This restaurant specializes in Korean-style Chinese cuisine, i.e., jja jang myun and jjam pong.
I had the jjam pong (spicy seafood noodle soup, $5-something?) twice and it was OK, not great. The broth lacks the soul-satisfying depth I expect from this dish. Instead, it's super spicy and will leave an unintentional lipliner of burn around your mouth. The noodles also need some perk; they're too flaccid for my liking. The good part of the soup is that it's brimming with fresh squid, mussels, and baby shrimp. It's got more seafood than a feed bucket for Shamu.
On another visit I had the jja jang myun ($5.75). If you watch Korean dramas, these are the noodles in brown sauce some homely girl is always slurping down at midnight while pining for her Prince Charming. Based on the Chinese zha jiang mian, the dish looks like spaghetti Bolognese made with black bean sauce instead of tomato sauce. The sauce here is thin and runny, and heavy on the ginger. Unfortunately, every once in a while, I get a craving for this dish but I don't know of any other restaurant on Bloor that serves jja jang myun.
The service is better than what I expect at cheapo Korean joints and this is the reason for the third star. The waitresses come by the table often to refill the side dishes and cups of barley tea. And, once, when the S.O. told the server he was really hungry, she scored him an extra big portion gratis.
As an added dining bonus, you can watch the latest K-Pop stars on the Korean television programs displayed throughout the restaurant. Without it, I wouldn't have found out about the tune called "Mazeltov" by Ze:A. Here are some of the choice lyrics:
Latin girl, Mexican girl, American girl
Japan girl, Korean girl
The thumping heart doesn't stop.
yeh yeh yeh mirror mirror mirror.
Mazeltov, Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
Saturday, Sunday
Mazeltov, Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
Saturday, Sunday
See the vid here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MnRBpktyWA