Joon's Kitchen

I was able to discover this hidden gem on Oak Street just through scrolling through street view on Google Maps. I saw that there were also quite decent reviews on Yelp, so I decided to give it a try. Joon's Kitchen is a Korean fusion restaurant serving both traditional Korean dishes and Japanese-inspired Korean dishes. We tried quite a few dishes, listed below:

One dish that was highly rated was the Sea Urchin Bibimbab. Sold at M.P., it was $25 when we went. I wouldn't say the portions were super big, but it was definitely worth it for the price. The uni was subtle and worked well with the strong soy sauce flavour of the dish. Even for my friend who was a beginner to uni, he quite enjoyed this dish. It was also paired with a bit of greens which gave it a slightly minty taste.

We ordered the Seafood Pancake ($21). It was one of the better pajeon's I've had in Vancouver! The batter was perfect and not too doughy. Pretty big size, but I would have liked more pieces of seafood inside.

Another item ordered was the Sockeye Salmon Pressed Aburi ($12.50). This was pretty decent but I wouldn't say it was anything special. The rice falls apart easily and the spicy mayo was spicier than other sushi places I've tried. I probably would not get this one again but would try their other aburi items.

Lastly, we ordered a bossam (Large) for $32. The pork was perfect! It had the right amount of fat to meet ratio and was seasoned well. It was tasty eating it without any accompaniment. When paired with the soybean paste and non-spicy, it was even more delicious. It also came with white kimchi and 2 spicy sides to make ssam.

Overall, this was a great meal! The service was great as well with frequent refills of water and check-ins. Our waiter was super helpful as well. I'm sure I'll be back to try out other items I was eyeing on their menu.

We had some appies, some sushi, some bibimbap, and it was all really great, inclusive of some very attentive service, but I come today to talk about the taiyaki. I found my holy grail taiyaki in Toronto of all places, in this tiny booth in a Korean supermarket, but since moving to Vancouver I haven't been able to find anything to replace that itch. Today, of all days, was this year's Sakura Fest at Van Dusen, which is probably the biggest Japanese festival in the city, and I was so looking forward to finding taiyaki there today, but was really disheartened when not one vendor had any on their menus.

I came into Joon's on a whim for dinner. I saw they had taiyaki and obviously ordered some for dessert following a really wonderful and delicious meal. MY LADIES AND MY DUDES. I've found my new holy grail. The outside was perfectly and consistently crispy. The waffle layer was a bit thin but for the purpose of making room for as much red bean filling as was humanly possible, which was sweet and texturally *chefs kiss*. I didn't even bother sharing this with my toddler. I inhaled it and I'm already thinking about my next visit. Wondering if it would be weird to step into this restaurant and demand 2 or 3 to go, and stand there awkwardly while they make them?

Neighbourhood gem. The menu is a mix of Korean and Japanese items. Perfect for satisfying a craving for a little of both.

Attentive and friendly service, this is an excellent small homey restaurant with quality food. Joon's Kitchen served us memorable plates of fresh sushi and umami short ribs.

Food was delicious and fresh. Service was friendly, fairly quick, and accommodating. Small restaurant and very busy so you know it must be good!

We ordered the sashimi bento, tofu soup, tuna maki, and California roll. Everything was delicious! The sashimi was good portion size and fresh.
The maki rolls had excellent rice to fish ratio, and the sushi rice was flavoured well.
The tofu soup was a bit expensive for what it is, so I don't think I'd order it again.
The bento box had a beef donburi. It was tasty and not seasoned too sweet. The pumpkin side dish was delicious.
Prices are cheap compared to downtown sushi places. I'll be ordering again soon.

I was excited to find a restaurant in the area I live that serves both Japanese and Korean food! Dining in this restaurant is always a great experience as the staff there are very friendly, attentive and always doing their best to provide amazing customer service. It is always such a relaxing experience not to mention the atmosphere is very nice with music that isn't too loud. But of course best of all is the delicious food, my favourite being the spicy tofu soup which is perfect on a cold winter day :)

Ordered some take out from Joon's Kitchen since I had my eye on their lunch specials for awhile now!

We ordered one of their lunch bentos which had nigiri, spicy pork, mushroom salad and gyoza. I really liked the nigiri pieces as we had requested not to have surf clam so we received two of their salmon aburi! The rice to fish ratios was great and each piece was fresh and tasty. Unfortunately, the gyoza were limp because it was take out but the taste was okay! The spicy pork portion was not very large but it was flavourful.

We also got their special roll with tuna tataki on top and a california base. I found that the rice was a little bit over seasoned and there was a tad too much sauce.

Overall, the food was good but not something I would necessarily travel for.

Japanese x Korean restaurant, however focus seems to be bit more on Japanese side since not a lot of Korean dishes on the menu.

I would recommend their Lunch bento box deal, available daily from 11:30 to 3:30pm. All lunch bentos come with salad, miso soup, pickles, and chicken karage. I chose the Nigiri option, which comes with 5 pieces of nigiri sushi as well as a small bowl of your choice of bulgogi, spicy pork or chicken. Delicious and filling lunch set with a variety of dishes.

Since uni is also in season, we got a couple of uni nigiris to try as well. If you like uni, I definitely recommend getting this. The current market price is $7.50 each.

As appetizer, we got the tako wasabi. Nothing too special about this one, just as expected like with any tako wasabi orders.

Overall, I enjoyed the food here and would come back. However, service was a bit slow as they seem be a bit understaffed during this time (only 1 server for the entire lunch time though not very busy), as with most places. Interestingly, i first got hot water then later it turned into tea, lol.

The best Korean restaurant ever in my life
Food is good, owner is really kind, their Bulgogi is so good.
I always ask for more rice cuz the portions of meat is huge.

Been here twice now and can confirm this is one of the gems of the city in terms of Korean food.

Lunch combos are a sweet deal; dinner items are on the more pricy side. The mushroom salad (not something I would normally order) is surprisingly tasty!

No complaints about the service.

Not bad and very popular with the non-Asian locals in the area. Was expecting side dishes but kimchi is $3/serve. So not quite the authentic experience.

Had the seafood pancake which is smaller than the average size you get and is not very crunchy. Spicy pork came with 5 leaves of lettuce, which we clearly needed more and a touch salty.

Pricing is fair for the area and service was great.