Nui Got the Water Right but More Banchan Needed

Nui is a new Korean restaurant located on Main Street in Vancouver. The interior gives modern but minimalist Korean vibes. Here was the menu the evening I went:

We started with the Tofu Egg JJim. It resembled a chawanmushi and had delicate flavors. It was pretty good.

Next was the gomtang which I ordered with an extra portion of meat (protein!). It was like a pork and rice soup. The broth was delicate and the pork was simply prepared, almost too simply. It came with hot sauce on the side and putting it all in definitely enhanced the flavor. It also came with a small portion of kimchi. The kimchi was delicious and we asked for more. This was disappointing. If you are familiar with Korean cuisine, its all about the banchan. These are little side dishes, usually pickled and fermented vegetables and starches, that accompany a meal. Most restaurants provide a variety with their meals and offer unlimited refills. Unfortunately, Nui only gave us kimchi.

The next dish was the pork jowl sooyuk. It was pretty good with nice plating. The dish came with some veggies in a gochujang type sauce. I really enjoyed the veggies and think maybe the restaurant wanted to do a modern take on banchan and this was the substitute for it?

The last thing we had, and my favorite of the evening, was the seafood jeon (which is a pancake). Although its listed as an appetizer, its quite a large portion and could serve as a main dish. The pancake was crispy and well cooked. The filling was delicious.

Dessert was a bit disappointing. They only had one which was ice cream with Korean grain powder (like kinako), rice syrup and a fried Korean potato. The problem with this dish is that they were using store bought ice cream. I would say it wasn’t even high quality. If a place is going to use store bought, at least do artisan. However, I think its so easy to make ice cream, even at home these days with new machines coming out, that there is no excuse to not make it in house.

One thing that stood out was they were serving local sparkling water. I like this. Water is a low value, but heavy item and it doesn’t make sense to ship it in from Europe like many places do.

Overall service was good and the atmosphere is good for the neighborhood. I wouldn’t do a trip just to eat here, but its a nice place for locals in the area. There are better options for Korean food in the city. For me, the flavors here are not bold enough. I like Korean food when it has big bold flavors like grilled Hanwoo beef, Galbi, spice etc. I would not return, but I would tell someone who lived within walking distance of the place to check it out.