H-Mart Food Court Does It Right

Amen to living in a city that offers so much rad food at decent prices. It's a good theme, let's go with it. The latest place to make the list of good convenient eats, is the new-ish H-Mart food court. H-Mart is the equivalent of T & T, but Korean styles instead of Chinese.

And they have a rockin' food court. McDonalds sucks even worse than usual when compared with the fast food pictured above.

There's several concessions, which are all sort of the same concession. There's Korean, Japanese and Chinese specialties, though you gotta question the authenticity of a Chinese dish with Kimchi in it. But who cares? With portions like this, at prices less than $10, you get at least what you pay for.

The first thing you'll notice is that the food looks amazing. Deep stone or metal bowls, filled up as if the ingredients were chosen to match a colour swatch. Kind of a shame to throw them on a plastic tray with cheapo water cups, unless that's part of the appeal, of course.

And does the taste live up to the aesthetic? Ummm, yes. (Do you have to be so cynical all the time?) The spicy beef soup, was very flavourful, and way more fiery than expected. It was probably my fave dish of the ones I tried. The veggie noodle bowl was delectable and as pretty as pictured up top. The cold spicy noodle dish had noodles which were a bit chewy for me personally, but I'm pretty sure that's just the way it is when you get a bowl of fat cold noodles. If it's any consolation, the chili did have me reaching for napkins to wipe my sweaty brow. It also had nice side dishes of kimchi and some cartoony yellow pickled radish slices.

Do note that the large portions are heavy on the carbs. I've only ordered noodles so far, and noodles was largely what I got. You should probably give yourself an hour to digest if you're planning a night of bouncing in front of the dj.

One of the biggest scores of H-Mart is its location. It's just upstairs at Robson and Seymour, making for a perfect joint to grab a quick bite before hitting a concert or club in the core. 'Cause loonie pizza won't cut it all the time, hurry or not. Also, you get a sweet view of Robson glistening with rain and bustling people. The decor of the joint itself isn't exactly luxurious, but maybe you can pretend it's a cultural experience. It's clean anyhow.

Also, when you grab food here, don't forget to take your number. An overhead display will notify you when your steaming bowl of food is ready. And the service? Beats me: I pretty much ordered my food, got my change, said thanks, and then helped myself once the dinger sounded. Oh. And I tipped. Tip your servers, boys and girls! It's a karma thing.

H-Mart
550 Robson Street, 2nd floor

Image of exterior courtesy of Mussels.
Image of interior courtesy of w_yvr.