Introducing: OddSeoul, the new Ossington Korean restaurant from the brothers behind Swish by Han
Hot on the heels of Rock Lobster’s opening, brothers Leemo and Leeto Han have launched Ossington’s newest restaurant, OddSeoul. Those acquainted with their popular Wellington Street American-Korean restaurant Swish by Han will find the hip-hop and reclaimed wood aesthetic familiar, but instead of serving downtown lunchers, OddSeoul is pegged as a place for a night out, complete with mood lighting and bar-height communal tables. Most of the decor was sourced from a friend’s dad’s junkyard, including a host of ’90s boom boxes, a glowing red “Prescriptions” sign and an old Olympic diving board cut down to a bar shelf. The food is of similarly mongrel origins: the Hans are not about pretty plates, but instead try to elevate Korean staples with global flavours.
The focus at OddSeoul is currently on late-night eats, available until 2 a.m. The short night menu includes a flat top–grilled Philly cheese steak sandwich ($7), a lamb ssäm skewer ($3) and fried spicy Korean chicken wings ($5), all individually portioned. At dinnertime, OddSeoul offers a family-style menu, with combo sizes ranging from $20 to $30 per person. Mains include vegetable ssäm and Korean army stew, a dish that emerged from leftover U.S. army food following the Korean war (the Han brothers’ version uses the traditional rice cakes and Spam, but swaps out hot dogs for meaty polish sausages). The brothers are still working out beer and cocktail lists, but expect to see cans of PBR and bottles of 50 alongside fresh takes on classic drinks (their old-fashioned will be called an “Oddfashioned”).
The Han brothers have grand plans for the space. Within the next year, they hope to add a 20-seat backyard enclosed patio and a 25-seat reservations-only second floor, with a possible private rooftop patio too. They’d also like to dedicate the third floor to Korean-style private-room karaoke, and by next summer they hope to be operating during the day as well—which means that, yes, Ossington will soon have another new brunch destination.
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- Korean army stew, available only as part of a dinner combo meal, with rice cakes, Spam and polish sausages
- (Image: Megan Leahy)
- Introducing: OddSeoul
- Introducing: OddSeoul
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- Vegetable ssäm, available only as part of a dinner combo meal
- (Image: Megan Leahy)
- Introducing: OddSeoul
- Introducing: OddSeoul
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- Lamb ssäm skewer with homemade chili paste and mustard-laced yogurt ($3)
- (Image: Megan Leahy)
- Introducing: OddSeoul
- Introducing: OddSeoul
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- Spicy fried Korean chicken wings ($5)<br />
- (Image: Megan Leahy)
- Introducing: OddSeoul
- Introducing: OddSeoul
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- Flat top–grilled Philly cheese steak sandwich with short rib brisket and processed cheese on sandwich bread ($7). The Han brothers grew up in Philladelphia
- (Image: Megan Leahy)
- Introducing: OddSeoul
- Introducing: OddSeoul
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- (Image: Megan Leahy)
- Introducing: OddSeoul
- Introducing: OddSeoul
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- Introducing: OddSeoul
- Introducing: OddSeoul
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- Introducing: OddSeoul
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- Introducing: OddSeoul
- Introducing: OddSeoul
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ODDSEOUL, 90 Ossington Ave., @TO_ODDSEOULS
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/food/oddseoul/&title=Introducing: OddSeoul, the new Ossington Korean restaurant from the brothers behind Swish by Han&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/dec12-Oddseoul-intro-624x395.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_182009" align="aligncenter" width="656"] (Image: Megan Leahy)[/caption]
Hot on the heels of Rock Lobster’s opening, brothers Leemo and Leeto Han have launched Ossington’s newest restaurant, OddSeoul. Those acquainted with their popular Wellington Street American-Korean restaurant Swish by Han will find the hip-hop and reclaimed wood aesthetic familiar, but instead of serving downtown lunchers, OddSeoul is pegged as a place for a night out, complete with mood lighting and bar-height communal tables. Most of the decor was sourced from a friend’s dad’s junkyard, including a host of ’90s boom boxes, a glowing red “Prescriptions” sign and an old Olympic diving board cut down to a bar shelf. The food is of similarly mongrel origins: the Hans are not about pretty plates, but instead try to elevate Korean staples with global flavours.
The focus at OddSeoul is currently on late-night eats, available until 2 a.m. The short night menu includes a flat top–grilled Philly cheese steak sandwich ($7), a lamb ssäm skewer ($3) and fried spicy Korean chicken wings ($5), all individually portioned. At dinnertime, OddSeoul offers a family-style menu, with combo sizes ranging from $20 to $30 per person. Mains include vegetable ssäm and Korean army stew, a dish that emerged from leftover U.S. army food following the Korean war (the Han brothers’ version uses the traditional rice cakes and Spam, but swaps out hot dogs for meaty polish sausages). The brothers are still working out beer and cocktail lists, but expect to see cans of PBR and bottles of 50 alongside fresh takes on classic drinks (their old-fashioned will be called an “Oddfashioned”).
The Han brothers have grand plans for the space. Within the next year, they hope to add a 20-seat backyard enclosed patio and a 25-seat reservations-only second floor, with a possible private rooftop patio too. They’d also like to dedicate the third floor to Korean-style private-room karaoke, and by next summer they hope to be operating during the day as well—which means that, yes, Ossington will soon have another new brunch destination.
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ODDSEOUL, 90 Ossington Ave., @TO_ODDSEOULS
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spam? get a grip
shouldn’t that be mongol origins not ‘mongrel origins’?
This place is not a restaurant….Place was very tiny it was literally a bar with stools…The food was meh… *sigh*..just say its a bar with some okay bar food and I’ll be fine, but do not say its a Korean style food restaurant… STOP!
JK- exactly who are you? All you seem to be preoccupied with is slamming second-generation Korean restaurants, the guise of anonymity allowing you to clearly feel that your bile is morally justified. You wrote the following comment on the opening of Yakitori Bar (pre-ambling it with**READ A REAL AND HONEST REVIEW**), a restaurant I admired for its ambition: “As a Korean, I felt bad for the non-Koreans who never had it and thinking thats (sic) how its suppose (sic) to taste…” Your astonishing lack of insight (not to speak of grammatical ineptitude) does little to shed light on what exactly “Non-Koreans” are missing. Perhaps as the self-appointed ambassador of Korean cuisine, you might consider writing a little more thoughtfully about what constitutes a “Korean style food restaurant” rather than your terribly unhelpful “STOP!”. As a Korean myself, you are an embarrassment to my second-generation heritage.
Swish by Han always brings good food. I was amazed with their drinks menu. Very weird combination but they all taste amazing! I went there twice in a week!! Although it’s not a restaurant…(Please fix the title. It’s a bar)