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| - In my compartmentalized view of ethnic restaurants, Koreatown is where you go for good Korean food; Chinatown is for Chinese food.
So what's this Korean restaurant doing in Chinatown? Messing up the squares in my neatly-drawn grid, that's what. Shocking but I'm going to say that this outpost of Ka-Chi has a slight edge over its progenitor in Koreatown.
This location has the exact same menu and even the same cheesy decor (including those gawd-awful copycat Van Gogh renderings) but seems to have fresher, tastier banchan (side dishes) than its K-town counterpart -- perhaps due to higher turnover.
Ka-Chi(natown) obviously attracts more ethnically Chinese customers and for some reason, they ALL order one thing: Pork Bone Soup (PBS). I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone when I pass the two-tops and four-tops, and each table has the same dish. Creepy.
I also find it curious how PBS has become so wildly popular in Toronto. Traditionally, this soup isn't eaten for lunch or dinner in Korea. It's the communal dish you order with your drinking buddies after several rounds of booze, and you go for one last nip of soju (Korean vodka) before heading home--or collapsing in the street, as the case may be.
So, no, I haven't had the PBS yet. I've had the tteok mandu guk* ($7) which was a hot MSG bath of pre-packaged dumplings. Bleh.
On a recent muggy night, I went for the naeng myun** ($8) which was cool and refreshing, and better than expected for a cheapo Korean joint like Ka-Chi.
The S.O. likes to get a good dose of the soup sweats with their burbling, hot and spicy budae jjigae*** ($8).
Oh, and if you do go, try to give the tip directly to the staff. On one visit, we saw a crazy dude walk in and swipe some loonies off of a vacated table.
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* dumpling and rice cake soup
** chewy buckwheat noodles in a chilled, tangy broth
*** bah, too difficult to explain; google it
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