Vancouver 2015 Wedding - Nor boo

Finishing up at L'Abattoir we took some time to roam around Vancouver. Having done no research I let my native British Columbians take the realm. We traveled up and down Robson looking at the various shops, street vendors and fun eclectic people. It struck me how alive the city felt. We were, admittedly, walking down popular streets on a Friday night but I could not help but feel a vibrant energy in the (warm) air. As the night grew closer to a close I felt a need to refuel and warm my belly again. Thus we decided on Nor Boo, a Korean restaurant in downtown Vancouver.

Nor Boo is located on the west end of Robson Street in a stretch of Korean restaurants. We chose Nor Boo simply because nobody in our group had tried it previously. Plus you cannot really go wrong with a bunch of Korean hipsters billowing in and out of the place!

Nor Boo offers a standard dinner menu which is shrunk down to a late night menu. They pride themselves on Korean Hot Pots and Korean Fried Chicken. Already semi-feeling guilty for eating a second meal, we could not bear to order a hot pot or a entire order of fried chicken. Nevertheless the litany of menu choices is inspiring and dwarfs many offerings by Winnipeg's equivalent restaurants.

We decided on two dishes to share. The Seafood Japchae was a sizable portion of glass noodles, fried vegetables and seafood. The small (from frozen) shrimp and scallops were underwhelming, especially given we were in Vancouver, but the soy based sauce mixed well with the glass noodles and tender vegetables.

Feeling an urge for pork bone soup, I ordered the Gamjatang for the group. A moderately sized portion of pork bones simmered in a spicy broth with vegetables, the offering here was simply average. I commend them on the spicy flavour of the dish, but take real offense on not being offered rice or banchans with my meal. This meant the only thing edible were the two pieces of pork bone and a few skimpy pieces of potato and onion. Perhaps this was an oversight by the service staff, but the lack of a standard offering that all Korean restaurants worldwide do is a huge problem for me.

While I had a ton of fun reminiscing and catching up with friends I have to be underwhelmed by the food at Nor Boo. In a city full of varied and unique restaurants there surely are better Korean offerings around.