sing, but would have liked more of the gochujong as there wasn’t much heat to the egg. In fact, aside from the sesame oil these tasted like any other deviled egg. Swapping the bacon bits for chopped kimchi may give it that element it’s missing and make the dish vegetarian-friendly to boot.

Similarly, the kimchi was lost within the ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan mixture in the toasted kimchi ravioli ($13). Chances are any ingredient wouldn’t be able to hold up against the swiggle of honey wasabi pesto piped on top of the crispy ravioli as the wasabi was so pungent and overpowering. Some reviewers rave about this dish, but I found the panko crust made it too dry and the pasta was overly chewy. It’s not one I’d order again.

The bulgogi sliders ($15) were good with a pile of thinly sliced sweet-soy marinated sirloin topped adorned with a perfectly cooked quail egg, which is runny so makes for a messy first bite. The sliders would be even better if there wasn’t wasabi in the mayo (Té’s chef certainly loves wasabi) and the buns were warm and toasted.

If you really want to try the bulgogi I’d opt for one of the main dishes instead. Té’s bi bim bap ($17) follows a traditional recipe where the beef is accompanied by cold sesame-marinated vegetables and a fried egg. They swap out the white rice for nuttier purple rice instead and Té’s sweet chili sauce is thicker and spicier than other ones I’ve tried.

Sadly, the bi bim bap wasn’t presented in the typical hot stone bowl. That vessel is so important as it creates the crust on the bottom of the rice and the heat warms up the cold garnishes and sauce so that once everything is mixed together the flavours really melt and meld together.

There’s plenty of bulgogi on top of their mac and cheese ($18) and the pasta was excellent as well. I enjoyed the creamy gooey cheese sauce and the parmesan panko crisp on top adds a lovely textured crunch for those who want an extra pop of flavour.

Other stand-out dishes were the following small plates. The braised pork crostini ($14) features a juicy hunk of five spice-soy marinated pork belly that seeps into the crusty toasted bread. It’s simple but such a lovely bite.  

The pork belly and kimchi lettuce wrap ($14) was also a hit. In this dish, the pork belly is thinner and grilled to give it a lovely caramelized crust. Sitting on a layer of kimchi, pickled daikon, and crispy lettuce with a sweet garlicky chili paste the wrap is a lovely balanced bite and one of the better ssam I’ve had.

And you really can’t go wrong with freshly fried chicken ($9 for 2 pieces of $16 for 4 pieces) that arrives steaming hot and begging to be eaten. I’m glad Té left off the typical sweet, sour, and spicy red sauce and kept the chicken lightly dusted with five spice seasoned flour. It keeps the skin crispy and the chicken was juicy enough to not require any sauce.

It’s remarkable how much they create in-house, including a handful of baked goods. The butterscotch caramel cheesecake ($6) wouldn’t have been my first choice for dessert, but I’m glad we went with our server’s suggestion as it was a nice blend of sweet and gentle saltiness, and smooth cake with a bit of crunch from the toffee bits.

For those who’d rather drink their dessert, Té has plenty of cocktails to choose from at $14.50 each. The mango black Té is their play on a mango bubble tea except spiked with Scotch for a boozy adult take on the classic drink. It’s a tad gimmicky as the drink isn’t executed well given the mini tapioca pearls are rather hard and the straw not thick enough to actually allow them to pass with the tea.

The bobaless drinks were more my style, having sampled a lovely vivid-pink strawberry with Proescco cocktail that really hit the spot and their seasonal feature drink that is almost like a mojito incorporating lemonade so that it’s extra refreshing.

As a warning, service can be a tad slow, for drinks and food, as everything is freshly made - I wouldn’t dine there if you’re in a hurry or starving. Té should consider creating a banchan platter for the table, which they could split in advance into little dishes stacked on top of one another allowing servers to just grab-and-go. Patrons may be a little pissed that they’ll be charged for it (banchan is normally complementary at Korean restaurants), but at least it will help ease the wait and can even double as a “bar snack” for cocktails. They could even add their flair to the name… parTé platter perhaps?

Images of cheery smiling cartoon characters flash through my mind when I heard the name KOKO Share Bar. Bubble-eyed creatures that blink with earnest and flash big smiles as they proclaim the importance of love and sharing, almost like a trippy Care Bear. In reality, KOKO is set up like many traditional izakayas with sparse wooden tables and black chairs, each table divided by a tall pane of plastic in the new COVID era. Not one anime character anywhere… I couldn’t decide if I should be relieved or disappointed.

And in a very unlike me manner, we also didn’t share at the Share Bar. It didn’t stop me from ordering the salmon aburi sushi ($20) to start, the rice adorned with thick cuts of salmon topped with lime aioli. At KOKO, there was just enough of the mayo to take on a hint of smokiness and to add a splash of creaminess without making the sushi greasy. I would have liked some stronger finishing ingredients to create more interest – like the customary jalapeno slice, a dab of chopped olives, or even a sprinkling of green onions. The aburi was good but lacked pizazz.

Based on my friend’s recommendation (and plenty of other reviewers), I had to try KOKO’s roasted miso black cod ($36). It’s a solid dish but with a few changes could be even better: including some of the miso sauce on the side for those who want a more flavourful fish or to pour over the steamed rice, removing some of the cod’s bones to make it easier to cut into (even the large shards were left behind), and roasting the skin longer so that it becomes crispier.

Still, I appreciated the decent sized piece of black cod, which was fresh and flaky and there was a nice variety of vegetables included to create a balanced and healthy meal. If only there was more seasoning on the vegetables that seemed to be merely steamed.

For an izakaya, KOKO sure plays it safe with their flavours. What a shame, no Japanese anime characters, and no bold ingredients.