Oh! Zzhu Sam: Korean hot plates in Burnaby
Alright… no more gatekeeping this restaurant!
Oh! Zzhu Sam is a Korean restaurant located in South Burnaby that I find myself often returning to. Their specialty are hot plates with an assortment of different meats, vegetables and spicy sauce and you can add other items to it like cheese or mixed rice. They also offer other traditional Korean dishes like seafood pancakes, soups, and fried chicken.
This review is based off of numerous visits to Oh! Zzhu Sam and include what we usually like to order.
The vibe
Oh! Zzhu Sam has a very unassuming look. The entire restaurant is has blacked out windows/blinds down so it almost always look like it’s closed, aside from its “Open” sign.
Inside, there are mostly wooden booth seats and individual tables that can be pushed together to form 1 long table if you are a large group.
The interior is a little dim because again, there’s no natural light really coming into the restaurant. It feels cozy and you may not notice time fly by while you eat here.
Food and drinks review
Here are some of the items we’ve tried from their menu. All prices are rounded to the nearest CAD dollar.
Main hot plate ($40-63)
If you come to Oh! Zzhu Sam, you must order a hot plate. They have small (~$40) or large sizing (~$60) hot plates. The small hot plate is good for 2-3 people, and the large hot plate is good for 4.
They have a list of different hot plates to choose from, but we like to either order M1 – spicy stir fried pork and octopus, or M2 – spicy stir fried pork belly, octopus and pork intestine.
We also like to add a few bowls of the seasoned rice ($3.50 each), which is a bowl of rice with some seasoning like seaweed flakes, etc. You add this mixed rice to the end of your meal after you’ve eaten most of your meats and mostly have the sauce and some veggies left. You mix the rice with the leftover sauce and leave it on the hot plate to make some spicy crispy rice to end your meal – genius ๐คฉ!
When you order a hot plate, it also comes with a side of beansprout soup.
Oh! Fries ($17)
We’ve ordered the Oh! Fries before, which are potato fries topped with kimchi, bulgogi meat, corn, onion, cheese, chipotle mayo, and sour cream.
I found the fries to be ok but too expensive at $17 because you don’t get that much meat anyways.
Butter garlic mayo fries ($9)
If you want to order some fries, I recommend ordering the butter garlic mayo fries instead. At half the price, you get just as much french fries topped with a really yummy garlic mayo sauce. It has a little bit of sweetness and savouryness to it.
Seafood tofu soup ($18)
We’ve ordered the seafood tofu soup here once before – it has mussels, squid, prawn and jalapeno. I found it to be generally ok and the tofu is nice and soft.
However, I would recommend you ordering the ox-bone soup ($17) instead of you want to order a soup. I find the milky broth to be more comforting, lighter and it’s also a way bigger bowl.
Spicy kimchi & pork with tofu ($30)
I am a fan of this dish although it is very similar to the hot plate (they use the same sauce). Eating it with the tofu makes it more refreshing and I actually liked this dish so much I learned how to make it at home (so now I guess I don’t order it as much).
Corn cheese ($10)
If you are like me and cannot handle too much heat, I highly recommend you pay $10 for this corn cheese, a simple dish of corn, mayo and torched cheese. I prefer to eat the hot plate with a little bite of this corn cheese to balance out the spiciness instead of white rice, because I am saving room in my tummy for the mixed rice at the end.
Zzhu ringkle chicken ($28)
Oh! Zzhu Sam also has a fried chicken menu, and this ringkle chicken is one of their most popular. The fried chicken are in big chunks and it is fried pretty well. They sprinkle this addicting sweet cheese powder on it.
Red crispy fried chicken ($28)
Another popular choice is the red crispy chicken, which has that sweet and spicy “special” sauce that most Korean fried chicken joints have on the menu.
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
Like I mentioned, Oh! Zzhu Sam is a neighbourhood favourite for me. Whenever someone suggests Oh! Zzhu Sam for dinner, I find myself agreeing to go.
Prices are reasonable and the portions are pretty large. Must-orders is the hot plate with the mixed rice – I get so full just from that honestly that I have a hard time eating all the other dishes like the fries, fried chicken, soup, etc. We almost always have leftovers of the mixed rice that we like to re-fry up the next day for lunch.
I recommend you to give Oh! Zzhu Sam a try and come with some friends to share a hot plate together and maybe drink some beer. It’s fun to share all the food together and it feels like a mini-pocha although their alcohol selection is limited.
Sincerely, Loewe