Dolpan Seoul BBQ
Dolpan Seoul BBQ has good customer service. The ingredients look fresh and beautiful when they are raw. I like how I can enjoy the company of my friends without having to cook my own Korean BBQ. For $50 per person, it is very expensive. I hope they can pay more attention on the cooking because over-cooking these beautiful ingredients is such a waste.
Dolpan Seoul BBQ Meat Platter 1
There is no better time to talk about Dolpan Seoul BBQ other than right before the grand opening of their Vancouver location.
Strength: Beautiful ingredients and attentive service
Weakness: Busy place and expensive
Other Korean Restaurant
- Kimbab Cheonguk (4.5 Stars)
- Wang Ga Ma (5 Stars)
- Potters Garden (3.5 Stars)
Honeycomb Piggy as logo
The logo is the head of a pig represented in hexagonal shape. I believe this is simply to represent their honeycomb pork belly. This is a simple and powerful logo.
Simple interior space with proper safety equipments
The interior of Dolpan Seoul BBQ is properly done. Even with portable cook top they still have fire extinguishing hood vent installed at each table. They have a portion on the second floor. This gives additional assurance to the customers.
Cooking with a stone pan
The word dolpan means stone grill in Korean. Every table has a a portable propane stove with a stone grill. If you look carefully, you can see the stone pan slightly angled to drain the grease into an aluminum foil dish.
Korean restaurant tradition of green lid water bottle
We have seen this in most Korean restaurant that I am beginning to believe this is a tradition.
Stainless steel utensil with clay dish
The utensil and the cup are simply stainless steel. My two chopsticks are a little different, but that’s not a big deal. The clay dish is rectangular. It has efficient use of table space and large enough to put food in separate zones.
Cooking tools in a bucket
You will see this bucket at every table next to the stone grill. Scissor seems to be a commonly accepted cooking tool in Korean cuisine. They are also very thoughtful to include a piece of tissue paper to stop sizzling oil getting onto customers.
The side dish kept coming
This is the part where I was really shocked about Dolpan’s superb customer service. The servers are very attentive. We got a new plate of side dish almost as soon as we finish. Sometimes we even receive an additional ones before the first dish was done. Towards the end of our meal when we slow down on eating, they would ask us if we would like more side dish before bringing more to us.
Beautiful raw meat presentation
Dolpan Seoul BBQ Meat Platter 1 Dolpan Seoul BBQ Meat Platter 2 Dolpan Seoul BBQ Meat Platter 3
We ordered a lot of meat. They are beautifully marbled fresh meat. There are also given different treatments depending on the parts. Beef briskets are thinly sliced. Beef short ribs are deboned. The pork belly are cut with honeycomb pattern, and pork jowl is sliced to break the tough muscle. The pork collar with beautiful pattern are un-treated.
Staff cooks the meat for every table
One of the revolution of Dolpan has done is staff cooking for us. Unlike most Korean restaurant where there is always 1-2 person in a party cooking, Dolpan Seoul BBQ took that burden away. We get to enjoy friend’s company while seeing fresh ingredients cooked right in front of our eyes. One staff is taking care of multiple table’s cooking. I feel that some of our meat are overcooked towards the end.
Thoughtful covering for protection
When thick pork steak is put on to the stone grill to cook. They would use the tissue paper to cover the meat to limit the bouncing distance of sizzling oil.
Fermented bean paste, sweet soy, and pepper salt
Dolpan Seoul BBQ cook the meat without added seasoning. We get to enjoy the meat with its original flavour. Every customer is given 3 condiment to. These seasonings are used for different meat. I didn’t use too much of them.
Thinly sliced beef brisket
The beef briskets are always the first thing they cook. The grease created from the fat can season the stone grill to prevent sticking.
Boneless beef short ribs
The boneless short ribs is the second to go on the grill. This is also quit thin and fatty. This also cooked relatively fast.
Pork Jowl are sliced on both sides
Pork jowl are usually tough and crunchy. Dolpan Seoul BBQ has sliced it on both sides. The strand of muscles are cut so you don’t get a thick piece of meat that is hard to chew.
I think this is a little over-cooked. While the muscle strand are cut to be easier to chew, the edge is charred so the texture is not very consistent. The meat is also a little dry on the inside.
Pork Collar with Veggies
The pork collar are large piece of pork steak with beautiful marble. It is cooked as one piece of steak, and cut into smaller pieces after. This is also overcooked that the outer layer is charred and created a very dry outer layer. It’s very hard on the teeth.
Honeycomb Pork Belly
The slab of pork belly is sliced with diagonal lines, then cut into strips. This honeycomb pork belly is not as good as I expected. I think it is also overcooked.
There are parts where pork fat is overcooked to form a very hard charcoal on the outside. The rock-like texture hurts my teeth. It is not pleasant to eat.
Egg Volcano is visually interesting.
The egg volcano is basically Korean style egg soufflé. Everyone is surprised to see it rise double the its size above the pot. It has a good saturated yellow color in the body of the egg soufflé, and topped with some coloring to create more visual interest. The glossy finish on the egg is very appetizing.
Texture of Egg Volcano
You will notice the fluffy texture. When you dig into the egg volcano, It does not deflate like I thought it would. The structure holds its shape firmly in place. It has a lot of egg flavour and has a balanced taste to be enjoyed without rice. I cannot trace any flour used.
Lava Cheese Omelet Roll is very cheesy
The Lava Cheese Omelet Rolls are wrapped with lots of cheese and topped with katsuobushi and sauces. The texture of the eggs are more firm. It has interesting presentation that looks like a piece of 2×4 with 90 degree edge.
Lava Cheese Omelet Roll is stringy
These sauce on top are just for presentation. I did not really taste any of them. The cheese flavour overpowers everything else.
Showcase the cheese inside the omelet roll.
604 Food Critic Assessment
Dolpan Seoul BBQ has good customer service. The ingredients look fresh and beautiful when they are raw. I like how I can enjoy the company of my friends without having to cook my own Korean BBQ. For $50 per person, it is very expensive. I hope they can pay more attention on the cooking because over-cooking these beautiful ingredients is such a waste.
Menu:
Dolpan Seoul BBQ Menu 1 Dolpan Seoul BBQ Menu 2 Dolpan Seoul BBQ Menu 3
How to get in touch
- Phone: (604) 273-9220
- Address: #1123 – 3779 Sexsmith Rd, Richmond
