Wednesday, May 23, 2012Cloudy 18°C
Restaurants

Ka Chi Brings Korean to Kensington

Rating: 2.7/5 (38 votes)

Posted by Tanja / Reviewed on November 16, 2007

20071115-KCapp.jpg
Along St Andrew's St, where Chinatown meets Kensington Market, a little Korean restaurant is busy winning over regulars from both sides of the neighbourhood.

I'd just left the Moonbean cafe in Kensington with intentions of getting some dumplings in Chinatown when Ka Chi caught my eye. Texting my partner who was en route, I spell out the change of plans and head inside to get a table for two.

20071115-KCmenu.jpg

20071115-KCpanc1.jpg
We start with the Potato Pancake ($5.95), which is pretty much the same as a latka or plate-sized hash-brown. Instead of straight potato though, it's mixed with a colourful blend of chopped veggies and served with a soy-based sauce. Altogether it's really fresh and fluffy for a fried pancake, though naturally a bit oily. Still, we love it and would order it again in a heartbeat.

In terms of mains, we order the Glass Noodles with Vegetables ($7.95) and the Bibimbop with Beef and Fried Egg ($8.95) - 'cause no review is complete without it.

While that was being prepared we were treated to an assortment of seven different pickled Korean specialties (pictured at the top).

20071115-KCnood.jpg
The glass noodles arrive first. The portion is generous but not ridiculous and it's topped with plenty of green pepper, carrots, cabbage and sesame seeds. I thought it could have used a pinch more salt, but coming from a spicy kimchee tasting, I wouldn't trust myself to be the judge of something so delicate at that moment.

20071115-KCbim.jpg
Beef Bibimbop arrives next and looks amazing. The sizzling hot stone pot goes wild as I mix some chili sauce into the massive bowl of steamed rice, veggies and thinly sliced beef. The only weak spot of this dish was that the egg yolk was nearly fully cooked while the egg white was a little too raw on top. Reverse those two and this could have been one of the best bibimbop bowls I've had.

Discussion

11 Comments

Brandon / July 13, 2008 at 03:25 am
user-pic
A+++

Good restaurant, clean elegant place, good prices, very good food and would recommend to anyone in the Downtown Core craving for super good Korean food !
david / December 22, 2008 at 11:14 am
user-pic
Best kimchi soup in town! Love this place, especially on a cold winter night.
Fiona / March 14, 2009 at 04:06 pm
user-pic
i won't call it 'elegant', but definitely clean. authentic Korean food but often extremely cramped. quick service. one thing i particularly enjoy is their seaweed banchan.
kingmoski replying to a comment from Fiona / July 17, 2009 at 10:28 pm
user-pic
Often extremely cramped? Sounds like a very busy place. must be try this place.
Quick service? Very good.....I hate those places with lazy waiters and waitresses. This place sounds like my kinda restaurant. Definitely I'll try very soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sarah / July 22, 2009 at 10:57 am
user-pic
Best Korean food, south of Bloor Street and North York. Great side dishes, lots of good ingredients in mains. Hot Tea instead of water. Fast, good service - the servers work like dogs, but look clean-cut and smiling and courteous. Taste-wise it is very very good, although slightly oily. I'm Korean, and i'd attest this is the Real Deal.
Michael / October 13, 2009 at 02:57 am
user-pic
Still my favourite Korean restaurant in Toronto, as close as it gets, and I live in Korea! My fav place to go as a student.
M&T / December 30, 2009 at 03:38 pm
user-pic
I crave Ka Chi. I think I'll go there now...
Korean Master / February 23, 2010 at 07:18 pm
user-pic
This place is legit, however I don't consider it the best. It's difficult to say which place is the best since some places have better pork bone, some have better glass noodles, etc. IMO, for Korean dishes, these are my favourite dishes and places to get them:

Pork Bone Soup - Hana Korea (45 Baldwin St)
Glass Noodles (Ch/J/ap Chae) - SEOUL RESTAURANT (Bloor St W, somewhere in Korean town)
Buckwheat Noodle Soup - Ka Chi
Side dishes - Nak Won, lmao this place gives you 10 different side dishes, and there food is overall really good.

Courtney / May 9, 2010 at 08:03 pm
user-pic
I come here every time I crave some Tofu Stew! It's excellent and the taste is great. The food is overall really good! I've tried a lot of the items on the menu (can't be bothered with their names), but I know one dish for sure that I love eating is the Chicken.. something. Anyways, its a great place to dine at, but only at the Kensington location. I tried the Ka Chi on Bloor St. W and their service was horrible, and not to mention they gave less food and portion!
mettle / July 13, 2010 at 07:25 am
user-pic
yes, ka-chi is cheap, but not nearly cheap enough to excuse the mediocre food and the atrocious service. you don't have to look hard or far to find similar food and a thousand times better service.

if you've time, check out the following comments: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/671243?tag=main_body;topic-671243
Dchiu / September 20, 2010 at 04:18 pm
user-pic
Food is good. But service at the Kensington Ka Chi! Oh My GOD! First the kitchen was slow to serve up the food. When you're used to quick service at other Asian restaurants, it was an unusually long wait, And do those waiters even have brains?! The whole night was watching the waiters put other people's orders at the wrong tables. Everything our neighbours ordered ended up a table away. Luckily we anticipated what was happening and when our neighbours got some of our dishes, we quickly intercepted and got to eat before they started digging in. Unfortunately my pork bone soup ended up on our neighbours table, and as she started eating it, she realized it wasn't exactly what she ordered. The waiter was called over and realized that it was actually my order. Instead of taking the dish back to the kitchen and making me a new one, he actually tried to put an already eaten soup on my table, not once, but twice! He simply did not understand that you cannot serve a person a dish that another person has already tasted!

Add a Comment

Search

Find a restaurant

Or use the options below to assist you in locating a restaurant in Toronto.

Search Results

Please select criteria from the dropdown menus above to start your search.

Reviews

Recent Reviews

Refine the list using the categories below:


Loading...
Other Cities: VancouverMontreal