The best upscale Korean restaurants in Vancouver

The dimly lit dining room of Jeju’s Vancouver location (this Korean restaurant is originally from Tofino) gives off a sultry orange glow—a nod to the juicy mandarins grown on Korea’s Jeju Island. The menu is a literal Venn diagram of Korean food, with one side featuring chef Dylan Kim’s contemporary interpretations (spot prawns with garlic aioli, orange vinaigrette and jalapeños), and the other showcasing his mother’s more traditional dishes (japchae with pork loin and vegetables). In the centre are dishes they worked on together, such as ‘The’ Galbi: prime short rib that is aged for 35 days and then cooked over charcoal. A showstopper if ever there was one.

Serving up some of the best Korean food in Vancouver’s West End, Jeon takes traditional Korean dishes and updates them with fine-dining techniques. Consider the Kanpachi Crudo: amberjack sashimi with kimchi and a zingy sauce. The crispy spring rolls are a surprising standout too—sweet potato noodles, kimchi and jalapeño aioli elevate them to greatness. For something more substantial, the Pressed Galbi sees miniature patties of beef and pork marinated in a sweet and tangy sauce, finished with a salad of fresh chives. Or there’s the Pork Kimchi Jjim, featuring spicy slow-braised pork and kimchi alongside steamed rice and perfectly silky egg. 

Jinmi is a Korean restaurant in downtown Vancouver, and its calling card is soy-marinated raw crab, which pays homage to chef and co-owner Jay Lee’s hometown of Namwon, South Korea. The crab bansang is Lee’s most popular dish, served with warming seaweed soup, steamed rice, and various side dishes (including kimchi, of course). Lunch at this quiet and minimally decorated restaurant is also an excellent choice: try the soy-marinated raw salmon tray with rice, microgreens, roasted seaweed flakes, and organic egg yolk (which, when mixed, luxuriously coats the entire bowl), served alongside kimchi and housemade pickles. It’s a salty, crunchy, deliciously satisfying meal.

Nabi House’s open kitchen along the side of the dining room almost makes it feel like you’re inside chef and restaurateur Daniel Lee’s home. Lee, who moved to Vancouver from Korea as a child, cooks beautiful Korean food with a West Coast twist. Tteokbokki, for example, is served with braised beef in a warming onion and black-pepper sauce, topped with fresh dill fronds. Crown daisy leaves, meanwhile, are served as a salad with roasted kabocha squash, apple and a spicy mustard vinaigrette. An addictive crispy kimchi and mung bean pancake is paired with soy-pickled jalapeños. The hardest part will be narrowing it down.

Nui’s menu is refreshingly succinct, with only a handful of appetizers and three main dishes—a surefire sign that everything served here is excellent, and indeed, it is some of the best Korean food in Vancouver. The crispy pancake is served piping hot and decadently oily, stuffed with prawn, arugula, dill, cilantro, garlic chives, Japanese green onion, and grated nut on top. The short rib rice bowl comes with slices of 24-hour galbi beef, oyster mushrooms, and rice drizzled with uni butter. But Nui’s calling card is its gomtang: a classic Korean soup made of a gently simmered pork broth, thin slices of melt-in-your-mouth pork, rice and barley—pure comfort.

Tucked away at the edge of Gastown, Zoomak serves classic dishes with a contemporary, elevated spin. The bright, airy dining room is all light woods and modern furnishings, and the window-bar seats are great for people-watching. Drink highlights range from makgeolli rice wine by local brewery Vanmak to artful mocktails such as the Blueberry Yuzuade with blueberries, fresh mint and yuzu juice. Dinner favourites include housemade mandu dumplings stuffed with pork and vegetables; ssam lettuce wraps with moist charcoal-grilled steak and tangy pickles; and cold buckwheat noodles served in a beautiful chilled kimchi broth. Everything is presented artfully in minimalist ceramic dishes, of course.