Sherman's Food Adventures: Coma Food Truck

Coma Food Truck

*No longer operating*

Awhile back, Dennis Pang of Popcorn contacted me about trying out one of the newest food trucks in Vancouver. For those who don't know, Popcorn is a new social media and promotions agency that helps restaurants increase their exposure. It was to try out Coma Food Truck which is much like the Roaming Dragon where it goes from site to site daily. You can get their location via Twitter every day. Also much like the Roaming Dragon, there is a Korean slant to the food, albeit more towards the Korean side of things. Since I was helping out with the Foodie Feast, everything was put on hold until afterwards. Well, afterwards arrived and I actually had time to seek out Coma.

So for my one free item, I decided to go for the Bibimbap. Regularly $6.99, I found this to be a good value since the bowl is actually quite substantial in size with plenty of ingredients which included daikon, carrots, zucchini, shiitake mushrooms, bean sprouts, ground beef, fern brakes, gochujang and a sunny-side egg. Well, everything was vibrant and had all the right textures, including the rice (which was not mushy at all). Mixed together, it was a satisfying meal. I personally could've used more gochujang; but that can easily be requested. Included with the Bibimbap was a small bowl of Miso Soup. Sure, miso soup has all the excitement of white paint; but this one was different. It had a pronounced spicy kick and it was chalk full of enoki, wakame, tofu, tempura bits and green onion. Not bad for a throw-in.

Beyond the Bibimbap, I decided to sample 2 more items at my own cost starting with the Korean Style Chicken Nuggets. For $4.99, compared to other street food offerings, this can be considered a good value. These are essentially deep-fried chicken thigh meat which is then tossed in a spicy sweet sauce. Despite its sweet 'n sour appearance, it does not taste like sweet 'n sour pork. Rather, it has more of a kick and a richer flavour. I liked this and couldn't stop eating it. However, the one thing I would've liked is a slightly less thick batter. Lastly, I picked up an order of the Stuffed Seaweed Rolls. These consists of sweet potato noodles, carrots and onions stuffed into nori, then coated with tempura batter and fried. These were only okay for me. Possibly since I really love meat. I believe these are supposed to be served with a yuzu soy dip, which would've provided the much needed flavour because none of the ingredients are actually that flavourful. However, the dip was left out of my order. Therefore, I really didn't get a true sense of this dish. Served as a side to the chicken nuggets was pickled daikon. I liked the size of the chunks as it afforded a lot of crunch and texture. Very appetizing.

I know I totally ignored the Mexican fusion part of the menu. Hey, I can only eat so much! Therefore, I probably have to find them on Twitter again to give their "burrito" and "quesadilla". They certainly sound interesting; yet questionable at the same time. As for the items I did get to try, they were mostly good and offered up a decent value. I found the bibimbap particularly good since it was a large portion and well-priced. So at the very least, the Korean part of the menu seems to be pretty decent. The only issue is that they do not have a consistent location, which is not their fault. With the limited amount of street vendor permits offered by the city of Vancouver, they are forced to roam around location-to-location.

The Good:
- Good value
- The Bibimbap is both big and good
- Decent amount of choice

The Bad:
- No consistent location (not their fault though)

Coma Food Truck on Urbanspoon

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those Tempura Seaweed Rolls look delish! I'll eat anything deep fried... the last time I checked though, this truck was in a pretty scuzzy part of town near the Main St. skytrain station and I was too wimpy to visit but I'll check Twitter for updates. Can't wait for the new food carts this summer either!

Ed said...

Been hearing a lot of buzz about these guys. Looks like the price is right as well. I'll probably give them a try sometime this week.

Is it weird that the miso soup is the picture that convinced me? I'm not a huge fan of Korean food, to be honest...but miso soup is one of my favorite comfort foods. I do enjoy bibimbap, though.

Sherman Chan said...

Hi munchkie! Honestly, I didn't like the seaweed rolls. Maybe it's just me. I liked the bibimbap though!

Ed, it's weird that their ratings are so low. The bibimbap was pretty good IMO at a reasonable price. I can see how people won't like it if they ordered the more "fusion" items though...

Win said...

I told everyone about COMA as soon s I read about it on tweeter. I've tried the kimchi quesadilla and it was fabulous!! Think it was $6.99 but with week long discount of 30%.
You get 4 descent sizes of wedges which were crispy enough to hold the cheesy filling. It's got tasty kimchi, corns, pepper, and some other veggie in it. I inhaled it so fast that I didn't realize there was a fork in the bag when I'm done! The spicyness, texture, and taste is just about right! What a great combo! Can't wait to try bibimbap!
Oh and the container is environmental friendly. :)

KimHo said...

Sherman, I think it might be a case of mistaken identity: Given they portray themselves as Korean, Mexican and American and then throw a more traditional dish, people would be wondering where is the "fusion" part. However, looking at that dish, will definitely have to agree that $7 is a deal. Not necessarily "street food" type in my books but it definitely leans towards what I would expect.

Ginseng said...

I wish they had these food carts visit my workplace in Burnaby...the selection here is abysmal, and the food in your post looks delish!

holly said...

It took a little work to track them down today, but I found them on Commercial and Broadway. Since they only have a mobile licence, they don't always know where they'll end up, so be sure to check twitter the day you go.

The prices were good 'street prices' for the food you get($5-7). We tried everything except the Bibimbap, which will have to wait for next time.

The chef from LA was very personable and he gave us some info about the famous Kogi truck in LA. The spicy pork burrito is very large and filling and my only beef is that it could have had a bit more vegetables to give it that added crunch. Otherwise, very solid.

The korean fried chicken was another favourite and very good for the price. I also appreciated the complimentary miso soup which had seaweed in it, yum.

If they add korean tacos to the menu, this would definitely be food truck heaven for me.

Sherman Chan said...

@Win, yah the more I think about COMA, the more I liked it. I'm gonna try the other stuff too then!

@KimHo I believe it is a identity crisis of sorts since the bibimbap is pretty traditional. Still one of the best values in terms of Vancouver street food.

@Ginseng, there are no food carts in BBY!!! Sucks!

@Holly, looks like you had a good experience too! I still don`t understand the poor ranking!

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