Masheel Bistro occupies a narrow storefront on College St. that was formerly Pho Huong. It's a Korean restaurant from first time restaurateur Seyoung Kim, that is serving up an eclectic range of pub grub and Seoulful homestyle dishes.

Inside, the 70-seat dining room is far more spacious than I expected. The walls are tiled in stone, and what looks like asphalt, and the place is cast in the soft glow of candlelight.

The menu opens with salads like the signature Masheel Shining Salad ($8), a mix of curly kale, radicchio, orange supremes, shredded beets and pepitas dressed in a sweet and sour pumpkin seed oil vinaigrette.

From the list of apps there are selections like sweet or spicy wings ($9), tuna tataki ($10), and something called "Apple Shrimp" ($12), which turns out to be battered, deep fried shrimp with sliced apples, tomatoes and mayo. Even after giving it a chance, I'm not convinced that these ingredients belong together.

Next, there's K-pork ($9), billed as fried pork with cheese wrapped in katafi, a fine vermicelli-like pastry, then deep fried. The flavours are okay but the meat is tough while the cheese is indiscernible.

The Korean beef back rib ($22) is a saucy dish featuring three bones smothered in savoury gravy and topped with fried garlic. Boiled new potatoes are appreciated starchy component, but then there's also baby carrots like you get from a bag.

Jjim Dak ($13), a soy-marinated chicken leg cooked slowly until the meat soaks up all the sauce is presented over a base of glass noodles and topped with fried ginger and scallions. In this one, the salty unadulterated flavour of soy sauce really dominates the whole dish.

The drinks from bar manager, Gabriel Jeon are slightly redeeming. The "Manhattan in Korea" ($12) is a blend of soju, bourbon, vermouth and cranberry bitters, and the orb of ice embedded with rosemary and kumquats is a nice touch.

Kimchi (where have you been dear friend?) is a delightful garnish atop the Caesar cocktail ($12) made with soju.

Next up? There's talk of a Korean brunch - bibimbap at breakfast is right up my alley.

Photos by Jesse Milns