Jinmi

Jinmi is the latest unique restaurant concept to launch this year. Their chef grew their business from an internet business to a cloud kitchen and officially opened doors as a restaurant as of March this year and it was everything we wanted and more!

Food: if you've never had raw marinated crab - I highly encourage you to try. Think the texture of sushi with sweet and salty (and spicy) sauce mixed in with rice and seaweed. Every bite is like a dance of flavor in your mouth. I really liked the soy based marinade more than the spicy one but people who love spicy (and it's spicy, for real) may prefer the red sauce. Try both! My second favorite dish was the makgooksu (crab noodles and spicy grilled octopus). The one thing about this restaurant is that the chef has found ways to mix all the flavors and texture of ingredients in a beautiful way so that you can enjoy in your mouth. I also recommend the Jun (seafood pancake). It's got a soft white citron aioli mixed with shrimp and spicy grilled octopus - eat it together and wow - so enjoyable. Chefs got talent.

Service: so friendly and welcoming. Our waitress was very kind and explained everything. The chef and owner stopped by at the end to thank us and asked for feedback and we had a nice conversation. So so nice.

Ambiance: nice modern bright and traditional. Beautiful wall canvas and homage to Korea, mixed with some traditional Korean folk music on the background and sometimes classic songs. Great place for a gathering of friends or a date.

Reservations: reservations online - they are hard to get. We got lucky though and called same day and they found us a spot - so don't hesitate to call!

Parking: street parking; manageable not always easy, but easy enough within a few blocks.

Bathroom: clean meaning the kitchen is clean

We're glad we got to check this place out. I love soy marinated crab, and I'm glad I got to experience more than just that! I'll be back!

When I saw that Chef J finally opened a brick and mortar after operating mainly online for some time, I was so excited!

All of us ordered the Signature Soy Crab Bansang. Everything that was included in the set was perfectly flavored. I really loved the eel, seaweed soup, and kimchi pancake. We also ordered uni as an add on, and the staff was kind enough to give us each an extra piece of uni, so we ended up with 3pcs each instead of 2. The crab itself tasted DIVINE. I left this restaurant feeling full and satisfied.

Saw stunning photos of this place on Google reviews and had to check it out myself for lunch. Soy marinated crab is such a delicacy and I only ever get to eat it when I visit my grandmother in Korea would make it, so I was excited to eat it again.

Making a reservation was super easy, especially during lunch time and we were greeted kindly at the door. The restaurant is fairly new so it was extremely clean, well-kept, and the interior reminded me of a palace.

We ordered the soy marinated bansang with an extra crab. The crabs are imported from Korea and they are stocked with orange roe which is a sign of good quality marinated crab! I really liked how it wasn't too overly powerful on the soy sauce rather had a smooth, sweet marinade. The banchan on the tray was so good as well. My boyfriend ate them so fast thinking he could get refills lol but it's not like that unfortunately hahaha. You NEED to get the gamtae seaweed which has so much deeper flavors and pairs well with the crab.

We also ordered the pajeon which was sooo good and I loved their take on it by putting seafood on top with a mayo like sauce. It was crunchy, savory, and beautifully presented.

Finally the octopus spicy noodles were stunning. Charred to perfection and wrapped around a bed of soba. The portion was huge and flavors were really spicy.

Another must is the chestnut makgeolli!!

This place was a dream and I yearn to return.

Jinmi is fabulous! The owner of the establishment is an honest and kind person and treats each of her customers as a prized jewel. As such, you can expect high quality service. The food is amazing. It may be strange to people who have not had soy sauce marinated crabs before but it is clear that the dishes are made with love. The grilled octopus makgeusoo is quite tasty with the perfect smoky taste. It does get quite spicy so please be warned! We have also tried the spicy marinated crab as well and this is also very spicy. So, if you're unable to take on a lot of spice, I would be careful. They also have traditional dessert to finish the meal, which is quite lovely. All in all, their portions are quite nice and they don't require you to order each person to order a set so I would recommend ordering one set and saving room to try other stuff on the menu!

The Korean inspired decorations, server attire and dishes is just the cherry on top! They do take reservations so be sure to make a reservation before going!

Thank you for an awesome dining experience! With love, from Seattle.

A nice surprise. The basic signature crab dinner was delicious and there was a generous offering of food. I added the uni as recommended by the server and I was happy about that decision. The setting was comfortable and the meal was terrific.

This is a great place for those who never tried raw marinaded crab before. The meat is sweet and the combination with rice/seaweed is a chef's kiss.

We also grabbed raw marinaded salmon/shrimp and all were delicious. We chose soy since my friend can't handle spicy food.

Jinmi is our favorite restaurant when visiting Canada. Definitely will be coming back to try their other dishes.

Excited to try raw marinated crab here, we came for lunch. We were very impressed with the interior of this restaurant. It's modern and clean.

Service is very good too! Server is very polite and courteous, and taught us how to enjoy our raw crab when she knew it's our first time here.

We ordered the SIGNATURE SOY CRAB MEAT BANSANG thinking that it's worth the $59 vs the $58 with shell. However, I did not taste the crab meat in this dish. After mixing the raw egg and all the ingredients that came with it, I hardly tasted the crab. Not sure if the shell on crab would be better.

Also tried their SEAFOOD PANCAKE. It tasted like plain dough pancake with alternating pieces of shrimp and octopus on each slice.

SOY SALMON LUNCH TRAY was just ok. Didn't taste impressive.

GALBI STONE POT LUNCH TRAY was the winner of the meal.

An interesting note about their online booking - I booked for 12:00 noon but needed to change my booking as we would be late. I went back online to manage my booking but all lunch schedules were not showing anymore. Instead choices online were for dinner hours only. i assumed that lunch was fully booked for the day. So I called the restaurant and to much fraught, nobody picked up the phone. When we arrived, the restaurant was almost empty with only 2 other tables occupied!

Came here for a Saturday dinner because I saw a video of this restaurant on IG! Always wanted to try the Gejang but freshness was always a concern.
Looking at the menu, they provided great tips on how to enjoy the fresh crabs without suffering stomach discomfort afterward.
We both ordered their signature soy crab bansang. It was so fresh and delicious! My sensitive stomach was also totally fine post meal.
The staff was friendly and helpful. The restaurant was clean with a good ambiance.
The only even-better-if we noted was that the tables were a bit too close with each other that we could hear the conversations from our next tables.
Parking was a little bit difficult but it was expected in Vancouver downtown.

Alright lemme start by saying this place ain't no cheap lunch spot BUT it's cheaper than flying to KR. The layout of this place def has that minimalistic asian feel to it but parking is kinda ass since it's near robson. Dam that seafood pancake is more crispy than a fresh line up. My disabled ass couldn't peel my own crab so I had to pay a like extra for it to be deshelled but it's well worth it esp if your ass is lazy. Does it match up to KR, no but it's pretty dam close. The crab eggs have the right consistency and it's quite sweet. Also all the banchans were great but no refills sadly. Cut approved

Spectacular food! The service was great and attentive. The marinated crab was unbelievable! I liked how it was a set menu and all the different side dishes that came with it were all amazingly delicious! We also ordered the spicy shrimp, which was great. The scallops however I felt was a little bit overcooked, but the flavors were great. Parking is really expensive around the area fyi so be prepared unless you walk over.