OZ KOREAN CUISINE

Oz Korean Cuisine is one of the newer chimaek eateries in Coquitlam serving Korean fried chicken and food with alcohol. The restaurant offers a variety of dishes from fried chicken, rice cakes, soup and dumplings to barbecue meat and katsu don.

PRO TIP: Oz Korean offers free underground parking at the back of the restaurant and the password is 1171.

DDUCKOCHI $5.00
All the dishes arrived fairly quick and the first item we tried were the skewered rice cakes. The rice cakes exhibited a perfect level of chewines - neither too mushy nor stiff and the sweet chili sauce paired well. There were also hits of sweetness and a medium level of spiciness, I loved the flavours! The rice cakes were so addictive!




DEEP FRIED SQUID $12.00
To contrast with the rice cakes, the crispy fried squid was very light, puffy and airy, resembling shrimp chips. At first I wanted the typical crispy exterior and chewy squid, but I got used to this.




BBQ RIBS LA $15.00
Moving towards a Korean staple, barbecue meat, I am a huge fan of galbi ribs over LA cut because I have never experienced tasty LA ribs before. However these were pretty darn good, the ribs were well marinated with soy sauce, exhibited a hint of sweetness and tasted tender as well as juicy. The ribs tasted so delicious on its own and usually I NEED char, but it was good without.




HALF AND HALF FRIED CHICKEN $21.00
Up next is the impressive chicken, half fried and half fried with dakgangjeong. The crispy chicken was well rendered where the skin adhered to the skin after each bite, and was not greasy one bit. Moreover, the juicy chicken tasted great on its own fried or with the sweet chili sauce. Personally I always find dakgangjeong a bit overwhelming, but this had just enough sweetness as I did not find it overbearingly sweet. The fried chicken won me over as the seasoning was flavourful and on point though.




BOSSAM $17.00
Last of the proteins is the bossam, which was probably the best I have had. The slices of pork belly literally melted in the mouth and appeared truly slow simmered. The pork was also well seasoned and exhibited a touch of sweetness. Good bossam is so hard to find in Vancouver, thank you Oz Korean!




KIMCHI FRIED RICE $9.50
To conclude our meal with another great dish is the kimchi fried rice. All the ingredients were properly fused together and this was not just a quick toss as there were strong notes of kimchi and blended flavours. The rice also exhibited a nice chewiness and had a perfect texture.

All the dishes we ordered at Oz Korean were delicious! I could not stop raving about this restaurant after my first visit and have you seen the prices? Korean food is known to be on the pricier end unless you are dining with a group of four, but the prices at Oz Korean are a lot cheaper than usual. So with good food and cheap prices, of course I had to revisit and try more items on the menu!

TENDERLOIN KATSU DON $12.00
Continuing to cover more items on the menu, the katsu was fried where it was crispy although it was also very oily. On top of that, the batter was not adhered to the tenderloin and the meat was dry as well as crumbly and tasted unappealing.



HALF AND HALF BONELESS CHICKEN $21.00
The opposite of dry and unappealing is the boneless chicken which was crispy and juicy. Also similar to the first visit, the fried chicken seasoning was on point and the sweet chili sauce had the right balance of sweetness. I was not really a fan of the really small pieces though.



DDUKBOKKI $10.00
Up next is a different rice cake dish than our first visit and we added cheese for an additional $2.00. The saucy and bouncy rice cakes were very savory and exhibited depths of flavor, which included a hint of sweetness. There were also a few rice cakes thrown in! I am loyal to my dduckochi though, those skewers are a must order!




SEAFOOD PANCAKE $17.00
Going for another carb plate, the pancake exhibited a crisp exterior but was very starchy. In addition, the center was not fully cooked through and was raw.



JAPCHAE $15.00
As much as I wanted to order the kimchi fried rice again, I also wanted to go for noodles just to cover more of the menu. The chewy sweet potato noodles were fused together with vegetables and tender beef. There were hits of sesame oil as well as sweetness, but lacked some wok heat.

In the end, our first visit at Oz Korean was significantly more positive than the second visit. And as usual, there can be hits and misses with restaurants. Overall the value is good for what you get and when the food tastes good, its REALLY good.

POSITIVES
- Good prices
- Well above average food on the first visit

NEGATIVES
- Hit or miss

OZ KOREAN RESTAURANT
1190 Pinetree Way Coquitlam, BC V3B 0J5
Phone 778 941 8633
https://www.facebook.com/OZ-Korean-Cuisine-203727836700816/