Joon's menu has a lot of your typical korean dishes found in most korean restaurants, pork bone soup, dumplings and Bibimbap but what they are known for is Dak galbi. I know a lot of you are probably wondering, what the heck is Dak galbi? well... according to my good friend wikipedia, "it's a popular South Korean dish generally made by stir-frying marinated diced chicken in agochujang (chili pepper paste) based sauce, and sliced cabbage, sweet potato, scallions, onions and tteok (rice cake) together on a hot plate." After having Dak galbi once, you will definitely have cravings when you walk by this restaurant.
Joon's has a variety of Dak galbi that patrons can try; the non spicy teriyaki, joon's original spicy Dak galbi, and a suicide Dak galbi (popping the antacids just thinking about it.). I've had the teriyaki and the Joon's original spicy and I highly recommend getting the Joon's original spicy Dak galbi. Joon's original spicy is not an overwhelmingly spicy dish but actually packs a lot flavour from the sauce and spices used to prepare the dish.
Before Being cooked
On this visit to Joon's I ordered Joon's Original spicy, which does not disappoint. The dish is first brought to the table on a big flat pan with raw dark chicken meat, cabbage and a spicy chili paste. The dish is left to cook by itself for a few minutes with the server coming around every few minutes to stir the dish.
Food is cooking
As the dish is cooking, the aroma of the korean chili sauce and the chicken start to fill the air and continue to wet my apetite. Once the dish is almost cooked the server comes around with the extra options to add to the dish (they are not free but I highly recommend you get them). On this occasion I decided to add noodles, rice cakes, and mozzarella cheese. Adding mozzarella cheese sounds like a weird addition to the dish, but it actually adds a whole new dimension and texture to the dish that I didn't expect.
Dish completed
Once all the ingredients have a chance to stew and marry together, my dining partner and I dig in. The pieces of chicken are tender and moist and some pieces were even able to develop a nice caramelized crust (drooling on to my key board). The rice cakes themselves provide a nice chewy element that has soaked up some of that delicious delicious chili sauce. The chili sauce is not an extremely spicy but a very flavourful sauce that has a bit of a bite of heat. The cheese helps bring everything together and adds another chewy salty element that just helps the dish stick to your ribs.
This was definitely the perfect dish to have on a cold winter afternoon. It was served seconds off the stove top, piping hot and was quiet the hardy dish to eat. I thought this was a great comfort dish that warmed me up and made it easier for me to face the bitter cold.
If you haven't had dak galbi before then i highly recommend coming to joon's to try this korean comfort food. Once you try it, you'll soon develop an addiction to the dish and probably have to adjust for your increasing waist size.
For more information:
