Dae-Ji (North Road): Hamburger Steaks and Deep-Fried Cutlets

Dae-Ji is a popular Vancouver-based Korean cutlet house that specializes in deep-fried cutlets of various meats as well as hamburger steaks (similar to Hamburg steaks). The location on North Road in Burnaby is on the second floor of a busy mini mall just south of Lougheed Hwy.

The interior here is fairly spacious and it wasn’t very busy during my weekday lunch hour sojourn. The decor here is more basic than high-end with plastic cups and water jugs at the table.

I wound up ordering their Cheese Hamburger Steak ($13.99) which comes with 2 hefty portions of hamburger steak topped with cheese and accompanied with rice, macaroni salad, corn, crunchy cabbage, pickled radish, and gravy. The thick hamburger steaks were quite filling but a bit on the dry side in the middle (nothing that a dose of gravy couldn’t fix). I did like the cheesy pull on top of the hamburger but I would have preferred if the cheese was on the inside of the hamburger instead of on top.

On a subsequent visit about 3 months later, I noticed that the restaurant was much busier during the weekday lunch hour. The thing that I like about this restaurant is that you can mix-and-match your order and I wound up ordering their Combo A ($15.99) with a Mushroom Hamburger Steak and a Shrimp and Cheese Pork Cutlet with chili sauce. This meal also comes with their regular assortment of sides such as macaroni salad, corn, crunchy cabbage topped with a Thousand Island type of dressing, pickled radish, and rice.

The thing about Dae-Ji is they stick to what they know and what they know best is how to make deep-fried cutlets and hamburger steaks. The Mushroom Hamburger Steak is thick and juicy (almost in the shape of a large meatball) but tender. Meanwhile, their cutlet is perfectly fried with a nice crispness on the outside and then covered with melted cheese. If the chili sauce wasn’t spicy enough for you, they top off the pork cutlet with jalapeño slices which gives you a serious kick.

I guess Combo A is my go-to pick here… I like having the ability to pick and choose different things. Here’s their Pineapple Hamburger Steak and Pizza Pork Cutlet as well as the Pineapple Hamburger Steak and Curry Chicken Cutlet.

The food usually comes out fairly quickly but they do slow down a bit when it gets super busy here.

#205 – 4501 North Rd
Burnaby, BC

www.daejifood.com