KIM'S HITS THE SPOT, and it's a 5/5 for what's available out here in Spokane. My friend strongly recommended this spot to me after being a regular here for 4 years and they did not disappoint. It's a charming little family owned restaurant, husband and wife duo. Their daughters used to work here too, but have left to start their own lives, so with just the two of them around now service can be a little slower. One of my other friends came here the other day on my recommendation and it was a 2 hour wait to dine in. I guess you know a place is pumping out fresh food and popping when people are willing to wait that long to eat, so that's a positive sign. She loved the food... but who wants to wait around that long? Take out is probably the move if you want to skip the line when it's busy. Speaking of take out, that's exactly what I did when I called in 20min before close! The wife picked up the phone and was more than happy to take my order. I ordered the bibimbap and kimchi kimbap.
Bibimbap: meat was well seasoned, sweet, savory, juicy, and generously portioned (could've been a liiiiitle more tender tbh, but it was by no means chewy). The aroma of sesame oil was lovingly abundant. The hot sauce they packaged that I drizzled over everything was incredible! It had a mildly sweet but 2.5-3/5 spicy tang to it. The egg was ok, I prefer a runny yolk when I split open an egg, but when I split this one open it was probably overcooked 30 seconds or so past that point of perfection as the outer yolk was solid, but a very small piece of the inner core remained runny. The purple rice was yummy and cooked well, more flavorful, nutty, and nutritious than standard white rice. The pickled veggies were amazing too, they had that crunch to them indicating freshness. I thought it was cute how they don't let anything go to waste here because they threw the crisp pickled peels of the banchan cucumbers into the bibimbap, which paired really well with the crunchy pickled carrots and radish.
Kimchi kimbap: these were great too, basically a California roll as described on their menu. They use seaweed and their purple rice to encase veggies and egg. The kimchi aspect was a little lacking, but the overall flavor and texture profile of the kimbap was amazeballs. Proportion of rice to other fillings was perfect here, I hate it whenever it's just a thick mouthful of rice at other places.
Banchan: we got take out, so no unlimited side dishes, but if we did dine it.... I probably would've devoured an entire cucumber... if not 2-3. Their cucumbers were sooooo good, but all their other sides were great too.
I'll be back to Kim's for sure! read more