Kudara Korean & Japanese Restaurant
Korean cuisine is not familiar to me, so I had to ask an expert to join me when I dined at Kudara Korean & Japanese Restaurant. Sister #3 hosts international students in her home including those from South Korea and is a food expert in her own right.
She introduced me to Kyung Jae Lee, the gregarious owner of the four table spot.
The beautiful red walls and brightly coloured photos adorning the walls are as a warm and spritely as the proprietor.
“KJ” arrived in Canada in 1997 and purchased this location two and a half years ago. She and her husband prepare authentic Korean and sushi together.
We appreciated the miso soup to start, as it was a frigid winter day when we dined.
Soon after, a hot stone bowl arrived at the table heaped with steamed rice, stir fried veggies, marinated beef and a glistening egg yolk. The dish is dubbed Bibim Bap. Had my expert not been with me, I would not have known that the contents of the bowl are meant to be stirred up immediately so that the egg adheres to the other ingredients and gets cooked from the heat radiating from the bowl. The rice that was at the bottom of the basin stayed there the longest and became crunchy to the tooth. As a result, the complex flavours included sweet, savoury, tangy and salty and the textures ranged from silky to crispy. With the taste of one dish, I was hooked on Korean food!
As an intermission between our two Korean dishes, came a sushi duo of Yammy Yammy which is my sister’s all time favourite sushi roll
and a selection appropriately called the Academy Roll named by one the restaurant’s regular customers. Originally concocted by KJ’s son it contains avocado, crab, salmon and pink roe. The roll is then crispy fried and adorned with a drizzling of sweet chili and mustard sauces.
Last but not least, was the arrival of Dak Galbi-spicy marinated dark chicken meat, cabbage, onions, and carrot threads sizzling on a wrought iron platter. One taste and you too may become a fan of Korean food. My sister predicts it is the new ethnic cuisine trend.
Kath’s quote: “I love food, all types of food. I love Korean food, Japanese, Italian, French. In Australia, we don’t have a distinctive Australian food, so we have food from everywhere all around the world.”- Hugh Jackman
Live simply, laugh often, love deeply.
[…] only recently tried Bibimbap (pictured above) for the first time, at an authentic Korean restaurant in our neighbourhood, I waited all through the menu sampling to do so […]