Jinmi

I guess it has come full-circle for Chef Jay of Jinmi.  Well-known for their South Korea Seosan Female Soy-Marinated Crab, Jinmi's original location was on Denman (Jinmi Juga).  Chef Jay actually started out at Black Rice and eventually went on to feature his marinated crabs, cumulating in that B&M store on Denman.  Now he takes over the former location of Ju, which which started out as Black Rice.  Back at the scene of the crime, he is now offering up his delicious marinated crabs and his spin on South Korean cuisine.

Naturally, a visit to Jinmi would not be complete without going for their Premium Soy Crab Bansang.   At $62.00 per person (this one is only one order), we got one female marinated crab, rice, seaweed soup, 4 side dishes, sesame oil and gamtae.  Compared to other places I've had raw marinated crab, this one was quite good.  There was lots of roe and crab butter, which was sweet and briny.  The meat was soft and mushy as expected.  Went well with the chewy rice and sesame oil.  I used the gamtae (seaweed) to wrap the rice and crab.  Delicious!  The sides included eggplant, zucchini, kimchi and pancake.  These were decent with the eggplant being my favourite.

Usually, a Korean seafood pancake has all of the seafood encased inside.  At Jinmi, they present the seafood on the outside.  We got the Seafood Chive Pancake and it was super thin with chives in the middle.  Being thin and containing much less moisture, it was super crispy.  We found marinated mini-octopus and grilled shrimp placed on the top with globs of tangy mayo.

The marinated raw crab didn't end with only one dish though.  We also got the Gae-Jang Gooksu (Cold Noodles with marinated crab).  Even though I personally prefer the crab with rice, it wasn't bad with the chewy buckwheat noodles either.  Properly cold with the sweetness of the crab roe, meat and butter, this was bright with the taste of the sea.

Our last dish was super delicious in the Prime Angus Beef Steak.  This was actually a 6oz beef short rib that was slow cooked before being grilled.  Hence, the meat was so tender, it required little chewing.  With that being said, it still had a meat texture and was flavourful in a meaty and sweet way.  On the side, we found some gamtae chimichurri, salt and spicy pepper sauce.  In general, the food at Jinmi was solid.  Seeing how they kept much of the old decor from Ju, the surroundings were pleasant as well.  Service was also quite good.

The Good:

- Solid eats

- Good service

- Nice surroundings

The Bad:

- If you drove, the parking situation is challenging

- Prices are on the higher end, but it is Downtown though