Sariwon Korean BBQ - North York

On a recent and rare journey to North York, I stumbled upon this gem of a place. At the suggestion of a friend of a friend who lives in the area, I was told there is no better Korean BBQ in the city than Sariwon.

Though it was nearly impossible to find, being part of one of North York's many sallow strip malls, the inside was warm and inviting.

We were greeted in broken English by the happiest man in the world and seated at a special BBQ table, equipped with an open-flame grill.

I have always been told that when it comes to Asian food, the more Asian faces in the place, the better. So by this (non-politically correct) rationale, in a restaurant packed to the brim and where my friend and I were the only white faces, it earned a Michelin Star.

We were immediately served a hot cup of twiggy tasting tea, which despite its unusual flavour, was soul-soothing and delicious. My friend's friend recommended two items on the menu, which is what we ultimately ordered.

We started off with the dumplings, as the waitress said our two orders of BBQ would NOT sate our big American hunger (well - not in so many words but...). They came out quickly and were nothing special.

The pièces de résistance were our two BBQ dishes:

KALBI - beef short rib with a light marinade.

SAAM-KYUP-SAL (loosely translated to lettuce-pork-layered) - pork belly (almost like bacon!).

The waitress came and threw the meat onto the grill, expertly changing the flame settings.

As we devoured the dumplings, a piping hot - scratch that - BOILING soup came out. It was literally bubbling when it got to the table.

We served the threatening soup and my friend let his cool a moment while I dug right in (my raw palette and tongue are proof of my impatience). 

Meanwhile, one of a slew of waitresses came to tend to our meat, flipping it methodically, treating us like tourists from a far away land. The service was exceptional, if not somewhat belittling, as the Asian occupied tables tended their own meat, unaided. 

Almost precisely when we finished our soup, the waitress came over with a pair of scissors, and began snipping away at the strips of meat, cutting them into bite-sized pieces. I will be honest in saying, I have never seen meat cut with scissors on a grill before, so it made for an interesting experience. 

When eating the meat, as described in the SAAM-KYUP-SAL, you take a head of lettuce and use it like a taco shell, stuffing it with this and that.

There was rice, pickled cabbage, marinated eggplant, sprouts, and what appeared to be candied baby prawns, though the man next to us (a Caucasian gentleman who walked in after us with two Korean ladies) was convinced it was scorpion...

The dumplings were definitely unnecessary, as we were barely able to finish the four slabs of meat provided. It was a feat of true perseverance that enabled us to eat the two last pork belly pieces.

To digest this exotic and extremely large meal, we were given a tiny cup of a sweet ginger and cinnamon brew served cold.

I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone venturing into the depths of the GTA, or any Korean BBQ aficionados. 

Stay tuned for a brunch segment this weekend...

h.