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| - If you're looking for authentic Korean food in Mississauga and you're willing to brave a suicidal left turn into a sketchy strip mall, this place is it. Most Korean restaurants focus on Japanese entrees and sashimi / sushi with bimbimbap as an add on. Here, large jugs of fermenting rice wine are prominently centre stage in the dining area and the staff only speaks Korean. Tables are fitted for Korean hot pot experience and the soups are filled with seafood or chunks of meat.
My order of the Korean dumplings, man doo, and a spicy seafood tofu soup left me completely full. The smiling but silent waitress takes our order quickly and returns with two hot cups of tea and 3 ban chan plates of kimchi and pickled vegetables. The kimchi is young and not fiery but it's flavourful. The kimchi white radish has a nice crunch while the pickled white carrot has a nice sweet and sour profile. A plate of steamed dumplings arrived quickly. The 8 dumplings are $5 and they were the size of a medium peach. They're stuffed full of pork with cabbage and green onion. The skin is a bit thick but cooked well.
The soup is a giant red broth filled with shrimp with the heads on, clams, mussels, and calamari. It's light on the heat but I was told to ask for Korean hot next time. There was a lot of soft silky tofu as well to provide a custardy texture to the soup . A raw egg is provided as well to add into the broth. The side of rice is not your plain sticky white bland starch. It is filled with forbidden rice, sticky white rice, beans, dates, and butternut squash. Definitely bonus points for this! They also pour in broth into the crusty rice bowl to create a watery congee. It's light on flavour but if you're still hungry somehow, you can finish off with that.
For the 2 entrees and dumpling plate, it just hit the $30 mark. Good flavours, silent but courteous service, and homey Korean food in Mississauga... For those of us that live away from Yonge Koreatown or Christie Station, this is a fantastic alternative.
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