Fuller House

I was meeting some friends for dinner on Friday so I decided to stay in the downtown core after my yoga class. I headed to the Ottawa Public Library's main branch at Metcalfe and Laurier. It has been decades since I've set foot inside, and I wondered if my childhood memories exaggerated its size. I was pleased to discover that it remained a large and roomy three-level site.

At 5 pm, I walked to Korea House in Chinatown along Bank St. and then Somerset St. It was nice to see a number of lively shops and restaurants. Outside of a few isolated neighbourhoods, Ottawa never felt attractive. But I recently traveled through the St. Laurent, Heron Road, Woodroffe, and Merivale areas and my opinion of it tipped from plain into ugly. This 30 minute stroll moved the needle a little bit back toward the positive side.

At Korea House, you could order the all-you-can-eat grilled meat option ($25) or pick dishes from the menu. Most other tables wanted the table-side grill but we decided to let someone else do the cooking. It was a large order including shrimp tempura, seafood pancake, japchae (sweet potato noodles), bulgogi, batter-fried chicken, and kimchi pork tofu. With the complimentary miso soup, kimchi condiments and pan-fried beef dumplings, we were stuffed and needed some take-out container. All the dishes were good, not too oily and with a bit of a kick.

It was nice catching up including news of other people we may not have seen lately. Not all changes happen gradually so it's always interesting to hear of or tell about unexpected events.