San Korean Restaurant is styley. The small room is moodily lit - low lights, but accented with amber-ish colours. But the big front windows boasts a great view of Queen West, which opens right up in good weather.

It's a perfect place for a date - and not a break-the-bank date, at that. A kick-back vibe and very reasonable prices makes San one of my favourite places to go for their irresistible Korean BBQ kalbi dosherak dinner box ($12.95 with soup, salad, rice and sides).

Kalbi , it seems, is impossible to get wrong. Always well-marinated and spiced just right, it's also the ideal dish for introducing the unfamiliar to Korean food. From the savoury aroma of the grilled meat to the always perfect tenderness regardless of how well-done it is cooked, one taste of kalbi and there's no going back for most folks.

There are, of course, other things on San's menu. There is six of us for lunch on this particular visit and I have been put in charge of ordering appetizers to start. Two baskets of assorted tempura ($8.95 for small and $11.95 for large), tuna tar tar salad ($8.95 for small and $10.95 for large) and a California roll ($5.50) hits the table.

The tempura is light and crispy, some of the best I've had in a while. There's no chintzing either - there's three or four large shrimp in the assortment. The large tuna tar tar salad would actually make a nice meal on its own and the California roll is presented nicely.

After we polish off the appetizers, three kalbi sets and three bulgogi dosherak dinner box ($10.95) are served up. There are three Korean food beginners at the table and they bravely dig in. For them, there are a few items in the set which have their brows raised in question, including the five grain rice, marinated soy beans and glass noodles. Then there's the requisite and distinctive kimchi (marinated spicy cabbage) of which we quickly learn the newbies are not huge fans.

The bulgogi eaters are happy with their choices and I am, as always, very happy with my kalbi. I easily chew off the tender meat from the short rib bone and get to the meaty flavour in the bone itself. Delicious.

We don't stay for dessert even though there are various exotic ice cream flavours (green tea, ginger, wasabi or mango - $4.95 each + $1 for tempura banana) and Korean popsicles to choose from (red bean or honeydew - $2.50 each).

Oh kalbi, how I love thee. I wonder if this is a problem I have...

Photos by Devon Scoble