Little Piggy's [EVENT]

Name: Little Piggy's Location: 469 Bloor St W, Toronto Cuisine: Korean BBQ Rating: 4/5 Many people have either been to or ...

Name: Little Piggy's
Location: 469 Bloor St W, Toronto
Cuisine: Korean BBQ
Rating: 4/5

Many people have either been to or know about Piggy's Restaurant located in Thornhill. Piggy's Restaurant is a Korean BBQ joint that offers a wide range of different style meat for BBQ, as well as regular Korean dishes such as naengmyeon, jjigae, mandu and much more. Not too long ago, they opened a second location near Bloor and Spadina, called Little Piggy's. The downtown location is quite different than Piggy's Restaurant because the interior is more hip and trendy, and they offer different items on their menu.

I first learned about Piggy's second location after being contacted by the owner Cindy to be a part of their mini opening. Unfortunately, I couldn't attend the event because I was away in Korea and Hawaii, but she kindly invited me to visit after my vacation. When I was back in Toronto, we made arrangements for me to go in for lunch with Kevin to try their BBQ and a few other dishes.

Mix BBQ Combo

Pork belly, Korean-style beef and garlic pork

All the meat is pre-grilled over charcoal and ready for table top cooking.

Unlike the first location where they use a built in charcoal grill, Little Piggy's uses a portable cooktop that cooks the meat slowly and is easy to clean up. I personally prefer charcoal grills because the meat cooks at a faster rate and has nice smokey flavours.

The BBQ combo came with a variety of tasty side dishes, including salad with black sesame dressing, Korean lettuce salad (sangchu geotjeori), seaweed soup (miyeok guk), and more. Like every Korean BBQ restaurant, they give you dipping sauces for your meat such as sesame oil seasoned with salt and pepper, samjang, and a sweet and tangy sauce with thin slices of onions.

Doenjang Jjigae 된장찌개

Soybean paste soup with onion, zucchini and tofu

At this location, they charge you $2 extra to add two bowls of rice and one doenjang jjigae. Although you have to pay for the stew, they give you a pretty large bowl that is more than enough for two people.

UFO Fried Rice 볶음밥

Fried rice with bacon and kimchi in a
sizzling pan surrounded with steamed egg

I really liked how they presented this dish with the egg surrounding the fried rice because it reminded me of BBQ restaurants in Korea where they add steamed egg around the charcoal grill. Although the dish looked amazing, the fried rice and egg tasted quite bland and I would have liked it if the kimchi flavour was stronger. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed it.

Shaped just like a UFO!

Tteokbokki 떡볶이

Korean rice cakes with cabbage, green onion and
ramyun noodles, in a spicy red chili sauce

This was amazing! The red chili sauce had a kick of spiciness with a mix of sweetness in it. The ramyun noodles were cooked al dente and the rice cakes were soft just how they should be. Even though we didn't get to the BBQ yet, I couldn't stop eating this because it was just too good!

Grapefruit and Blue Lemon Mocktail

These drinks usually come with soju, but you can always order them without it. They were pretty sweet without the soju, but were quite refreshing with our meal. If you're not a fan of sweet drinks, I'd suggest you don't order this because it can be a bit too much.

Pork Belly (Samgyupsal) 삼겹살

Coming back from Korea just a few weeks prior to this tasting, it was hard not to compare because the BBQ in Korea was out of this world. But regardless, I tried my best to keep an open mind because Canadian meat tastes completely different.

The samgyupsal came in two thin strips which were easy to grill. We let it cook until they were extra crispy because it gave them more flavour.

Ssam

You can eat the meat straight from the grill with dipping sauce, or you can make a ssam. Ssam basically means to wrap with a leafy vegetable, such as lettuce or perilla leaves. Here I've put together a ssam with samgyupsal, slices of raw garlic and ssamjang. It's totally up to you what you decide to put in your ssam. Be creative!

Garlic Pork

We really enjoyed the garlic pork. They gave us two thick pieces that were covered in a garlic and green onion sauce. The pork was quite tender and the flavours really marinated deep into the meat. It was especially nice to have bits of crispy garlic on the pork because it added extra flavour.

Korean-style Beef

This was our favourite out of all the meat we tried! To our surprise, the beef was very tender and juicy with tons of delicious flavour from the marinade. It tasted as if the beef was marinated for a long time. Highly recommend!

Overall, I really enjoyed Little Piggy's and I personally think that their restaurants offer the best Korean BBQ in Toronto. I would definitely go back for their Korean-style beef and tteokbokki the next time I'm in the area!

*Although my meal at Little Piggy's was free, all my opinions are honest and reflect my own personal experiences.*