If one is out and about town and is looking for a really
good Korean restaurant, then look no further than SongCook’s restaurant located
at the busy corner of Yonge Street and Steeles Avenue. This restaurant boasts some of the best
authentic Korean dishes in the city.
They also have traditional seating where one could sit on the floor or
with a regular table and chair. We got there on a Saturday evening
approximately 8:30 pm and had to wait for about 10 minutes. The manager asked whether we wanted to sit on
the floor or at a table and we decided to go with the floor. They brought us to the right side of the room
where there about 5 or 6 of these types of booths or tables for one to sit at. Unfortunately for us there were nine of us
where only half of us were there. Seeing
that we had been sitting there for almost 30 minutes waiting for other friends
to arrive, the manager brought out some complimentary dumplings and seaweed for
us to chew on while we were waiting for our friends. He kept us entertained and
made sure our drinks were full all the time.
Customer service was really important to him and he sure didn’t miss a
beat.
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| Complimentary Dumplngs |
The Kalbi was sizzling as it was set on our table. The short ribs, mixed with a bit of garlic
sauce, were nicely marinated and juicy with every bite. There was little to no fat in each of the
pieces of the rib which was great to see where other restaurants in the past
have served a piece of rib that was all fat and no meat. Having said that, the meat was just a
fraction into the tough side suggesting possibly a slight overcook but
otherwise it was nicely done. It was a
great side to have and was a great compliment to the barley rice.
 |
| Kalbi |
The Jengban Jajang was one of the best noodles I have had in
quite some time. This dish was basically
a stir-fried noodles mixed with some vegetables, seafood, ground beef and black
bean sauce. The ground beef mixed well
with all the seafood and what I particularly like about this dish was that it
was not caked in black bean sauce. The
sauce was there but it was subtle to the point where it did not overwhelm the
tastes of all the other ingredients in the dish. The noodles were soft and thick and did its
job in filling one’s stomach
 |
| Jengban Jajang |
The Kalkulsu was the first to arrive and this was basically
a bowl of noodle soup mixed with seaweed strips and shrimp. This dish I have to
admit was a little deceiving in that from the surface, there wasn’t a hint or
trace of anything spicy in the bowl but once one started to dig into this dish,
one quickly realizes that this was one very spicy bowl of noodles. It wasn’t
until you got to the bottom of the soup bowl that there was a large piece of jalapeno
sitting at the bottom. That one piece of
jalapeno certainly made one huge difference with respect to the taste. Each with caution although if you absolutely
love spicy foods, then this was one bowl of noodles one should have.
 |
| Kalkulsu |
After the last dish, the next one the Seafood Soondubu Spicy
Stew really didn’t seem so spicy at all.
The major difference is that at least one could tell that the stew was
spicy from an orange color soup base.
Inside the soup, it looked there was primarily tofu, shrimp and ground
beef mixed with possibly some red peppers.
As mentioned before, I’m sure this stew alone was pretty spicy but after
the last dish, one’s tongue was pretty numb so it was difficult to gauge as to
how spicy it was. It was tasty however
and the mixture of the three main ingredients went very well.
 |
| Seafood Soondubu Spicy Stew |
Next to arrive was the Haemul Pajun, which was basically a
seafood onion pancake. In the Chinese
culture, they have an oily green onion pancake which is similar but not quite
similar to what was being served. The
pancake served here that evening was much bigger in size, not as oily and
loaded with seafood and other tasty ingredients. It was semi-crispy but the one thing that I
truly liked was that every bite till the last bite had something in it and not
just the dough of the pancake. Seafood
that I could taste and see included squid, clams and shrimp.
 |
| Haemul Pajun |
The last dish to arrive was the Tang Siu Yuk. We ordered this because we were just a little
bit shy of the full mark for a few of the boys so we decided to go grab one
more meaty dish. The dish consisted
mostly of fried pork mixed with some cucumbers, carrots and onions which was
then fully immersed into a sweet and sour sauce. The sweet and sour sauce hit all the right
taste buds in that it gave the dish a bit of zip and zang to it. The pork was perfectly made, nice and hot and
not chewy at all. It was really the
perfect dish to order to finish off the night.
 | |
| Tang Siu Yuk |
We all had a very good time here at SongCook’s. After an exhausting day, many of us were
looking forward to a nice hot meal and this place did not disappoint. The food was terrific and bonus stars were
made to the manager who get us alive as we were waiting for our friends to
arrive. We certainly gave them extra tip
as it was well appreciated. I certainly
would go again and would recommend all of you to give it a try. Overall, I give it a 4.5 out of 5.
SongCook's Korean Restaurant
6-72 Steeles Ave. W. Thornhill, ON
647-678-8000
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