Conveniently located down the road underneath the Hive complex at the corner of Nicholson Street and Victoria Street, Seoul Soul was a very welcome addition to the area several moons ago. Up until this point the only Korean on the strip was a BBQ place closer to North Richmond train station. Now there is Seoul Soul, a new one down the road called Arisoo, and a branch of Chimac that never seems to be open whenever I go past.
Seoul Soul is a small corridor of a place, with decorative BBQ grills and fans (for what purpose I'm not sure but the Japanese/Korean mindset of lifelike roleplay seems to be it).
There's a full house generally during weekday lunchtime, but the late afternoon is a much more pleasant time to sit and eat.
- Seafood Pancake $7 - chewy, slightly crispy, not bad;
- Sweet Soy Tofu Dorirak $10 - a fantastic complete meal of entree fried pastry, salad and rice with main all in a large steamer-type bowl;
- Beef Bibimbap $13 - carrot, zucchini, alfalfa sprouts, bean shoots, noodles, mushrooms, beef and rice topped with a fried egg in a stone pot. The egg could be a bit more runny or raw even (as I prefer) and the rice eventually develops some bottom crust but I wouldn't mind more of it. In any case it's a good collection and adding a load of gochujang makes it satisfying.
The meal was finished by black soy milk (from an imported Korean bottle). I hadn't tried this before and it was a nice complex twist on the usual soy milk with a black sesame edge. Very nice indeed.
