One of our favourite past times with friends is eating (go figure) – but especially with chicken and beer. There’s a love for that elsewhere in the world and one of the best iteration of the iconic duo is Korean style.
Zabu Chicken is a popular spot downtown on Robson that’s always packed, regardless of the day. While they specialize in fried chicken, you’ll find Korean favourites on the menu as well.
This time around we ordered the Soy Chicken sticks, Hot Chicken sticks, Japchae, Tteok-bokki, Bulgogi, Seafood pancake, yang nyum chicken and LA Galbi.
The Soy Chicken sticks ($10.95 for 5 pieces) were crispy and tender on the inside. The batter is crispy but not too thick which is great. The flavour overall is nice – it’s got a slightly salty taste to it that’s great.
The Hot Chicken sticks ($11.50 for 5 pieces) were also crispy and tender on the inside and the hot sauce had a great amount of heat to it. I would give it a 7/10 in terms of heat!
We also tried the Tang Nyum Chicken ($21.95) which are fried chicken pieces that are glazed in a sweet, cinnamon sauce. A very interesting combination of flavour that you would think might be odd, but works very well.
We ordered Tteok-bokki ($11.95), a sweet and spicy rice cake mix with veggies and fish cakes. I found this to be a good heat level (mild), but it seemed like the portion was smaller than it should be.
Bulgogi ($16.95 for medium) is another staple – it’s made here with their House special sauce and beef rib eye. The meat was tender and flavourful.
LA Galbi ($18.95 for medium). Marinated in the “LA” style (maybe someone can tell me what this is!), galbi is short rib and slightly sweet and salty.
Finally the Seafood pancake ($19.85). The pancake is put together with seafood, green onions, egg and a soy sauce dip. Every place is a little different in the way they make their seafood pancake, Zabu’s is packed with stuff inside – mostly green onion and vegetables with bits of seafood. It’s slightly crispy but slightly soft.
Overall, Zabu Chicken is always a good time. I’d definitely come back for the chicken!
Food: 4
Service: 4
Value: 3.5
Ambiance: 3.5
OVERALL: 4
