Potter's Garden is a Korean restaurant found among the many other food places along Kingsway. My first visit to this restaurant was with my friends late one night and I had ordered the Bibim Naengmyeon, cold buckwheat noodles mixed in spicy sauce with vegetables and half a boiled egg. I really enjoyed the meal at the time and I was hoping to come back again. A month or so later, I returned with my boyfriend on two separate occasions for lunch.
During the first visit, my boyfriend ordered the Ttukbaegi Bulgogi. This is my boyfriend's favorite as he had already tried this restaurant before me. The beef is full of flavor while the broth is very sweet and goes well with the rice that comes with the meal.
As for myself, I tried something new, the Kimchi Jjigae. The soup had a strong tomato flavour to it with a spicy kick and this also came with a bowl of rice. This meal was good but for me, it was one of those dishes that you order once just for the sake of trying it.
"a thick stew made from kimchi simmered with pork, spam, tofu, potato noodle and rice cake"
We also ordered the Haemul Pajeon (seafood pancake) in the medium size. The seafood inside was on the skimpier side while the pancake itself was enjoyable with a nice balance of chewy and crispiness.
The banchans (side dishes) were all delicious except for the bean sprouts that were a tad on the salty side, but nothing a little rice couldn't fix. On our second visit to Potter's Garden, the bean sprouts were fine while the kimchi was not fermented long enough to give it that tangy flavour. The side dishes can be a bit of a hit or miss that varies from visit to visit but it is not a big deal to me.
On our second visit to Potter's Garden, I wanted to try one of those big hot pots that are shared between two or more people. My boyfriend picked the Guksu Jeongol, which is described by the menu as "hot pot of sliced beef, squid, mussel, shrimp, mixed vegetable and hand-made flour noodle in broth." It also came with an extra bowl of broth in case we were running low.
After snapping pictures of the ingredients, my boyfriend and I were a bit lost as to where to start but luckily the waitress came over to help us. It was funny because the owner of the restaurant was a couple steps away, telling her what to do in Korean while the waitress would explain to us in English. We were informed that there was an order in which we should cook the ingredients: beef, veggies, seafood and the noodles.
I really enjoyed the noodles since they were hand-made and had a good chewy bite to them. As for the broth, it was initially light and sweet tasting and by the end of our meal, the flavour was even better after all our ingredients had been boiled and cooked in it.
We're not exactly sure why or if this is the norm but we also received a complimentary salad from the owner of the restaurant. The salad dressing tasted similar to Thousand Island and the greens tasted fresh.
Potter's Garden has become a favorite of mine as it is a solid Korean restaurant with excellent food and good service. I can't wait to come back here again (and again) to try all their other menu items.
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