Gyubee Japanese BBQ - Downtown

Gyubee Japanese BBQ is located at 335 Bloor Street W. (south side) near St. George subway station. There has been scaffolding up outside it for several months so it may be harder to spot. AYCD pop is available for $3. The interior is darker and new (it's relatively recently opened) with a younger trendier crowd. Soy sauce is very fresh and sweet. As well as the soy, each table has a seasoning shaker which adds plenty of flavour to the grilled items. Smaller portions prevent wastage; just order more of them. Chopsticks are unfortunately disposable which is why I bring my own. I went for weekday lunch; lunch is $19.99 and dinner is $27.99, but ended up ordering from the dinner menu to sample the black pepper kalbi beef, crème brulee and other items (happily they are also available weekdays.) Orders are placed directly from wait staff who carry small computers so orders are always accurate. Gyubee may be called "Japanese" BBQ but it certainly seems to be a Korean grill house; most of those have miso soup and all of the other offerings are Korean ie banchan items, bibimbap and kalbi beef (which is also called that and could not be in Japanese which lacks the "l" phoneme!) There does seem to be a large cultural crossover between the two nations, however.

For starters, the miso soup was absolutely phenomenal: smokey, savory and delicious; some of the best I've ever had.  Umami bean sprouts were not my favorite but are probably very healthy; they have a very subtle flavor and are slightly fermented. "Cold noodle" is like a room-temperature soba noodle soup and definitely an acquired taste; I would avoid it if you have not tried it before. Asparagus is very nice when roasted on the grill and I ended up having seconds on it (which isn't usual for vegetables for me!) Cold tofu was delicious and winy with the sweet soy sauce provided. White mushroom is in very large pieces so beware the size if you are not too hungry. King oyster mushroom are large slices with not much flavour, but very good with the seasoning provided. Cabbage salad was excellent and unique with very good dressing. Bibimbap is a fried egg on rice with Sriracha sauce; an odd dish but I did enjoy it. Butter corn is cooked on the grill in a foil bowl; very good just like barbecue.

And finally, it was on to the real reason I was there, the wonderful grilled meats! (I've gone over to the Dark Side and turned into quite the carnivore from these write-ups…) Sausages although small-portioned are super tasty, sweetish and smokey; I needed to order several helpings to satisfy the craving. Pork belly is almost bacon, and what bacon it is… wonderful when grilled. Chicken thighs were super-savoury and delicious, especially with the sauce. Beef brisket is delicious, tender and wonderful with the sauce provided. Black pepper kalbi beef is perfect oh-so-good savory smokey and wonderful steak pieces… worth the dinner price for this! House marinated kalbi short rib (also with no bones) was the best and also boneless which made it more enjoyable. Pork cheek was delicious and I had never had it before... unlike bacon, more like chicken breast strips. Shrimp is very nicely seasoned and grilled well. Kalbi boneless short rib is excellent and very tasty, better roasted and/or grilled than I would have expected, amazing with the soy sauce. The meats here were all superb.

For dessert. instead of ice cream. Gyubee offers Melona strawberry and honeydew bars. Although the menu indicates one per customer I was allowed more than that for sampling which was nice. There is also unlimited crème brulee which was wonderful, creamy and the best I've had in a long time. The staff is highly attentive and constantly asking for orders and picking up plates. Although there were some items I wasn't big on, it was more due to my personal tastes rather than their quality. Dinner may seem expensive, but it isn't compared to other meat-focused places (such as rodizios) which feature AYCE steak. All-in-all Gyubee re-ignited my love of Korean grill houses and was memorably excellent, as I thought about it for many days afterwards and would have returned by now... were it not for my queue of write-ups left to do.

Edit: I've returned to Gyubee twice since writing this, once with Mishy, who adored it. The price has increased to $29.99 for weekday and $31.99 for weekend dinner (weekday and weekend lunch prices are unaffected at $19.99 and $21.99 respectively) but this has altered neither my rating nor the lineups that form every evening.

Rating: 9/10