The past year (2009) may have been a lousy year for restaurateurs, but it was a fabulous one for diners.
As the recession put a squeeze on the dining dollar, restaurants began a price war of happy hours and prix fixe menus - anything to put bums in seats, especially on weeknights. Much of this value, however, was on the higher end of dining. Once the money starts flowing through Bay Street again, say goodbye to $5 glasses of wine and Lobsterlicious at Scaramouche.There are, of course, restaurants that don't change their business plan according to the stock market's performance. You will find many of them in Koreatown.I had only eaten Korean food three times before moving to the Christie Pits neighbourhood two years ago. Now I enjoy it once a week, when a cheap, hearty meal is only a short walk away.I've officially settled on a favourite: Ka Chi. I'm not alone, as it's the busiest joint on the strip. Though don't be intimidated by the crowds - it's not the kind of place were people linger over a latte.Complimentary pickles and salads are served with every meal. They include lip-searing cabbage kimchi, soft soy sauce potatoes, slippery sweet potato starch noodles and toothsome seaweed salad. These freebies combined with massive mains make appetizers an ambitious undertaking. If you're with a group, share the seafood pancake, a savoury yellow disk of egg and flour studded with shrimp, squid, mussels and scallions. Don't waste calories on greasy, pan-fried beef dumplings or their bland, steamed veggie cousins.A word of warning to neophytes: Korean soups, stews and rice bowls are blisteringly hot in more ways than one. At Ka Chi, they're served still simmering in stone bowls and stay hot until the last bite. Korean cooks are also fond of gochugaru, a fiery, yet flavourful chilli powder. When they say "regular spicy" it actually means "very spicy". I haven't tried "extra spicy", but I'm guessing it means "bring the pain".Spicy shrimp bibambap is my favourite dish - a stone bowl filled with rice and topped with everything from meaty shiitakes to crunchy daikon. The heat of the bowl sears the bottom layer of rice to an addictive crispness, and shrimp cooked in gochujang, a chili-charged Korean-style miso, are killer. Soft tofu stew, also terrific, is a bubbling cauldron of silken bean curd in a zippy broth that gets a lip-smacking savouriness from dried anchovy. Gamjatang (pork bone soup), the restaurant's most popular dish, brings a mountain of succulent braised pork neck, potato, cabbage and bean sprouts in a spicy, slightly sour broth. It's good, but I prefer the gamjatang at Thumbs Up across the street, which has a more flavourful and balanced broth.When the bill comes, it's always a shock. Twenty bucks for all that food! In Koreatown, value never goes out of style. Ka Chi613 Bloor St. W. (at Palmerston Ave.)416-533-9306Dinner for two with beer, tax and tip: $35