BAB Korean Bistro Malden — Restaurant in Malden

I grew up around NY/NJ where I've been spoiled with plenty of good Korean restaurants and stores. I've been looking for a good Korean restaurant around Boston/Cambridge, and this is a solid go-to.

I went to get dinner with my friend. The owner and employees were very kind and kept checking to make sure we were okay, which I appreciated. There's not a lot of space to sit inside so I would plan for that. As for parking, the restaurant is right next to a parking lot free to customers. There was plenty of parking when we went.

I'll start with the banchan (side dishes). There's not a lot but they were all tasty, and I'd much rather have a few but really good side dishes.

Now, I have to highlight the kimchi. It's funny how I've been to many Korean restaurants and the kimchi was bad or just okay when it's one of the most important parts of Korean cuisine. At BAB, the kimchi was fresh, spicy and perfectly fermented. I heard that the kimchi is made in-house, and while I can't confirm that, I wouldn't be surprised if that was true.

We got the kimchi pajeon (pancake), mandu gguk (came with rice), and dolsot bibimbap with beef. The pajeon was huge and delicious. There was plenty of mandu in my soup, and my friend had plenty of veggies and beef in their bibimbap. They were all tasty and fresh. The value of cost to portion size here is reeeally good. We had leftovers and took home about half the pajeon and bibimbap.

I can't wait to come back and try...

First thought there were lots of parking spaces in the Centre Plaza. Walking into the restaurant it was small. There were three tables on each side. I had to wait in the entry way for my food to finish so I would not block the register from customers. I bought the T1. TTEOK BOKKI my first impression upon opening the dish the smell was overwhelming and not in a good way. The dish did not smell fresh. But I continued anyway.

My first bite of the noodle left me confused. The texture of the noodle was very thick and chewy. The noodles were so chewy that my jaw began to hurt. If you are not too spicy food the sauce will keep you coughing. So, make sure you have water on deck. The egg was the best part of the dish.

I also ordered a rice punch and two other drinks. The consistency of the rice punch was off putting. I am not sure if the Rice Punch can was expired or not but the particles in the drink did not resemble rice. The size of the cans were not your regular size soda cans but the miniature one.

Overall, my experience was a miss with this dish. But my missed does not necessary mean that you won’t enjoy a...

Super excited to have a Korean restaurant in the area with so many options! I dined in this evening with my bf and we ordered a couple entrees and appetizers to try out a variety of what they have to offer. The fried chicken was really good; the sauces were delicious and the pieces of chicken had a great crunch. It’s been many many years since I’ve had Tteok Bokki, we ordered the original flavor and it was just as good as I remember. We also tried the Japchae with chicken, the sauce was really good and it came with a great mix of vegetables. A couple sides came with our entrees, would 100% recommend trying their kimchi - the owner was saying they make it themselves and it was delicious. Overall I was really happy with the experience and am already looking forward to coming back here to try out...