📍 Kimchi Korea House – 149 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON M5G 1C5
🌍 Country: South Korea
🔥 Must-try dish: Jap-Chae (w/ beef)
🎭 Dinner guests: Baroness Hayabashi, Pornstar Sam & Sundance Pati
🪑 Seating: Indoor seating only.
👍 The high: The menu overflows with authentic Korean dishes, offering a deeper understanding of the cuisine.
👎 The low: Prices run higher than at other Korean spots in the city.

Kimchi Korea House has been serving up authentic South Korean flavors since 2012. Michelle Lee, a hospitality veteran, and her nephew Jin, who leads the kitchen, run the restaurant. Michelle learned to cook from her mother in the mountain regions of South Korea before immigrating to Canada in the 1980s. Back then, Korean food options in Toronto were scarce, a stark contrast to today’s thriving scene.

More than a decade later, Michelle still greets diners and serves tables, making it easy to spot her during a visit. With International Women’s Day in March, we wanted to highlight a female owned restaurant in Toronto to celebrate the incredible women in the restaurant industry, a space still dominated by men.

Michelle takes pride in her kimchi recipe, and rightly so, but the menu has plenty of other must try dishes. The team even dropped off extra meat for us to sample. This is not a Korean barbecue spot, so expect a menu filled with homestyle Korean dishes rather than grill your own meats. We skipped soups since they are harder to share and opted for plates that worked better for family style dining.

Kimchi Pancake
This savory pancake packed with kimchi and vegetables comes with a spicy dipping sauce. It may not have been the most exciting dish on our table, but it is a Korean restaurant staple, one you simply have to order.

Bossam
Meat lovers, this one is for you. Thin slices of moist, flavorful pork belly come with lettuce wraps and spicy sauce. Eat them on their own or wrap them up for extra texture. It is a great sharing plate and a nice change from the beef heavy options.

Bulgogi Bibimbap
This dish combines two of South Korea’s most popular meals, bulgogi and bibimbap. It arrives in a sizzling hot pot with saucy marinated beef over crispy rice, topped with an egg. The best way to eat it is to mix everything together for the perfect bite.

Tteokbokki
Often called “rice cakes,” this dish reminds us more of gnocchi, only bathed in a spicy, umami packed sauce. We skipped the protein but added cheese and enjoyed it in a red sauce. It was the spiciest dish of the night, but nothing too extreme. If you are spice averse, stick to the other plates. Tteokbokki delivers true Korean comfort food vibes.

Jap Chae (with beef)
Our favorite dish of the night. The thin sweet potato noodles, stir fried with vegetables and beef in a soy sesame sauce, won all of us over. This was the one dish we unanimously agreed we would return for, whether in a group or solo.

Mini Gyoza
We could not resist. These tiny dumplings were too cute and too easy to pop into our mouths. They came as part of a combo deal, and honestly, we had no regrets.

Makgeolli
We treated ourselves to a bottle of this fizzy, creamy Korean rice wine. It sounds unusual, but it is surprisingly good, especially if you are looking for an alternative to soju.

It is great to have a solid Korean go to in this busy part of the city. Beyond the food, the highlight of our visit was the warm and welcoming staff who made the experience even better. We will definitely be back!

Eat with you soon,

Mandrea Bike
(Mat & Andrea)