Some of you might remember that I did a post on a place called Bool Chul Pan about 3 months ago. This restaurant was introduced to us by Joyce and Jeff. We would not have found this place on our own as Richmond is so far away from Coquitlam. For some reason that post on Bool Chul Pan generated a lot of hits. As a matter of fact it is the #2 most viewed restaurant post for the past 4 months.
Anyway, Suanne and I went to Joyce and Jeff’s place to borrow a GPS from them a couple of weeks ago. Ours was stolen when some idiot broke into our car and took that one thing away. Even though the GPS is in the glove compartment, I think the thief knew that we had a GPS because of the suction cup marks on the dashboard … that is why I think only my car was broken into but not others around mine.
After picking up the GPS, Suanne and I went to the restaurant next to Bool Chul Pan. This is the Korean Mall on 4501 North Road.
That restaurant is Ddoo Gau Bee. I find that name catchy, especially the “Ddoo” part. Do you pronounce that as “doooo” or “dedooo”?
The sign outside declared that they are an Authentic Korean Restaurant. They sure are.
The moment we walked in, they greeted us warmly. Unlike most restaurants they will simply ask things like “table for two?” but here the waitress said a lot of things in Korean with her head slightly bowed. Of course we did not understand Korean but it sure was welcoming.
We noticed that most of the customers are Korean. Can you tell a Korean by the facial features? I think I can differentiate a Korean from a Chinese and Japanese.
The restaurant is large spanning two shop lots.
Most of everything in their menu is in Korean. Their specials and combos are on posters pasted on the wall on most tables. The pictures were useful since we are not very familiar with Korean food.
They do have a lot of combos which are meant for groups. And they are pretty cheap too considering the amount of food and the number of people it is meant to feed. I always had the impression that Korean cuisine are expensive but Bool Chul Pan and Ddoo Gau Bee really changed my perception.
It took us a while before we decided what we wanted. The waitress came by three times asking if we were ready to order. We tried to ask her questions the first time but communication in English was a bit difficult as she was not able to quite understand the questions we had for her.
Anyway, at the end, we decided to get that item on the menu that is circled and marked “HOT”. Between the three combinations, we ordered the one that has the most items. It is the $9.95 combo you see above.
All Korean restaurants will serve free Banchans with every meal. These are small side dishes which generally are made up of several types of spicy, salty or tangy dishes. What I don’t know is this … are these meant to be eaten like an appy or is this an accompaniment for the entire meal?
Sorry if I touch a raw nerve with this point here. I heard that in Korea, it is common practice in restaurants to re-cycle banchans that are leftover. Is that true? I hope it is not. Anyway, we don’t think about these things so much and trust the Korean restaurants in Vancouver do not do this sort of things.
Of the five Banchans we were served, we love the pickled radish (yellowish on the left) the most. The tofu and spinach (top right) is pretty good too.
We gotta have Beef Broth Soup. This one is $8. If I am not mistaken, this milky white broth is made by simmering beef bones by about 10 hours to create the rich broth.
Actually the broth is quite tasteless. That is why they gave us a large side dish of salt to flavour it.
Under the rich broth is big pieces of tender beef and vermicelli. To me, this is like Korea’s answer to the Japanese Ramen. Love it.
If this is $8, just see what we get for the $10 combo! For just $10, we got a 3-in-1 meal. We had …
… Fried Rice which is topped with a fried egg. This has a side of salad. It is awesome, moist and flavourful. Not only that. We also have …
… two noodles. One dry and the other in soup. This is the first time I came across a split bowl like this. I think it is a fun idea. We had always had either dry noodles or soup noodles but serving it this way is brilliant. Maybe it is common in Korea but I was quite impressed. Koreans sure know how to inject fun to their eating.
On the right is called Jam Pong which is a Korean Style Hot Spicy Vegetable Soup. It is full with squid and prawns too. By itself, it is very good.
And then on the left is the Ja Jang Mien which I thought is the Korean take on the Chinese Jajang Mien. This one has lots of onions and tastes lightly sweetish. In many sense it tastes a lot like French Onion Soup except that it is thicker and served on noodles.
We enjoyed this combo a lot, especially when it is just $10!
We also mixed the “Ja Jang” to the fried rice … making it a 4-in-1 dish. He he he!
Look at it … just $19 before tips. We went in to Ddoo Gau Bee hungry … and left happy.
Here is their menu:
Hi Ben,
My friend took me to this restaurant a week ago for lunch and we ordered the same combo, couldn’t finish the fried rice and had to doggy bag.Good value & good food.
I love this place, been here a million times. I love their ja jang mien and jam pong. If you go back, try their $37.95 combo, it was really good and that price fed a total of 5 people.
However you got a lot more ban chan than we did, we usually only get 2 or 3. I wonder why that is??
Looks fabulous. I always love the Korean beef bone broths. So beefy and tasty, and the addition of green onions makes the dish pop.
Never have seen one of those split bowls before! Quite interesting.
The banchan is meant to accompany a meal with the rice and it is typical in every meal with a main soup/stew dish. In addition, to put you at ease with the Banchan situation… no Korean restaurants in Korea recycle Banchan. Cheers!
I just discovered a Korean place that serves all the side dishes. I am happy to learn more about them. When the waitress first pulled up with the cart, I thought she must have a lot of food for other people! Nice surprise… and a great price too. Most people take their leftovers home where I go, so not much chance to reuse them.
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hi:) i just discovered your blog and love it! and i think i might be able to answer some of the questions you appear to have.
many restaurants in korea used to recycle their banchan, but there has been a huge media uproar regarding it. they don’t do that anymore. you can also tell if they even attempt to do it, as their waiter/waitresses will stack the leftover banchan bowl(so they don’t get mixed together) instead of just dumping everything in the same bucket. i usually just make it a point to dump all leftovers in the biggest dish/pot at my table 😀 if they don’t recycle their food, they actually appreciate you doing their work for them…
the jajangmein sold in korean restaurants are actually dishes brought in by the chinese immigrants to korea a long time ago and improvised to better fit the public’s taste. you will actually be able to find the jajangmein house #1 in incheon.
there’s a restaurant across the street from the korean plaza where ddugaubee is, a few stores down from the H-mart. i think it’s called jong-ro banjum….anyways, that place is a lot tastier than ddugaubee..is the opinion between us. ddugaubee used to be the it-spot between koreans living in vancouver 10 years ago but they have been going downhill over the years…well, thanks for listening(?) to me rambling on<3
Hi Elihxir: Ramblings welcomed! and thanks for the comment. Hope to see more in future, mostly because we need an expert on Korean cuisine. Ben