Jang Mo Jib - Aberdeen

What else would be open on Christmas?  Aberdeen and Yaohan, and pretty much every Chinese restaurant in the lower mainland.  It always reminds me of A Christmas Story when Ralphie and his family go to the Chinese restaurant when they lose their turkey to the neighbor's dogs.  Anyway, our family is no exception because we seldom do a turkey.  I went with my parents on a food court tour during the holidays and one of our first stops was Jang Mo Jib in the Aberdeen food court.

My mom ordered the Chicken Bool Go Gee for $7.95 and it came with the usual side dishes plus rice and soup.  It was the first time I'd ever eaten this dish and what I found was that it was spicier than hell fire, and a little sweet.  It tasted good, but I could already feel an ulcer developing.

Now the menu said this was Gam Ja Tang($5.95), but I call it fire soup.

Apparently my parents have this a lot after their daily walks...I have no idea how they can stomach this stuff so much, it would burn a hole through my guts.

I stuck with what I knew was good -  Gahl Bee ($9.95)

Inside one of the Korean gyozas.

Like I said, my parents come here a lot, and it was the first for me.  At first, I was a bit skeptical, but after taking my first bite into the beef short rib, I was hooked.  Now, I'm no expert on Korean food because most of it is way beyong my spice tolerance, but one thing I do know is beef, and the beef here is damn good.  Koreans know beef, and they know it well.  The Jang Mo Jib location at Aberdeen Food Court makes a pretty mean gahl bee.

We were walking around the mall at around 10am and when I placed my order here, the staff there looked like she was just waiting for the first customer.  She didn't speak much English or any Chinese for that matter, and my Korean is non existant, but I managed to point to what I wanted to eat and she figured it out with a friendly smile.  Actually, it was just about the friendliest service I had ever had at a food court, let alone Aberdeen Food Court.  Anyway, by the time my food was done, there was a line up and people were piling up to order at this place.

The food is good here, near as I can tell.  The service was wonderful that day, and well, the prices are reasonable I suppose.  It's got a pretty crappy review on http://www.urbanspoon.com/ but maybe I just don't know Korean food.  Would I go back?  Probably, but I hardly ever go to Aberdeen.  The parking lot is a nightmare, and I grow a new white hair everytime I go there.