Korean restaurant gets cooking for a second time in Kamloops
A Korean restaurant opened its doors in Kamloops last week to share their culture and traditions through the flavours of tongdak, Korean fried chicken.
The owners of Sahali TongDak are following a life long dream to run a restaurant and bring more of the Korean culture to their community.
“Fried chicken is one of the most popular takeaway foods in Korea,” daughter Yea Bae said. “There are a lot of varieties of flavours to choose from."
This is not the first time the owner and mother Yunhee Choi has opened a TongDak restaurant in Kamloops. Last year in June she opened TongDak Fried in the downtown area in partnership with two other chefs. Daughter Yea said the partnership fell apart and her family left in October of last year.
“The co-ownership wasn’t lining up with the promises we made with our customers," she said. "There was a conflict of interest so we branched off and started our own restaurant. It is a bit confusing because the names are similar."
READ MORE: Authentic Korean fried chicken restaurant coming to Kamloops +
The new restaurant took a whole year of renovating to bring it up to regulation standards.
“We moved into what used to be a bubble tea place,” Yea said. “We thought it would be an easier move and were initially shocked at all of the renovations that were required. We have been working very hard all year. We are really excited to be open for business.”
Sahali TangDak’s signature offering is homemade chicken that is marinated the night before and spiced to deliver authentic Korean flavours.
“The most popular flavours are Korean BBQ flavour and Yang – Nyeum, which is sweet and tangy,” Yea said. “It is based on the Korean traditional chili paste. We offer oven-baked chicken as well.”
Yea said when the family first arrived in Canada, they didn’t meet a lot of people who knew about the Korean culture, and only a handful of places in Kamloops were offering Korean dishes. She said she is seeing that change and Korean food and culture is growing in popularity.
Yea said she hopes the restaurant can be a place for all cultures and individuals to connect with each other while enjoying the traditional fried chicken.
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