Solid. Not exceptional but good enough. Lots of staff and responsive service. Huge menu. Faint smell of gas/butane in the air. Not “this restaurant’s gonna blow” level of smell, but “you gotta get that checked out” kind of smell. Read on for the deets on this quick little dinner!

Andamiro (sometimes spelled “Anda Miro”) is on Kingsway on the same block as rough ‘n ready family dim sum favourite Come Along.

They’re closed Tuesdays.

If you like free food, you can toss an Instagram post their way and get a free takoyaki.

I find their menu quite large, almost overwhelming. But stick the word “Royal” in something and that’s gets my attention.

The Korean take on Sweet & Sour Pork sounds good. (FYI, Wicca tried their Korean fried chicken last time and it was just so-so. Didn’t stay crispy enough.)

A classic Bulgogi Stew with rice cakes sounds good too. This dish had a hiccup, which I’ll explain below…

Banchan in Korean restaurants are pretty boring these days. It’s all cheap stuff and never anything interesting like bracken fern or expensive like the seafood ones. But these non-soy sauced potatoes did the job.

Bean sprouts (sukju-namul). Standard.

Kimchi, also standard. It’s the kind of kimchi that’s a touch salty…which is fine but kimchi that has a subtle touch of sweetness to balance things out really gets my attention.

Bog standard salad. So don’t come here for the banchan.

Bulgogi Stew ($12) with rice cakes, sweet potato starch noodles, and assorted veggies (including enoki mushrooms on top). They actually forgot the rice cakes in this one, but it helps to be married to someone who has no problems speaking up. They brought this back to the kitchen and a few minutes later, it came back with those chewy cylindrical rice cakes in it. Good amount of food for the price, flavour was decent, if a touch sweet.

Royal Beef Japchae ($16) with sweet potato starch noodles, vegetables and beef. I appreciated the flourish of omelette on top. A competent well-seasoned japchae. Decent value.

Chicken Bulgogi ($13) with cheese (+$3) and ordered “mild spice”. This is my first Korean bbq dish with cheese in it. After seeing similar dishes countless times on Instagram, I wondered what the fuss was about. You gotta eat this one fast before the watery cheese solidifies into the obviously low quality cheese that it is. The chicken part was basically bulgogi with a bit of gochujang added. Could’ve used more caramelization on the meat to add something to elevate this dish above the bog standard dish it currently is. Amusing but not particularly delicious.

Sweet Rice Battered Sweet & Sour Pork ($18), AKA “tangsuyuk“. This is in that family of Korean dishes like jjajangmyeon (black bean sauce noodles) that are Korean takes on Chinese dishes.

This was the most successful dish, with a crunchy batter that stayed crunchy through our meal. Even though the colour isn’t bright red like Chinese sweet & sour pork, it’s still hella sweet. It’s the kind of dish you crave once in a while. Not quite great, maybe “good plus”.

The damage for five adults. Good value. It does the job.