Tonight we were at Ju, the newer Korean fine dining option on the cusp of downtown Vancouver. They have just launched their new winter menu that includes a 8 course chef tasting menu for $8.
But first drinks. To celebrate the season they have a line of holiday cocktails, with a couple featuring Korean spirits.
Snowy Battlefield was Calpico, 1oz Empress Gin, 1oz Shiso Shochu, and ½ oz Merlot. It tasted like a winter sangria, cold and creamy with a fruity sweetness, cut with the texture of a fizzy soda yogurt. I found this interesting.
The Rose-Merry was 1.5oz Gin, 1/2oz Elderflower, Lemon juice, and Pomegranate syrup. A tart and botanical cocktail where the singed rosemary enhances the fruit and citrus notes. This was more familiar offering.
The Rice Punch was 1oz Vodka,1oz Chambord, and Sikhye (a Korean rice punch). A milky cocktail with the texture of water and the over arching flavour of almond. This one was oddly refreshing.
The Maple Cinnamon cocktail was like a liquid biscoff cookie. A rice pudding-like dessert with a toffee nut flavour. This was my favourite of the four.
The Chef’s Tasting Menu started with “Jook” a mushroom and rice porridge with earthy espuma. More chunky and starchy like risotto that a more water-based porridge. A little earthy and bitter, this was a heavier start and felt better suited in between the seafood course, leading into a meat one.
The Tofu mochi would have served as a better first course. A small wisp of a bite to get the appetite going and peak your curiosity of what’s to come. This was tofu with the texture of mochi, without the rice; sitting in a dashi broth. It had a nice jiggle to it, light and easy to cut into, the broth made this more savoury than sweet.
The Botan Ebi Chawanmushi is steamed soft egg with spot prawn dashi and a crunch Togarashi. The delicate sweet shrimp was the highlight here, with the egg matching its silliness and sweetness.
The Cured Salmon sashimi came with avocado, soy-gel, pickled cucumber, and a green mandarin sauce. This was a uality lush fish that got lost in the overly sweet yuzu that drowned it.
Here is where I would have liked the “Juk” as a more gradual transition from a lighter fish course to a heavier deep fried meat one.
The Bulgogi Menbo-Yuk is a mini deep fried minced certified angus beef bulgogi sandwich with mustard oroshi. I found the choice of a sandwich an odd course. It deterred from the more refined dishes before and after, and felt out of place in presentation and texture. Instead of silky and light we had the seeds of the toast distract and lodge in our teeth. A buttermilk bread would have been nicer her to align with the buttery beef. But it may have been too light for all the grease of the meat and the amount of garlic used. This was not my favourite course due to its inconsistency.
The Black Cod brought us back on track with it a steamed with Miso cream and topped with BC Sturgeon caviar table side. This was smooth and supple fish that was both meaty and melty, a very familiar and comforting dish given some panache with the caviar.
The Galbi was our red meat course with Certified Angus Beef Short Rib, Perilla chimichurri, braised daikon, and Ju jus. What doesn’t look like much was rich enough to satisfy in two bites. Not to mention the number of courses and the time in between each helps to fill.
The last course was a dessert on rotation. Admittedly the dinner ran long and after 3 hours I could not stay, so missed this last bite. This is a photo of it sent by a friend I was dining with.
If you are looking for less courses and a quicker meal you can also order new dishes a la carte. We tried a few, and honestly it could not hold a candle to the set menu above in price for value.
Despite the elaborate slate platter the Teriyaki Chicken was lack lustre. Teriyaki marinated, oven roasted chicken with Serrano aioli, Pickled ginger and Katsuobushi. Sweet, but other than not much depth. As is the solo quarter leg it felt incomplete, it would have been nice to have a starch or side with it for a more fulsome plate at $17.
The Creamy Green felt out of place on a winter menu. Shredded cabbage and field greens with a coconut cream dressing, cilantro and a rice paper chip. This was tropical with the coconut, beckoning summer, surf, and sun; not a cozy dish to warm up with. The serving size felt like a side and this is not a dish to stand on its own at $17.
The Gochujang Yook Hwei was a tasty appetizer, but the appearance and the texture was less appetizing. It was cooked despite its raw and mashed looked. Certified Prime Angus Beef Tartar with gochujang sauce, Korean pear, Serrano aioli and dried seaweed. I liked the unique mix of the ingredients giving something familiar a new persona with the pear, and livening it up with the spicy pepper gochujang.
The Vongole Kal-Guksu was BC clams, zucchini, shallot, and garlic. Despite the menu listing it as Korean knife-cut noodle, I could not tell the difference, it was not unlike the other creamy and saucy noodles below. The seafood and veggies were a nice addition to texture, but this pasta dish did not rise to the level of Korean fusion fine dining for me.
The Miso Jjajang-Myun V I did like. This is the white and vegan version of the traditional Korean black coloured black bean noodle. A fun and clever twist with Shiro-Miso, mushroom, zucchini, onion, and cabbage. I liked all the saucy noodles that offered a back of throat peppery spice, but found there to be too much onion to sift through and left in such large chunks. There was equal parts onion to noodle.
To summarize, there are some hits and misses here. I would recommend the Chef’s tasting menu as I found it creative and of good value with its unique dishes that I have never had before. Whereas the a la carte fell short and left me comparing the two in disappointment. It also didn’t feel very winter focused, with its colder palate and its beige colour pallet.
Ju
782 Cambie St, Vancouver, BC V6B 2R5
(604) 529-8999
I urestaurant.com
