Category Archives: Korean

Kum Ki Wa

We happen to be in the neighbourhood and saw this village mall so we decided to check it out for food. We came across Kum Ki Wa, and decided to try it out.

It was 3pm on a weekend, and it was pretty bare, except for 2 tables that was occupied by customers. It had funky designed chairs – not the chair itself was funky, but just the fabric that was used. The walls were painted nicely with a touch of modern decor.

I ordered the #8 Japtanbob $9.99 which was rice covered with seafood and vegetables in thick sauce. My company ordered the #12 Bulgogi $10.99. Although the description nor the photo indicated that it came with rice, he was very happy to see that it did when the food arrived.

The portions were fairly big. For the price, I thought it was a really good deal, especially with all the seafood that was in it. It had a lot of shiitake, which is a delicacy, but I don’t like them…so my company ate them instead. The plate that my food came in was chipped all around as if it had gone through a garburator instead of the dishwasher. That was a a bit disappointing…

Easy and simple menu – I like that

Simple decor, funky fabric covered chairs

The banchan (complimentary side dishes) were really odd. Raw onions with sauce…and takuwan (in Japanese – which is picked daikon/radish). The takuwan was ok. You usually eat them with white rice or onigiri (rice balls). But I’ve never seen chopped raw onions served like this. To save our breath, we didn’t eat any of the onions.

2 plates of banchan – raw onions and takuwan

During the wait and eating, we were trying to connect to the internet on our phones, but we were unable to connect. We thought it was because there weren’t much cell towers in the area, but when we got out, we had connections, so not sure if it has anything to do with the building, or it was just a coincidence. However, if there is no connection, it’s not a place where you can come in with your laptop and work online…

Japtanbob $9.99

Bulgogi $10.99 – comes with rice!

The restaurant was clean, service was good and prompt. The portions and taste was great. It looks like a family run business. Once all the other customers were gone except us, they sat around one table, Mom, Dad, young guy who takes the orders and serve, and a little girl. I’d go back if it weren’t so far from home!

Taste: Price for Value:

Atmosphere: Service:
Location:

International Summer Night Market

After going to the Richmond Night Market, we decided to go to the Summer Night Market for a change. Admission is free, and finding parking is a lot easier than the other market.
Despite the free admission, there is less crowds than the other one. It could be because there are less booths, but most of the booths – at least what they offer seem to be similar.

There is a small stage where for the entire evening, there was live performance from belly dancing and hip hop singers. We lined up at one of the booth to get the taiyaki and the famous hurricane potato. I’d always wanted to try out the hurricane so it was about time.

There are several filling options for the taiyaki $1. Nutella, red bean or Bavarian cream. I wanted the red bean, but my friend wanted the Bavarian, so we got that. It was super hot, and I ended up burning my tongue T_T. My friend squeezed and cream shot out burning him a lot more. He complained to the people that there should be some warning – either by telling us, or a sign.

Hurricane Potato $4

There were also different flavours available for the hurricane $4. We got the BBQ. Looked greasy although it wasn’t extremely terrible but it was EXTREMELY salty. My friend brushed off the BBQ powder that they had rolled the potato as much as he could. We forced ourselves to eat it, but only could do half. The saltiness was nauseating. We ended up throwing away the rest. Should have gotten plain!

There’s a Pepsi stand to see whether you like coke or Pepsi. We were both coke drinkers, and ended up choosing (blindly) liking coke. Pepsi had a chemical after taste. Anyways, there’s no right or wrong answer. I think Pepsi does it to see which ones are popular. For participating, we each got free bag of sunflower seeds.

Near closing time, around 11:30pm or so, you can enjoy the closing sale deals. Many booths will have their dishes lowered to $2. Closes at midnight!

Open from May 10 to September 8, 2013.
Friday and Saturday: 7pm – 12am
Sunday and holidays: 7pm – 11pm

Richmond Night Market

It’s summer time and that means festivals and eating out! Of course that means you have to go the Richmond Night Market for some Asian foods and gadgets!

Getting to the location by car is a bit challenging, especially to find parking. If you follow everyone else, it’ll take you forever just to get to a parking lot. I’m not sure how my friend found one so quickly, for free and right by the market. But then again, he’s good at that kind of stuff…lol

Admission is $2! You’d think that this would deter everyone in going to the other market (Summer Night Market – yes, there are 2! Don’t get them confused) but no! It’s probably much more lively and crowded than the other one. It’s FREE admission for children 10 & under and for Seniors over 60.

2013 theme is the yellow duckling!

This year, the theme is yellow ducks. There are 2 huge inflatable ducks, along with little ones scattered throughout the market dressed up in different traditional uniforms/clothing, great photo opportunities.

I was surprised to see the huge increase in prices. Meat skewers used to be 3 for $5. Now it was $7+. Everything seemed to have gone up…but that didn’t stop the crowd from buying all the food!

It definitely seemed like more booths than the other market. My company wanted to buy a car camera and laser but no luck. It felt like there was a huge supply of phone covers and less real gadget products. I didn’t see those electric LED tshirts that I use to see.

Around 11:20-30 or so, the booths will start having the ‘closing sale’ deals. Usually, this means that most dishes will be priced down to $2. If you go around 10 minutes to midnight, you might be able to get even better deals, but you have to bargain with them. I got 2 noodles for $3 instead of $2 each. My friend got some deals on the mini-donuts.

The last couple times I’ve gone, the stage has been empty with no performance.

Hours of operation are Friday and Saturday 7pm-12 midnight and Sunday and holidays 6pm-11pm. It’s open from May 17 to Oct 14 – plenty of time to go several times! Go check it out!