Number 9: checking out Korean food and pop music

On The Coast's Lisa Christiansen and Jason D'Souza are exploring the diversity of Vancouver through its food. In a new series called Number 9, they go to some interesting restaurants, order dish number nine off the menu, and see what they get.

For the second installment of the series, Lisa Christiansen and Jason D'Souza went to Downtown Vancouver to Red Chicken Korean Restaurant on Bute.

It's a cozy little spot, Christiansen said, and they were almost immediately joined by the restaurant's owner, Eddie Kim, who's owned the business for four years.

"I wanted to spread out the Korean food to be really healthy for people who've never tried it, and secondly, I wanted to introduce Korean culture, how we eat and how the food was developed," he said.

"How we eat" is important to Kim. Even the chopsticks are distinctly Korean: made of steel, at a length in between the longer Chinese chopsticks and the shorter Japanese ones, both of which are usually made of wood.

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And Kim likes to display his Korean heritage in a different way: anyone who steps into Red Chicken is treated to blaring K-Pop music videos.

"I try to update it with the most recent hit songs in Korea. I use the K-Pop Top 100," he said. "[Customers] are usually watching the music videos. They spend a lot of time staring, watching the music videos."

Dish number 9: bossam

Bossam is pork belly, steamed for two hours and given lots of spices like garlic, green onions, peppers and other "secret ingredients," Kim says.

We'll go to Lisa Christiansen with the verdict.

"It's delicious!" she said. "This is fantastic. I'm going to have some more now!"

Jason D'Souza had to excuse himself from this one on account of being a vegetarian.

"I will make up for his vegetarianism. Don't worry," Christiansen assured Kim.

Tune into On The Coast all this week for more from our daring dining duo.

To hear the full story, click the audio labelled:Number 9: On The Coast tries Korean food and pop music