Kosoo Korean BBQ

I remember visiting the original Kosoo in Downtown pre-pandemic where it was pretty tasty.  However, I've not returned there since.  It has been so long, that they have opened up 2 more locations (that sport unique menus different from one another) with a BBQ spot in Coquitlam.  Jackie and I were invited to try out the place that I believe used to be a hot pot restaurant.  They do have underground parking, but it is not free and beware, the online system is a bit messed up.  Best to park on the street!

To begin, we were served a selection of Banchan as well as the usual lettuce, peppers, garlic and bean paste for wrapping the BBQ meats. We found the usual items such as bean sprouts, stewed potatoes and kimchi, but also some rarely seen ones in the anchovy and sweet shredded squid.  Those were fantastic with appealingly chewy textures.  In addition, we had pickled daikon, seaweed salad, garlic stems, omelette, tofu skins and onion salad.

We tried 2 of their soups including the Soybean Jjigae and Sagol Haejangguk.  These came out bubbling hot and stayed as such even after our incessant picture-taking.  My favourite of the 2 was the sagol haejangguk as it had much more depth and spiciness.  It was loaded with tender chunks of beef brisket which also made things heartier and robust.  Hey, not that the soybean jjigae was bad though.  It was just milder with some fermented soybean flavour.  Still lots of soft tofu and meat.

Their Seafood Pancake was loaded with green onion (as you can see), but it was quite good due to the crispiness on both sides.  It was also rather thin, which made the middle of the pancake less doughy and wet.  It was almost like eating a crunchy crust from a pizza.  However, with the amount of seafood, there was the natural sweetness as well as the chewiness of the squid.  The green onion did its green onion thing, but it was less dominating due to the aggressive cook on the pancake.

As if a BBQ for 2 wasn't enough for us, we were served the Rose Chicken Galbi Platter.  Yep, this gives Sooda vibes for sure, but the platter was placed on top of a portable burner.  It worked, but it really wasn't that stable, so be careful when scooping the rice!  I think since we had the BBQ as well, they couldn't use the centre induction burner for this purpose.  About that rice, when combined with the cheese corn, egg roll and stir-fried chicken, it created a very hearty and cheesy concoction.  Definitely something to be shared with like 4 people, not 2.  

So for the Kosoo Combo C for 2, it not only included the banchan and pancake, it featured Beef Short Rib, Marinated Short Rib and Marinated Pork Galbi.  This was a very generous amount of premium well-marbled meats.  They cooked up aromatically and due to the fact, had a nice sear.  Meats were tender and so flavourful.  I particularly liked the short rib as it was pure and took on the sesame oil salt condiment well.  Wrapping it up in romaine with bean paste was pretty tasty too!

Last item in the combo was the Butter Mushrooms and yah, they were not playing around when they said butter.  These tender mushrooms soaked up all the butter and let me say they were sinfully tasty.  So overall, the food at Kosoo Korean BBQ was very good.  The meat quality as definitely there as well as the excellent selection of banchan.  I liked how there were some less seen options.  I liked how they also offered the rice platters, but when you are having BBQ at the same time, it comes atop a portable burner (not the best setup).  However, that is a small detail as the BBQ would be something I come back for.

*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*

The Good:

- Quality meats

- Nice selection of banchan, even some less seen options

- The rest of the non-BBQ dishes were solid too

The Bad:

- The attached parking lot is not free, but the real problem is the parking app doesn't confirm whether you paid or not, hence it will charge you multiple times if you keep trying