Nabi House is serving no-nonsense Korean comfort food in Vancouver

Located along the stretch of Powell Street beside award-winning restaurants like Niwa and Nero Tondo is a new player in the Vancouver food scene serving up a slice of cozy Korean food in the city.

Taking over the former home of Aleph Eatery, Nabi House focuses on simple, wholesome Korean comfort food. There are no bubble machines or sizzling platters here, just good, simple, and wholesome food — and that’s the way chef and owner Daniel Lee intended.

“[There’s] nothing too ‘chef-y’ or nothing too out there,” he told Dished when we stopped by for a visit. “Nothing that’s trying to reinvent the wheel, more or less. I just want it to be food you could have every day.”

Among the small but mighty menu, you’ll find a major focus on vegetables, especially in dishes like Nokdu Pancake — a savoury, crispy pancake made from kimchi and ground mung beans and served with soy-pickled jalapenos.

Another veggie-forward favourite from our visit was the Mushroom Bibimbap. The dish featured rice topped with an array of seasonal mushrooms in a truffle umami glaze and a poached egg. Deceptively simple, each ingredient was given an opportunity to shine in this comforting bowl.

“I try to focus on a lot of vegetables,” said Lee. “I know a lot of chefs are doing that nowadays, but that’s something I feel strongly about. Vegetable-forward, light on seasoning, light on the cheongs, ganjang, doenjang […] just a little bit more subtle.”

This nostalgic, comforting throughline at Nabi House also touches on the meat side of things, particularly when it comes to the Royal Court Tteokbokki.

Our experience with tteokbooki prior to this dish was more in line with the sweet and spicer version of the rice cakes served in a gochujang sauce (and occasionally topped with a molten layer of mozzarella cheese). Here, the sauce was reminiscent of a goulash or a hearty meat stew. Generous chunks of braised beef are served amongst chewy rice cakes. Definitely an order we’ll be repeating during our next visit.

But perhaps the most comforting dish of the entire experience was the Perilla Chicken Soup. Think the kind of chicken noodle soup your mom would make, but turned up a notch with glass noodles and finished with aromatic perilla seed oil.

“It’s a dish I came up with as we were opening the restaurant,” shared Lee. “I think what makes it really special is that we use a double stock technique. So, instead of starting with chicken in fresh water, we use a stock from the night before to fortify it. It gets really strong, really intense, and we just keep on adding fresh ginger, garlic, and onions as we go.”

As for the space, Lee shared that there hadn’t been too many changes since the former Aleph team had operated the space.

“The past owner, Haitham, of Aleph, has been very gracious in terms of my taking over the business and the spot. And honestly, we didn’t really do that much. The owner spent a lot of money before. We just kind of put our own twist on it, more or less,” said Lee.

And when it comes to the actual location of the restaurant, Lee did share that he was honoured to be among such great restaurants.

“I wouldn’t say it’s the easiest [location], but I wouldn’t say it’s the hardest either. You’re next to a bunch of great restaurants. Kind of keeps you on your toes. Makes you want to work a little bit harder,” he said.

Despite being beside so many powerhouse restaurants, it’s safe to say that Nabi House has carved a home for itself. In fact, it feels like it’s already been around for much longer than the few months it’s been operating.

Nabi House is currently open Wednesday to Sunday from 4 to 10 p.m.

Nabi House Korean Foods

Address: 1889 Powell St., Vancouver

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