Showing posts with label pork bone soup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pork bone soup. Show all posts

Mapo Gamjatang (Toronto)


I’m not a comic book reader, but I do wonder what captions are used to describe eating scenes… assuming comic books even depict meals. I’m sure there would be noises like SLURP mentioned, but would the artist try to portray the flavour elements with descriptions like POW or BAM?

What attracts me to Korean food is that POW of flavour that hits the taste buds and causes it to beg for more. A slurp of gamjatang or pork bone soup hits the tongue with saltiness giving away to spiciness and finishing off with a whole concoction of umami and garlic. That POW is what I was hoping for when I entered Mapo Gamjatang but was greeted with a KNOCK instead – as in, knock knock, where are you flavour?

I should have clued in when a dipping sauce was brought over with instructions that it was for the pork bones. Unfortunately, since it was given at the beginning of the meal with all the banchan, the dipping sauce was set aside and forgotten.

Why would we need a condiment for gamjatang? The soup is supposed to be powerful on its own. Yet, what I experienced was like a chunkier elevated version of the soup packages you get with ramen. Yes, there’s flavour, but it’s fairly one dimensional – there’s the initial burst but no layers afterwards.

Perhaps it’s because all the flavours were concentrated in the spices topping the pork bones – it provided a snap of tastiness when it hit the tongue but soon was relegated onto the plate or sunk to the bottom of the bowl. Good… if you get to the last drop.

Offering noodles in lieu of rice on their menu is a smart choice with three choices – ramen, Korean noodles, and hand pulled. We opted for the gamjatang kalguksu ($17.99) or the Korean noodles, which was the middle thickness between the other pastas. They were good, silky with a slight chew, but its density definitely needed a more flavourful broth to match.

I suspect the noodles were prepared and portioned into bowls ahead of time, then soup was added into the bowl when we ordered. The room temperature noodle quickly cooled down the broth so by the time the dish arrived, the soup was already lukewarm. The smart thing to do would be to undercook the noodles to allow chefs to re-boil it for a minute before serving. Better yet, invest in a larger stone bowl and serve the gamjatang kalguksu in a heated stone bowl so that it’s bubbling and piping hot like the rice version.  

Even the meat itself wasn’t the greatest. The neck bone was cut in a fashion that made it impossible to break apart to access the meat and gelatinous cartilage that’s wedged between the bones. Also, it just wasn’t tender enough. The only saving grace was the two pieces were fairly large and meaty.

So, the gamjatang didn’t create a POW, surely the bulgogi ($18.99) that’s described as being served on a sizzling plate surely will? Alas, no, it was also a KNOCK. Firstly, the beef was dispersed amongst so many vegetables – carrots, mushrooms, huge pieces of green onion, and bean sprouts – diluting the garlicky sweet soy flavours of the bulgogi. Secondly, the “sizzling” plate was more décor than function as the plate didn’t make a peep of noise. No sizzle, no aroma, no heat.

To be fair, the bulgogi was decent and the mushroom and vegetables does help break down the monotony of an otherwise meaty meal. Mapo Gamjatang should just set better expectations by properly describing it on their menu and drop the sizzling plate if it wasn’t going to be heated and actually sizzling at the table.

It’s a shame because I can see beginning of a great meal. I enjoyed Mapo Gamjantang’s bright clean décor and the friendly attentive service. Their food just needs more heat (both in terms of temperature and spice) and flavour to bring it from a KNOCK to a POW.

Overall mark - 6 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 4186 Finch Ave East


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Gastro World's Grading System

  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!


Is That It? I Want More!

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Owl of Minerva (Toronto) for delivery

Note: Prices in post are based on regular menu prices and may be higher when using delivery services

Aside from soup-based noodles, a comforting dish I crave in the winter is pork bone soup. There’s almost a primal sense of survival in picking up the massive hunk of bone in your hands and trying to get to as many of the meaty bits as possible, dissecting and sucking until it’s picked clean. Kam ja tang is served in most Korean restaurants, but Owl of Minerva introduced the dish to me and it’s where I return for a fix.

As difficult as it is to transport, Owl does delivery and takeout - the kam ja tang ($10.99) is vacuum sealed so that no drop of the fragrant soup is lost. Without the hot stone bowl, it’s warm on arrival, so we always re-heat it in a pot before tucking in. It needs to be enjoyed in its full glory: blistering hot, burning the fingers, and stinging the tongue. No pain, no delicious gain.

While waiting for the pork bone to re-heat, snack on an order of gu man du ($10.99). The deep-fried dumplings still surprisingly crispy and hot despite also being entombed in plastic. Truthfully, I’d much rather Owl switch to a piece of tin foil to wrap the beef dumpling instead of using so much plastic. We can all benefit from less waste and if someone wanted to re-heat the dumplings in the toaster oven, the tin foil will even save the customer a preparation step.

Back to the pork bone. Once it’s bubbling hot and placed into a bowl, here’s how I like to enjoy my kam ja tang: I help cool it slightly by placing a couple of pieces of kimchi into the bowl. I prefer the fermented cabbage hot and enjoy that extra bit of umami spice that the sauce adds to the broth. Then, it’s a hands-on marathon – first picking off the easy bits of meat with chopsticks, before switching to the primal eating ritual described earlier.

In between it all, I place bit-sized pieces of steam rice on a spoon before adding some broth to the utensil and getting a delicious mouthful of the salty garlicky soup. Some like to add all the rice into the broth and mix it with the meat, creating a Korean congee. I like mine separated, bite by bite. To each their own.

Once the pork bone is done, it’s down to the cabbage with rice. And if I’m feeling particularly ravenous, the hunks of soft potatoes will round out the meal. A meal from Owl of Minerva leaves you stuffed and almost uncomfortably full. It’s my quintessential meal during the winter, where a girl needs to eat to survive. 

Overall mark - 8 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: Various locations (we ordered from Yonge and Finch)
 Delivery: Uber, Skip the Dishes
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Gastro World's Grading System

  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never order again
  • 6 - decent for delivery and takeout, but there's better
  • 7 - this is good, for delivery and takeout
  • 8 - great for delivery and takeout, it's almost like you're in a restaurant
  • 9 -  wow, it's like I'm eating at a restaurant
  • 10 - I'd happily order this for delivery or takeout instead of dining in any day!


Is That It? I Want More!

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Owl of Minerva (Toronto)

Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 5324 Yonge Street
Type of Meal: Dinner


Owl of Minerva is a Korean chain restaurant with locations throughout the GTA.  I’ve only ever been to the North York location, which is opened 24 hours and busy no matter what time you visit.  It’s a no-frills restaurant with quick turnover, so even if there’s a line-up you can normally get a table in less than half an hour.

During warmer weather, Owl of Minerva offers Korean barbeque on their patio out back between the chaotic parking lot and the restaurant itself.  They were smart enough to build a wooden fence around the patio so that you’re blocked off from the unsightly parking lot.  Even though you’re sitting outside, it can still get smoky so this is really somewhere you eat if you don’t mind smelling like food afterwards.

Unlike typical Korean barbeque joints, it’s not all you can eat and there are a limited number of types of meat available (five). My friend and I shared the beef rib combo ($35.99) which comes with five pieces of kalbi, four bottles of beer or a bottle of soju, a soup to share and some vegetable wraps with fixings.  Dishes for one, which comes with three pieces of kalbi, are available for $13.99.  Beer is available for the low price of $3.50 a bottle so you can easily make your own combo.
The staff there happily cooks the meat for you, if you’re squeamish about doing it yourself.  However, they do it too quickly and the fact they keep putting the tongs back in the raw meat juices after using grosses me out.  So, my preference is to cook it myself.  Even though Owl’s staff speaks limited English, they are friendly and try to be helpful at explaining on how to prepare and eat the barbeque.

Owl’s kalbi is a nice thick even cut, but served as-is so relies heavily on the bean sauce and fixings to add flavour.  I would have liked the meat to be marinated prior to adding to the grill to give it more depth of flavour.

Everything is served ssam style where Owl provides you with a basket of vegetables (romaine lettuce, napa cabbage and perilla leaves), a sweet bean sauce, marinated onions and a green onion & lettuce salad.  You simply take a piece of meat, add some sauce & fixings and wrap it in a leafy vegetable before eating.  It’s a great summer alternative for a lighter meal.
Additionally, the meal comes with two banchan – kimchi cabbage (which they serve in hot by putting on a bowl on the grill) and kimchi pickled cucumbers.  I’m a little disappointed with the limited amount of banchan as that’s what I enjoy about Korean barbeque.  A bowl of chicken and bean sprout soup also arrives in a bowl to share amongst the table.
Without a doubt, Owl of Minerva’s “star feature” dish is the kamjatang or pork bone soup ($7.99).  No table comes into Owl without ordering this hearty spicy savoury stew of pork bones, a large hunk of potato and napa cabbage.  Topped with diced jalapeno and cracked pepper the deep red soup has a kick to it.  If you ask for it extra spicy they will add red chili flakes to it, but watch out that gets very spicy. 

The best part of Owl’s pork bone soup is it’s served in a hot stone bowl and generally arrives bubbling hot.  I’ve included two pictures below, the first taken by me over a year ago with my less than ideal Blackberry camera and the second by someone who obviously has way better skills than me.  In all fairness, the second photo actually looks more like what you expect to get.

Pork bone soup is perfect for Canada’s cool weather and really warms you up.  Served with a bowl of white rice and dishes of banchan (cold cabbage kimchi, pickled cucumber kimchi and turnip kimchi), it’s a great value meal and super filling.
Throughout my years of eating at Owl, I’ve tried other dishes including their bibimbap, bulgolgi, stir fried kimchi pork belly, pan fried seafood pancake and hot & sour chicken wings.  All these other dishes are good, but nowhere as good as the pork bone soup.  So, if it’s your first time trying Owl of Minerva, you need to make sure you have at least one pork bone soup for the table to share.  But, keep in mind there are generally only three bones that come with it so you may need more than one or risk fighting for this great dish.



Overall mark - 8.5 out of 10


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____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!