Restaurant Review: Sobban
Last week's weather/non-weather event kept our dining adventures close to home. However, if I were picking a spot to revisit, Sobban would be at the top of my list. If you live in Atlanta and you love Heirloom BBQ, a Korean take on Southern BBQ, you will LOVE Sobban! This is the second restaurant venture for the Heirloom BBQ owners and since its opening, it's been getting rave reviews. Imagine a Korean take on "diner" food, and you'll be close to what you'll find here.We ventured into the space on a super cold night, so we had to skip patio seating in favor of waiting for an inside seat! We hovered around a heat lamp by the front door since, like Heirloom, the space is small and the food is popular.
We started with the kimchi pancake with shrimp, calamari, and fish. The dish has serious kick and is a must try if you're there. YUM!Next up, and part of the reason I was excited about our visit, were the dumplings (Gogi Goon Mandu). Someone had written how these little guys were like soup dumplings, and I had visions of the dumplings I had found at Denver's ChoLon. Alas, these were plenty tasty, but not at all soup-ish. "Just" solid yummy dumplings!!If you're going to judge a diner, you have to start with their fried chicken. At Sobban they serve the chicken with a sweet chilli ginger sauce that will make your tongue dance. Again, as with every dish, you need to appreciate heat to love this dish (and we do!). Can't you just see the flavors?!!We cooled our mouths with the kimchi rice, which was NOT your average bowl of rice. The hottest dish of the evening was the braised cod. The spices were perfect for this flaky fish. This restaurant is NOT for the person who likes bland food. However, if you can take heat in your dishes, the ingredients aren't bizarre or scary, so you should go for it!