What is your favourite Korean dish? For many it is the barbecue, Korean fried chicken, or anything with gouchujang. For me it has always been and will always be tteokbokki. I love the amazing mouthfeel of rice cakes in sauce.
Therefore I was excited to discover Bokkifresh, a delivery and pick up option dedicated to this Korean Soul food, and theirs is completely customizable.
For those who have tried their sister brand, MariFresh, that focused on kimbaps with traditional and modern filling, you can rest assure their new brainchild has the same quality and substance.
They work out of a commissary kitchen, so the only way to get a taste is either through ordering for delivery or pick up. If doing the latter there are public picnic benches and a park nearby for those looking to “dine in”.
We ordered two different servings of their customizable tteokbokki. I visited with a girlfriend who prefers spicy foods and can’t have dairy, whereas I rather avoid the spice and will load up on all the dairy. So being able to make our own bowls was great option.
Worth mentioning is how cute their rice cake mascot stickers are. They are stuck on the to-go boxes as branding, and I kept them all.
I had their Rose Tteokbokki with a cream and gouchujang based sauce. Not spicy, but tangy and rich. The order comes with Tteokbokki and slices of fish cake, with the option to double up of either or both.
To this I added on Wide vermicelli, an assorted selection of their Deep fried add-ons, Shredded seaweed, Gourmet butter corn, and Real mozzarella cheese. Everything is smothered in sauce, so you are basically ordering for texture. This was such a fulsome portion. Given all the carbs, this was enough for two meals. I especially liked the slurp-ability of the glassy noodles and how stringy the cheese got melted over the serving. I would order the exact same combo next time, I fully enjoyed it.
For my guest we got their Mala in regular spicy. She likes the numbing feeling and effect of spicy peppercorn, usually found in Mala seasoned dishes, however got none here. However, she wasn’t bothered much, and still found the flavour tasty and not too spicy to the point of paint, but it was a burn that builds. With this we got Korean chewy noodles, Deep fried dumplings, Tofu skin, and Deep fried shallots; on top of the already included rice cakes and fish cakes. Once again there was plenty of sauce to coat everything and even enough pooled to take a sip of.
I was not a fan of the deep fried dumplings. Whereas I wanted and expected each to be filled with meat, these were stuffed with sauced up vermicelli. This was the exact same filling as the deep fried seaweed rolls that came in the assorted deep fried add-on.
I appreciated the fact that they are served separately in order to maintain their crispiness, but didn’t like the texture of the filling or the sweet soy like flavour. I would recommend ordering their deep fried shrimp as is. This was crispy breaded shrimp tempura, which added both a nice texture and flavour to things.
The shrimp served the dish much like their deep fried chicken. I would also recommend ordering a side of this, to be easily eaten as part of your tteokbokki bowl. We had it regular and un-sauce with a sweet and salty garlic and gouchujang based sauce on the side for dipping, should we need it. However, I found the tteokbokki sauce an already ideal dip.
The only thing I was craving with this meal was a pickle or some Korean sides. Something small to break apart bites and offer needed pauses is all this bold flavour.
In closing I really enjoyed by bowl and will be ordering from them again when I crave tteokbokki.
BokkiFresh – Premium B.Y.O Tteokbokki
1370A E Georgia St, Vancouver, BC V5L 2A8
778-938-6274
order.tryotter.com/s/bokkifresh-premium-b.y.o-tteokbokki
