by MARK SLUTSKY

There are many reasons you should visit Hwang Kum as soon as possible, regardless of whether you live anywhere near Sherbrooke West in NDG, where the small Korean restaurant is located. The service is friendly and warm, the food is extremely reasonably priced - you can definitely fill yourself up for around $10 a person - and it's incredibly tasty. The food is spicy but not brutally so, and almost intoxicating in its blend of flavours. I can't imagine a better choice of cuisine for the season; hot, hearty, and consummately filling, it's the perfect antidote to the deep freeze outside.

Hwang Kum has a basic, unprepossessing appearance. It's a small, wood-panelled storefront that feels more like Chinatown than NDG. It's nice enough though, and its basic appearance lets you focus on the important stuff: the food. Like all Korean restaurants, there's a variety of kimchi (a spicy, fermented vegetable dish or seasoning, usually made with cabbage), available either on its own or alongside other dishes. Of course, the classic Korean BBQ is also available in various forms, all absolutely worth sampling.

On a recent visit (on a very cold night), my buddies and I decided to go all-out and order as much food as we thought we could possibly eat. Unlike other misadventures I've had with ambitious eating, this turned out to be a good idea (and despite the tremendous amount we ate, the bill came out to around $80, tip included, for four people, which is a score).

To start off we went for the pu-jun, or seafood pancake ($8.95). This was something else. Strongly resembling a tortilla española, visually at least, the pancake took up the entirety of a large plate (this is one restaurant where the pictures of the dishes in the menu actually make them look smaller), and was a crispy, wildly savoury concoction, stuffed with squid, shrimp, and long strips of green onion.

In a very nice touch, a bunch of tasty cold appetizers were served at the same time - bean sprouts and two varieties of kimchi (cabbage and square turnip), with a very large pair of scissors with which to cut the stuff.

Next on the table was the dak-kalabi, or spicy chicken BBQ ($27.99, serves two or even three). This was actually cooked right in front of our eyes; the waitress set down a small gas range on the table, stuck an oiled tray on top, and poured on a mixture of greens, kimchi and spicy chicken. As we ate, she'd occasionally return to stir the stuff until the smell overwhelmed us and we attacked. It was delicious, spicy, rich and kind of trance-inducing in that way hot food can be. If you lean more towards the red meat, though, you might want to check out the jee-meei-luck, or beef BBQ ($14.99).

The bibimbap ($8.99), with its syncopated name, reminded me of Japanese donburi, only more colourful. A bowl of rice, vegetables and meat with a fried egg plopped on top, it was perfectly complemented by the smoky hot sauce we generously applied. Though we shared it, this would be a fine stand-alone meal.

Hwang Kum also offers several menu-pages' worth of soups and stews. The gan-ja-tang, or pork rib and potato stew ($8.99, $22.99 for the much larger version, though the smaller size is a fine size for four people) is a formidable dish. A dark red broth supports enormous chunks of pork and potato, making for a marvellous winter meal. The kimchi soup ($6.99), made with lots of chunks of tofu, was also a fine pick. There's a really distinctive, hard-to-pin-down taste to this soup, a sort of deep flavourful quality that was unlike any of the other dishes on our table, and was delightful.

Hwang Kum gets the big recommendation - great food, service, atmosphere, and pricing, and above all, it's a genuinely fun place to eat.

Hwang Kum
ADDRESS: 5908 Sherbrooke W. (at Clifton)
PHONE: 487-1712
HOURS: Mon-Wed 11:30AM-11PM,
Thu-Sat 11AM-midnight
BEST FEATURES: Spicy kimchi, hot
Korean BBQ, basically everything
ALCOHOL: Yes
WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes
VEGETARIAN FRIENDLY: Yes
CREDIT CARDS: Yes
NO-SMOKING SECTION: Yes
PRICE: $7-$15 per person, before tax and tip
RATING: ***1/2 out of ****