Restaurant Review: NongBu

NONGBU KOREAN EATERY 8115 104th Street ~ nongbu.ca Instagram: @nongbu_korean ~ Twitter: @nongbu_korean Co-Diners: The E.A.T Crew

I absolutely LOVE Korean food! Just gonna lead with that. All Asian cuisines are quite distinct from each other which makes each one incredible in its own way... But Korean food? They're the spicy, dangerous, unapologetic one and it's the best. When I eat Korean food it feels authentic in a different way and I rarely get the sense that they're trying to appeal to a North American audience. If you're looking to try it for yourself, it's time to pay a visit to Old Strathcona's (technically Strathcona Junction) NongBu Korean Eatery. Edmonton has several good Korean restaurants (shoutout to Lee House in Chinatown and Seoul Fried Chicken!) but NongBu's unique mission is to re-introduce traditional Korean food to the city. Their goal is to curate a menu consisting of traditional Korean dishes not commonly found in the local food scene along with well known staples. I especially like that they source some of the crucial elements of their cuisine directly from Korea. NongBu is bringing a fresh take on tradition and are succeeding. VUE Weekly named them #1 Best Korean 2018 and it was about time that I tasted their food for myself. The restaurant occupies a small store front on Calgary Trail and when you walk inside the space feels unexpected. It's so much nicer and carefully thought-out than what you would assume from the outside! It's not a very big restaurant but somehow feels expansive with the soaring ceiling and skylights in the dining area. The room is minimalistic and industrial, truly feeling like a modern restaurant in Korea. There are impressive accents of wood and the walls are covered in concrete and tin siding. The look is clean and dramatic. I really love that they took the sensory experience to the next level by playing Korean music (more than just K-pop) and by far the coolest thing is how they project vintage Korean movies on the wall. NongBu is a well-rounded experience that considers more than just the food. You should definitely make a reservation in advance because they are often fully booked. Our server was incredibly friendly and happy to answer any questions that we had. I got started by looking at the drink menu and noted plenty of soju and beer - sometimes combined together - and it seemed like the way to go. Next time I will certainly delve more into the whole boozy side of things. On this visit I was in the mood for something fun and alcohol-free and was happy to find a section of the menu appropriately named "K-Pop," a spot for their imported Korean soft drinks. I selected the Milkis Original ($3.50), a carbonated milky beverage.

I live for fun and interesting sodas like this! Milkis was great. I loved the milky flavour and the drink was sweet and fizzy. Serving imported canned beverages is such a smart idea to really round out the authenticity of the meal. All Korean restaurants serve banchan and NongBu was no different. These are an assortment of small complimentary side dishes that often serve as palate cleansers in some cases. It's always interesting to see how many there will be and what they are. Some restaurants bring you five or six of them, others are fewer. NongBu brought two, probably the most classic ones of all; kimchi and pickled daikon. Both were wonderful little snacks. I enjoyed their pungent and spicy kimchi a lot and the sweet daikon radish was crisp and easy to pop into my mouth. Excited about the street eats + small plates part of the menu, we were happy to find several varieties of ddukbbokki available. Unsure which of the three types to choose, we asked our server which one was the best and he suggested the Fried Ddukbbokki ($6.00 for half).

Fried ricecakes in a sweet and spicy garlic sauce.

So what is ddukbbokki? It's a white, chewy, cylinder-shaped rice cake that is incredibly popular in Korea. They can be prepared in many different ways. At NongBu, ours were crispy-fried on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. Plus they were bathed in a spicy-sweet sauce that I couldn't get enough of. We loved them so much that we ordered a second round, the Honey Butter Ddukbbokki ($6.00 for half).

Fried ricecakes smothered in honey & butter.

To die for! These ones were also perfect in texture, with a nice bite to them on the outside. Except these were sitting in a luscious pool of sticky-sweet honey and butter. This could have been dessert. Both preparations of ddukbbokki were expertly done and I don't think that you could find a better example of this dish anywhere else in town. Next, as die-hards for Bibimbap ($16.50) we had to go there.

Vegetables, beef and egg on rice, served with gochujang sauce.

When I think of Korean food, this is probably the most classic dish that comes to mind. Served on a rice base, the colourful ingredients are laid out beautifully, just waiting for you to mix them all together before eating. I love dumping a liberal amount of spicy gochujang sauce into the bowl before combining the whole thing together. Bibimbap is a parade of textures and flavours and the one at NongBu is no exception. I loved the bright vegetables, savoury meat, and the runny egg. An excellent example of a classic dish! However, I do feel that I prefer the stone bowl version (not available at NongBu) slightly more because of the caramelized crispy edges that it creates. Last was the dish that I was the most excited about; BuDae Jjigae ($24.00) otherwise known as Military Stew.

Spam, wieners, bacon, kimchi, baked beans and ramyum noodles. A combination of American military rations & Korean ingredients.

It's not too hard to figure out how this dish came to be. Our server set up a burner on our table and placed a huge pot full of ingredients on top and turned up the heat. There it was. The military stew that I'd heard so much about! Before long the pot was a steamy, rolling boil of flavours and spices. Served with a bowl of rice, we ladled the soup into our bowls and dug in. Created after the Korean war out of post-war impoverishment, many of the world's best dishes have similar histories. This one is a classic example of fusion cuisine that ended up with something magical. I loved everything about it! The noodles were tasty and fun to slurp, the kimchi added classic Korean flavouring, and the meats and beans were distinctly American. Like many cultures around the world, Korea embraces Spam. This most certainly works for me as someone who loves the salty canned meat. Best of all was the broth. Boasting an incredible depth of flavour, rich and robust, the broth held everything together. This dish might sound like something that shouldn't work but it absolutely does. Give me more! I was very pleased by my entire experience at NongBu. From the great service, to the wonderful atmosphere, to the delicious food, there isn't much more that I could have wanted. At NongBu the menu is always evolving, always reaching back into childhood memory and rustic, rural Korean dishes. As someone with a very different childhood, I appreciate the opportunity to taste food separate from my own experience. NongBu strives to deliver food that is nourishing and comforting as well as pioneering and imaginative. I would say that they have achieved this and I cannot wait to visit again. I am giving NongBu a big finger heart!