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| - At the risk of being racist, I'm going to say that I absolutely can't stand Korean food made by Chinese people. There are several Chinese run KBBQ places in the city (namely Korean Grill House) and their quality is absolutely atrocious.
I love the value that I get from AYCE but I crave the quality of real KBBQ. Chingu strikes a happy medium between quality and value. First of all, having Korean owners is a massive plus to me. I mean if you had an Italian chef cook Chinese food you'd question its authenticity right? Second of all, this is the only KBBQ restaurant in GTA I know that serves tons of side dishes. They also give you unlimited lettuce (for wrapping), and they even serve unlimited soup. All these side dishes and wrappings and soups makes it feel like a much more authentic Korean meal. The soups taste pretty good and the portion is small enough to be just a sample so you get focus on the main courses - the meat. And if you really don't want to eat a ton of meat, you can order more Kimchi stew.
I love their selection of meats. Beef short ribs is probably the best thing since sliced bread. Aside from that, they also have spicy pork, and chicken. They even have pork belly. If you pay a few extra bucks, you can upgrade and get seafood items as well. I like their flavoring on the spicy pork because it actually tastes like Korean seasoning. They also have ice cream which is a great way to get that greasy feeling out of your mouth after chowing on so much meat.
For $19, this AYCE place is a steal. Although I have to admit real KBBQ tastes much better, the price difference is far too much. Real KBBQ often cost upwards of $25 per SERVING of meat which is usually around 300-400 grams.
The only reason I don't give this place 5 stars is because they auto charge you 15% tip, and the grills they use are very prone to turning black. I've tried other places with more "high tech" grills. The grills at Chingu are definitely not as good but to compensate, their staff are happy to change the grill often.
Highly recommended.
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