Coquitlam-based Ta Bom Korean Cuisine's second location to open on Robson Street

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      A Coquitlam eatery is gearing up to enter the West End's Korean restaurant market.

      Owner Minji Won and her mother (who was chef in South Korea for over 30 years) opened Ta Bom at 1046 Austin Avenue in Coquitlam in June 2016. (That location temporarily closed in February 2017 as it underwent renovations and reopened in April 2017.)

      The restaurant is now expanding into downtown Vancouver with a second location at 1536 Robson Street (the former location of Norboo Korean Restaurant).

      Won told the Georgia Straight that a specific opening date hasn't been determined yet but they are aiming for a mid-April opening.

      They're also going bigger. The over-2,500-square-foot space will have a seating capacity that will accommodate about 80 to 100 people, which will be almost double the size of their Coquitlam location.

      Won says the menu will mostly remain the same but there will be some new dishes added.

      Thus far, the wide-roving menu has covered a variety of areas, including appetizers, soup, rice bowls, hot pot, hot plates, salads, and special dishes.

      Hot plates have included offerings such as beef bulgogi, dak-galbi (stir-fried spicy chicken), or jeyuk-bokkeum(stir-fried spicy pork). Signature hotplates have consisted of selections such as kkotge-tang (spicy crab soup), budae-jjigae (kimchi sausage and stew), or oden-tang (fishcake soup).

      Served on a circular hotplate, these main dishes are encircled by several side dishes (for dipping) that line the circumference. Options have included sausage-bokkeum (stir-fried sausage), chili saeu (chili shrimp), bokkeum-bap (fried rice), gyeran-jim (steamed egg), cheese, or corn.

      Elsewhere on the menu, noodles range from cold buckwheat noodles to seafood udon or yakisoba while hot pot choices vary from ori-tang (spicy duck soup) and dak-hanmari (whole chicken soup with noodles) to daegu-altang (spicy codfish and roe stew).

      There are also a variety of other dishes, including bossam (steamed pork with kimchi), Korean barbecue short ribs, spicy sea snail salad, holly molly nachos (shrimp, nachos, salsa, guacamole, and cheese salsa), and spicy chicken feet.

      Stay tuned for more as details become finalized for the new location's grand opening.

      You can follow Craig Takeuchi on Twitter at @cinecraig or on Facebook.

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