Ottawa Foodies

While I am by no means a kimchi connasseur, it was yummy (and very very spicy!).

After an aquaintance extolled the virtues of Korean food (he taught English in Korea for a year), I thought I'd try out the Bibimbap at Arum. My friends had safe - yet bland - deep fried chicken balls with some sort of sauce.

My dolsot bibimbap was superb! An interesting mix of veggies: some familiar (like carrots), some unfamiliar (like gosari). I loved how the rice got crispy from the hot bowl.

I would definitely visit Arum again for a quick bowl of Bibimbap!

Yes this restaurant has certainly gone way down hill.. the love has been lost in the cooking...

everyone I have taken here have disliked it.. including my kids... and the freezer smell is probably what put my kids off...

they were originally the best valued place in Ottawa, as in cheapest Korean, but has been through many owners as this history here shows...

But the grocery store is still great and the cabbage kimchi is still the best...

Try Kwon's chicken house, also on here if you're dying for where the love here has gone...

We were there last Thursday for dinner. The food was not good. I ordered the short rib which was tasteless. My wife had the ginseng chicken soup. The chicken tasted like something coming straight from the fridge and the soup had that 'freezer' smell. By that time, we knew why we were the ONLY customers at 6 p.m. The price was expansive for a 'family' restaurant. I don't think we are going back.

wrote this in 2005, early 2006:

And then there’s Arum’s on Bank at the Queensway. Originally run by a couple from Montreal, he runs the car dealership next door; it is the name of their daughter …. They run the restaurant and the Korean food market that’s attached. It used to be a bike shop and ski shop of some ill repute, but it got transformed. Quantum Meruit, it is the best Korean restaurant in Ottawa. The owners sublet the restaurant part out to another couple and the service slipped a bit, and the food got a little bit too ‘canned’. But the originals have gotten the place back and it has returned to its former glory, or so to speak … Running a restaurant is a labour of love and it shows …. Especially to ‘old hands’ like me. Anyway, I have been trying to edge them into a new place with all you can eat BBQ … before the fad passes …. And they’ve always had pork bone soup on their menu … how about that! It was not as good and cheap as in Korea-town in Tor, but hell, it’s a lot closer …

and then I went again recently, like a month ago in 2007:

More than a year later and Korean food has only gotten worse in Ottawa. My favorite haunt, Arum’s, has gone through a number of changes in ownership again and generally I would say that it is at best not as good as it was before. And there have been no new discoveries. Guess it's time to give up on all you can eat Korean. Learn how to make your own kimchi and buy a BBQ!

2007 05 28.

CharityCase--yes, Arum did improved at one point. Some time ago, after a meal, I ended up talking to the woman who owns the place and commented that the food was better than it had been. She told me that she herself had recently taken over from a guy that they used to pay to manage it--he'd been cutting corners and generally running the quality down. That said, I can't remember exactly when we had this conversation. I'm thinking it was about a year ago, but I'm not sure. At any rate, you might want to give it another try. The grocery store has definitely improved over the four or five years I've been going there.

Fresh Foodie, if you like the seafood pancake at Arum, you should try the one at Miga. Not quite as huge, but practically greaseless and incredibly tasty.

Stale? Admittedly, I haven't been since before we had kids (almost 3 years ago), but while there we overheard another diner extolling the authenticity of the food. She had been working as an expat English teacher in Korea. She was telling her companion that the chef at Arum is from a town near where she taught and that the food was just the way she remembered it.

Did you try the seafood pancake?

Has the restaurant improved/ I was there about a year ago and the food was quite stale and very much "cook from frozen"

There's a great Korean grocer (Arum) on Bank near Catherine which has practically any Japanese product you could need. It's my source for frozen BBQ eel, soba noodles, umeboshi, and those tasty fish-and-seaweed flakes for rice, as well as ordinary stuff like miso or rice vinegar. There's also a very good Korean restaurant attached. They make a fine pork bone soup!

Tasty treats abound in this combination restaurant/grocery store. That seafood pancake is truly awesome!

La Soyarie makes great firm tofu for stir-fries but if you need organic soft or medium I found it at Arum.

Arum is the Korean Grocery Store Located on Bank street and just up from Catherine Street. The brand they carried is also GMO free.