Table: Blue Bella Korean Cuisine Bistro
My friend's coworker had told her about a good experience at a Korean place downtown along Robson that was "near Gyoza King". We headed out as a group of friends for some Korean and decided to try out Blue Bella, since we weren't sure about which restaurant had been recommended. They used to be a seafood bar or something according to urbanspoon, but it seems that they've reorganised and reopened as a Korean bistro.
The lighting was really dim inside, so a disclaimer for the poor quality of my photos. We were seated quickly and given water. They have large TVs playing Korean music videos, but they have Korean pop music that's not related to the videos playing. It seems like they're really trying to make it a bit more sophisticated than the typical more homestyle Korean places.
My friend ordered their bulgolgi which came in a hot stone bowl with some oyster mushrooms on top. Interestingly enough it wasn't the typical hot plate type grilled beef bulgolgi we thought it would be, but instead a soupy endeavour with potato noodles in the bulgolgi sauce. The mushrooms were really good and fresh, but the sauce was pretty much a soup, and we all found it too sweet. My friend enjoyed the noodles and found them nice and chewy, but the dish wasn't what we were expecting.
Another friend ordered the bimbimbap which was a "cold" version rather than in a hot stone bowl. This one was served in a metal bowl and featured ground beef and pieces of chicken. Again, what seemed to be an interesting twist. There was also an egg with various other vegetables, and they served the sweetened gochujang on the side. It was pretty straightforward but tasty :)
Anata and myself decided to split some fried pork and chicken combo plate. This was a larger serving than we thought and Anata felt it lived up to the $22.99 price tag. He was happy with the amount of meat on the plate. The pork was pretty much tonkatsu-style with the drizzle of the sauce on top of the pieces. The pork was flattened into thin pieces and it was well seasoned as well as being crisp without too much oil. The meat was fresh and without any of the "stinky" taste. The chicken was also fried and them caramelised in the sweet gochujang sauce. It was a little misleading from the description and I wasn't expecting the "sweet" sauce mentioned to be gochujang. I just mention this because I was thinking to share with my friend as well but she doesn't really eat spicy food so she ended up only having one or two pieces. Otherwise, it was really tasty. The chicken was topped with sunflower seeds and peanuts, with some pickled vegetables on the side.
We had to order rice separately which I wasn't too pleased about, but since it seems kind of standard fare the others didn't think it was such a big deal. They also served a large bowl of pickled turnip cubes which everyone enjoyed, but... we were supremely disappointed that we didn't get any banchan!!! My friend said maybe because the establishment is trying to market itself as more sophisticated and high class or something, but we were still pretty bummed out we didn't get any side dishes.
I also ordered their seafood pancake to share, and it came as a pretty large and stuffed portion. Listed at $16.99 it matches the price of pancakes along other restaurants but they really stuff it and it's a thick piece. It's almost like a deep dish pizza, ahaha. The plate actually dips down in the middle section which I didn't include in the picture, but we were pleasantly surprised at the quality and amount of the pancake. This came with a vinegar based dressing on the side which complimented the pancake nicely.
Blue Bella seems to have reinvented itself from a seafood joint to a Korean bistro. I'm not sure about what it was before, but now I wouldn't say that it's awful. Overall the prices seem to be typical of Korean places, maybe a little bit higher, but the quality of the food we were given seems to be okay. Mostly we were disappointed by the lack of banchan and poor lighting.
The lighting was really dim inside, so a disclaimer for the poor quality of my photos. We were seated quickly and given water. They have large TVs playing Korean music videos, but they have Korean pop music that's not related to the videos playing. It seems like they're really trying to make it a bit more sophisticated than the typical more homestyle Korean places.
My friend ordered their bulgolgi which came in a hot stone bowl with some oyster mushrooms on top. Interestingly enough it wasn't the typical hot plate type grilled beef bulgolgi we thought it would be, but instead a soupy endeavour with potato noodles in the bulgolgi sauce. The mushrooms were really good and fresh, but the sauce was pretty much a soup, and we all found it too sweet. My friend enjoyed the noodles and found them nice and chewy, but the dish wasn't what we were expecting.
Another friend ordered the bimbimbap which was a "cold" version rather than in a hot stone bowl. This one was served in a metal bowl and featured ground beef and pieces of chicken. Again, what seemed to be an interesting twist. There was also an egg with various other vegetables, and they served the sweetened gochujang on the side. It was pretty straightforward but tasty :)
Anata and myself decided to split some fried pork and chicken combo plate. This was a larger serving than we thought and Anata felt it lived up to the $22.99 price tag. He was happy with the amount of meat on the plate. The pork was pretty much tonkatsu-style with the drizzle of the sauce on top of the pieces. The pork was flattened into thin pieces and it was well seasoned as well as being crisp without too much oil. The meat was fresh and without any of the "stinky" taste. The chicken was also fried and them caramelised in the sweet gochujang sauce. It was a little misleading from the description and I wasn't expecting the "sweet" sauce mentioned to be gochujang. I just mention this because I was thinking to share with my friend as well but she doesn't really eat spicy food so she ended up only having one or two pieces. Otherwise, it was really tasty. The chicken was topped with sunflower seeds and peanuts, with some pickled vegetables on the side.
We had to order rice separately which I wasn't too pleased about, but since it seems kind of standard fare the others didn't think it was such a big deal. They also served a large bowl of pickled turnip cubes which everyone enjoyed, but... we were supremely disappointed that we didn't get any banchan!!! My friend said maybe because the establishment is trying to market itself as more sophisticated and high class or something, but we were still pretty bummed out we didn't get any side dishes.
I also ordered their seafood pancake to share, and it came as a pretty large and stuffed portion. Listed at $16.99 it matches the price of pancakes along other restaurants but they really stuff it and it's a thick piece. It's almost like a deep dish pizza, ahaha. The plate actually dips down in the middle section which I didn't include in the picture, but we were pleasantly surprised at the quality and amount of the pancake. This came with a vinegar based dressing on the side which complimented the pancake nicely.
Blue Bella seems to have reinvented itself from a seafood joint to a Korean bistro. I'm not sure about what it was before, but now I wouldn't say that it's awful. Overall the prices seem to be typical of Korean places, maybe a little bit higher, but the quality of the food we were given seems to be okay. Mostly we were disappointed by the lack of banchan and poor lighting.