DooBoo

Before the pandemic, I had visited a small Korean restaurant on Kingsway at Griffiths in Burnaby.  It had been a noodle house in the past and I had tried that too.  I have very little recollection of that noodle house and I guess it wasn't any surprise it was replaced by DooBoo.  Now I do remember DooBoo as it was solid eats at a fair price.  Furthermore, the staff were hard-working and pleasant.  So we weren't really planning on visiting DooBoo this night, but due to an accident on the Iron Worker's Memorial Bridge, we weren't able to make it to Smoke 'n Bones.  Of note, this is the second time I've had to cancel my reservations at Smoke 'n Bones in the past while due to accidents on the bridge.

So anyways, we ended up ordering much more food than the last time I was here.  We got a couple orders of the Korean Fried Chicken in spicy soy and also honey garlic.  On the menu, it is described as a "chicken salad" but really it was KFC with slaw on the side.  This was really good as the chicken was in bite sized pieces with a crunchy batter.  The boneless leg meat was tender and juicy with enough marinade to stand on its own.  Add in the seasoning and there was good flavour going around.  The spicy soy was mild with the classic sweet and salty hits.  As for the honey garlic, it was stick, sweet and garlicky.  Solid KFC.

We also got the Mini-Dumplings filled with cabbage and pork.  Loved the size of these things as it was easy to eat as one-biters.  Even though they were small, there was enough filling for impact.  It was tender, juicy and well-seasoned.  I found the dumpling wrapper to be medium thickness where it wasn't dense.  The bottoms were crispy and the overall texture of the wrapper was good with some elasticity.

From there, we moved onto some classic dishes including the Dolset Bibimbap.  As I've said about this dish many times over, it comes down to the rice, how hot the stone bowl is and the quality/amount of the ingredients.  This is not a complex dish, but these factors can greatly influence how good it is.  This one was good where a socarrat was formed on the bottom resulting in crispy rice.  The rice wasn't too wet, so this could happen.  Furthermore, the ample amount of ingredients were well-prepared.  When combined with the gochujang, this was solid.

Next we had the Japchae which was complete inundated with slivered white onions.  Maybe they should've eased up on that as it was the dominant flavour and texture.  Now that didn't mean it wasn't still good.  In addition to the onions, there was plenty of spinach and tender slices of beef too.  The seasoning was on point with good balance of salty and sweet with some black pepper and sesame oil.  Noodles were slippery with some chew and not overly greasy.

To keep carbing it up, we also ordered the Kimchi Fried Rice topped with a fried egg and nori.  I really enjoyed this dish as the rice was beautifully prepared where it was chewy and nutty being caramelized.  Furthermore, their kimchi had good balance of flavours which were rich and not overly sour.  It was aromatic with a touch of brininess.  Therefore the rice was flavourful and full of depth.  There was also a good amount of ingredients too which made it hearty.

Continuing on the greatest hits theme, we got the Seafood Soft Tofu Soup as well.  This came out bubbling hot, like it should've been.  We thought this was pretty good with plenty of ingredients including the soft tofu.  The broth was flavourful and briny with enough spice for impact.  Of course it came with a side of rice, but this was served in a wooden steamer.  After we ate the rice, hot water was poured into it to soften the scorched rice.  Known as Sungnyung, this becomes a drink that takes on the nutiness of the rice.

Completing our meal, we got one each of the Beef Short Ribs and Pork Belly on a sizzling cast iron plate.  These were pretty good with obvious charring that ensured caramelization of the marinade.  The meats were tender but the pork belly was a little too lean (more meat though I guess).  So overall, the meal at DooBoo was solid and we were quite full.  Service was a bit sparse (due to only 2 servers), but they were friendly and efficient.  I would come back for another revisit sometime.

The Good:
- Solid eats
- Nice people

The Bad:
- Parking lot is insufficient