Yummy #5: Dinner at Dae Jang Geum

Hola Amigos:

It's Yummy, bringing you another restaurant review. Today, I am going to review Dae Jang Geum Korean Restaurant. It is located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The owner of this restaurant, a friendly Korean couple, migrated from Toronto to Calgary, bringing with them authentic Korean cuisine. The name of their restaurant originated from a famous historical figure, Dae Jang Geum, who was the first Korean medical physician of the Imperial Palace and the head chef of the royal kitchen.

Exterior of Dae Jang Geum

Just a brief overview, this restaurant is located on 10th Avenue, in the Korean Plaza right beside Arirang Market. I highly recommend their food because of the food quality and the generous portion size. Along with every order, they provide you with unlimited refills of their side dishes (5 varieties).

Variety of Side Dishes

I highly recommend their Lamb Hot Pot Soup, which comes with two bowls of rice. The quality of their soup was amazingly fresh. the lamb was stewed to perfection, along with spinach and other vegetables. The soup was so tasty, even if you have leftovers, you could bring the soup home and recook it with the addition of tofu to make the soup less concentrated and less spicy.

Another thumbs up to their barbecue meat. If you enjoy table top barbecue, you must try out their barbecue. Their meat was fresh, tender, and well marinated. It comes with lettuce wrap and other condiments. If you enjoy barbecue cooked from their kitchen, I recommend the Big Beef Rib. Although it was around $30, it was definitely worth every penny. The meat was very juicy and well marinated, which seems a bit like sweet Soo's Jerky, but much more tender and flavorful. It also comes with a bowl of rice and lettuce wrap.

Their Seafood Pa Jeon (Seafood Pancake) is very tasty too. Its texture was between a pancake and a crepe, with assorted seafood such as mussels, clams, calamari, shrimp and scallop inside. The pancake was crispy outside and chewy on the inside and when you dip it in the pancake sauce, the spiciness of the sauce brings out the seafood flavor.

Now I will continue with other dishes but this time, there will be photo support.

Every time we go there, we would definitely order their Chap Chae, which is the stir-fried clear noodles with meat and vegetables. It is very flavorful, the meat is tender and the vegetables are fresh and crisp. The stir-fried sauce is similar to Teriyaki sauce or Korean barbecue sauce, making it very tasty.

Chap Chae

We also ordered the vegetable Bok Geum, because of the number of different vegetables you could find in the dish, such as broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, red bell peppers, green bell peppers, and Korean mushrooms. It balances out the meat within the meal.

Vegetable Bok Geum

Lastly, I recommend the Pal Bo Chae. It is a dish that is not often available, but if it is, it is the best dish. There is marinated beef, shrimp, sea cucumber, squid and a variety of vegetables and spices stir-fried together, making it extremely flavorful.

Pal Bo Chae

Sometimes, after having barbecued food, they would provide you with a free dessert, which is ice slush with sweet Korean fermented rice beverage, called Sikhye. It is able to cool you down from all the heat from the barbecue.

Sikhye

Overall, the food quality and portions were great, the staff and owner were very friendly and welcoming, making it one of the best or the best Korean restaurant in Calgary.


Dae Jang Geum's Address: 1324 10th Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta

Telephone Number: (403) 228-1120