Odd Oddseoul

Overdressed, scarcely any Avocado having Avocado Salad

My cousin had a big birthday at a burlesque bar in the Ossington area aka #Hipster mecca and so my other cousin H and I took advantage of the opportunity to go eat out without the kids.  Oh you thought I'd let the burlesque thing slide?  No, that is accurate.  Birthday drinks after dinner was at the Painted Lady and it got burlesque but with less Cher and no singing.  Just a pasty young lady stripping down to her pasties on the bar.  Still the music was good and the bar service quick.  Anyhoo, I'd been meaning to try Odd Seoul on Ossington for over a year.  I'd heard good things about the Korean fusion place.  I mean, I'm all for the mainstreaming of my own 'soul' food.

I have to say, I was generally disappointed.

The place is very small and they don't take reservations so go when you're not in a rush and never in a large group.  Cuz H knew this so she went ahead by 15 to grab us a table.  Love her!  We were seated at a tiny little two top and served by a bearded white hipster with an indiscernible  accent.  It was rather loud in there so a ridiculous sequence of shouting and repeating transpired for our whole meal. We ordered a bunch of stuff but I could  not order a stone bowl since there were not vegetarian or seafood options.  And I absolutely could not pay over 20 bucks for a small bowl of Japchae.  My mom would have disowned me.  It was rather amusing to have the ...i want to say kiwi waiter but again his accent was just unplacable, try to describe to us what Japchae was when I said 'WHAT?!' because he pronounced it CHAAP-CHAI.

We ordered the Buffalo Tofu, Torched Mackerel, Spicey Scallian and Avocado Slaw, Tempura Prawn and O.S. Wings.  We also ordered a bottle of Cucumber Soju.  The Soju was lovely.  Lightly perfumed with Cucumber and not to big a punch.

The Slaw was a rather mundane.  It was over dressed and there was scarcely any Avocado which is really taking the piss since the ingredient is listed in the NAME! The Torched Mackerel was nice, though the portion a bit laughable for a Korean table.  The Korean's have a tradition much like the Portuguese, that pride themselves in a bountiful table.  This portion of Mackerel was slightly bigger than one sashimi portion of Mackerel, sliced and torched at the table.  It is a oily fish but the fine slicing and the dipping sauce were nice.

Tiny Portion of Torched Mackerel

The Tempura Prawn were in short disgusting.  If it were a shared plate where everyone got barely 1, maybe it would have been tolerable.  But sharing this dish with two people or having the dish to yourself will leave you feeling heavy.  The Prawn are coated in a very heavy pancakey batter which is doused in a strange mayonnaisey sauce.

Smothered, mayonaissey mess of Tempura Prawn

Then came the Buffalo Tofu.  Even worse than the prawn.  The Tofu came in domino sized pieces.  They are deep fried so that the centre is all but obliterated and hollow.  What is left is this tough shell that is coated in a terrible vinegary, sugary batter.  The after taste will haunt me for months to come.

Disgusting Buffalo Tofu - Vinegary Oddness

The wings were all for H.  They were dark and looked over cooked.  They were very dry and she ate less than half the plate.

Overall, I found the service negligible and haughty.  Though we tipped the standard expected even though the attention was lacking, he was visibly displeased and made no effort to conceal that he expected more.  It was very very loud and you have to shout to be heard across even small tables.  Though we enjoyed our house made Soju, we did not enjoy the food.  I would not recommend you eat here EVER.  If you fancy Korean food, go to Christie or ask me where you can get decent homemade Bibimbap or Japchae without being gouged by hipster prices or attitudes.  I hate when place guise traditional food as 'fusion' or 'modern' but it isn't really and thus justify over pricing or just bad flavours.

Oddseoul
90 Ossington Ave
 Toronto, ON M6J2Y7