One of my favourite Korean dishes is ‘Ganjang Gejang’ aka raw marinated crabs. Although it can be found in a few restaurants in the Lower Mainland, Jinmi is the first of its kind to open a restaurant specializing in Korean raw marinated seafood. I’ve been a fan of Jinmi for a long time, since they were selling their products online. I was so happy to see that they are opening a brick and mortar spot that I had to be there on opening day to try it out and support. The restaurant has been fully renovated with a beautiful mural on one wall. There is a modern twist with chandeliers from the ceiling, which makes a great contrast with the traditional furnishings. The staff all wear gorgeous hanboks and the cutlery is traditional Korean cutlery. Check out my full review of JINMI Denman below!
What is Ganjang Gejang?
Ganjang gejang is a traditional Korean dish made with fresh raw crabs marinated in soy sauce. The preparation of ganjang gejang involves cleaning live crabs, typically female crabs, and marinating them in a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and other seasonings. The crabs are left to marinate for a period of time to allow the seafood to cure and infuse with the delicious flavours. The result is a dish that is a perfect balance of salty, sweet, and savoury flavors. The texture is melt in your mouth. The soy sauce marinade not only enhances the natural sweetness of the crab meat. But when done correctly it is never too salty.
JINMI Denman – Dinner Menu
For now, JINMI is open for dinner service every day from 4-11PM. Check out their soft opening menu below:
For my visit we decided to try:
- Signature Soy Sauce Marinated Crab Bansang ($58.00)
- Seafood Tomato Gochujang Hotpot ($28.00)
The Signature Soy Sauce Marinated Crab Bansang features their best selling soy sauce marinated female crab, 3 kinds of side dishes, grilled fish, seaweed, rice and soup. There is a minimum order of 2. This is a stunning layout of food with all kinds of delectable Korean speciality foods.
JINMI uses 23 ingredients in addition to their soy sauce and imported Korean soybean and red pepper pastes. They also use premimum female crabs direct from Korea.
The crab was perfect, with tons of roe and not too salty. It pairs so well with the rice. Overall, for the best experience definitely order this set!
We couldn’t resist trying one of Chef J’s famous fusion dishes as well, so we went with the Seafood Tomato Gochujang Hotpot. This dish features seafood in a house made spicy sauce. Ours had prawns, clams and mussels with potatos and zucchini. It was bursting with tomato flavour and a deep rich creamy gochujang flavour. This would pair really lovely with a hot bowl of rice.
Worth a Try?
Absolutely! If you love Korean raw marinated crabs and seafood you need to give this spot a try. It is their soft opening phase so definitely expect a bit of a wait. I went on their first day of opening and the restaurant was bustling. The wait was about 45 minutes. The staff is also in training so service is a bit on the slower side, but they are very earnest in doing their best. The food is what really stands out here in terms of flavours and presentation. Everything we got was an 11/10 and I cannot wait to be back!
JINMI Denman
Address: 854 Denman St, Vancouver, BC V6G 2L8
Website: https://www.jinmi.ca/