Went to the Wild Ginger a couple days ago, which is hidden away in the midst of the food court at Tinseltown. There's a bar area up front, and further in is the restaurant area with a view of the street below.

Their menu posted near the entrance, as well as most of their specials, seem to be catered to the Caucasian market (i.e. typical Chinese takeout type of food), but I was delighted to find that they also have a good selection of Cantonese dishes. About a third of their menu is 'fusion fare', although I'm not entirely sure exactly which cuisines are being fused.

We tried the "Mayo Mayo" from the fusion menu (fried prawns with a sweet mayo sauce, over crispy onion slivers), which came with fried rice shaped like a swimming carp. Definitely not healthy but super delicious! We also had a satay chicken chow mein, which was nice and light, not too greasy or salty.

Pricing is a little higher than expected ($15-20 for dinner dishes), although the portion size is quite large and makes up for it. Their "light weight" dishes, lunch dishes and specials are cheaper ($5-10), although I haven't tried any.

Overall, it was a surprising find, and I certainly wouldn't mind coming back here to try more of their delicious food!

Their vegetarian selection is limited they told a noodle dish was vegetarian so I ordered it only to find out later that it had small chunks of egg in it. I was horrified. Now I just order the stir fried vegetables.

It is a pretty elegant looking place. Very high class and you feel like you are in Asia. I've been here for birthdays and pre fireworks dinners. It's a nice affordable place.

We tried this restaurant on a whim after viewing the unsavoury offerings available from the mall food court vendors. Definitely worth taking a chance on, as it has come to be one of our favourite restaurants!

We have only had one item on the menu and that is because it is so delicious that we simply don't want anything else. The Korean BBQ Meat Lover's platter for 2. Oh, my goodness.

It comes with spicy tofu soup, rice and a condiment sampler with kimchee, daikon, spinach salad and pickled ginger.

The nice thing about this meal is that it is served in courses, with the soup first and everything else following after. With the soup you have a choice of beef, pork or seafood. It's very spicy with lots of tofu, and it definitely stimulates the appetite.

At this restaurant you have the choice of grilling the meats yourself on the tabletop grill or having the chef prepare it for you. We have always had the chef cook ours (what's the fun in eating out if you have to cook?) and it's always perfect.

The platter is ridiculously huge and has a variety of meats including beef, chicken, pork, and chicken wings. We don't eat pork and they have always been willing to substitute that item for something else. The meats are accompanied by a generous portion of grilled onions and peppers.

The taste is just delectable! The meats are grilled to perfection with a slightly sweet Korean BBQ glaze, and the smoky flavour is perfect. The beef is also very tender, which is a bonus.

The only complaint I would have is that they could be a little bit more generous with the condiments (kimchee, etc). Really, that is the only thing we have to complain about - everything else is awesome.

The service is consistently good, with polite servers who will take the time to explain things to you if you are not familiar with Korean food. Also, they do dish out the soup for you at the table which is a nice touch.

The ambiance is very subdued and classy with a nice view of Science World and the surrounding area. The washrooms are also very clean if you pay attention to that sort of thing. :)

All in all it is a great place to try, especially for anyone who is new to Korean food. You'll be back!

Passable eating experience if you're taking in a movie at Tinseltown and don't have enough to eat elsewhere downtown. Had lunch here on my first visit and it was quite underwhelming - friendly-ish service kinda made up for some very tasteless food...with a name like Wild Ginger you'd be hoping for better...the menu has a lot of stir fry this and that but most of it's all being seasoned with the same generic brand hoisin and sweet chili sauce. Was a bit better when I tried the dinner menu, wasn't planning on eating here again but I was strapped for time and the food fair was just too depressing for my girlfriend and I - cooks seemed a bit more inspired on the evening shift, food went from mediocre to average in my books. My issue with this place is how much you end up paying for average tasting food in a city like Vancouver where you've got some amazingly tasty asian food at rock bottom prices all over the place. Not the worst in town but since it's the only place to avoid crackheads and other assorted vagrants while eating at Tinseltown it seems to stay in business...definitely a location reliant place, they'd be sunk anywhere else.

Like some of the other reviewers initially I was apprehensive about trying Wild Ginger because of the lack of activity at the foyer/bar. However, after reading these reviews I decided to try the restaurant.

It isn't really fusion; it's lots of Chinese dishes and a few Korean bbq platters. We tried the meat platter for $34.99 which includes tofu soup and bbq short ribs, beef, chicken, chicken wings, pork, and vegetables.

The soup was nice as it was a generous size and there was lots of tofu. As the platter is supposed to be bbq I expected to grill the food myself, but everything was already cooked! Using Korean bbq in the name is the restaurant is misleading, but it was OK.

I really like Korean bbq short ribs, but these short ribs were not marinated in the traditional marinade and I didn't like that. I detected a kimchee essence on both the short ribs and the beef. I usually gauge Korean bbq quality by the short ribs and these failed.

I liked the chicken the most followed by the pork, short ribs, beef, and chicken wings. All of the meat was too salty, but the chicken wings were bad for your kidneys salty.

There were only two servers and they were constantly running about. One extra server would have been really helpful. The service started out good, but it gradually deteriorated. It took a long time to get the bill and pay, but asides from that the service was good.

The decor is modern and nice, but the acoustics are off. It seemed as though everyone was whispering and some music to soften the ambiance would have been appreciated.

The price was good and if you have never been to a good Korean restaurant Wild Ginger will do. The food was OK, but I wouldn't go again.

Wild Ginger is a Korean/fusion restaurant in International Village. It's a great alternative to the food court.

There's a bar with sports on TV at the entrance but, once you're inside, it's quiet and truly tranquil. There's soft music, dark grey stone tiles and Asian decoration. The place is large with high ceilings, quite relaxing.

Service is friendly and prompt, and the food arrives quickly. We're vegetarians. There are several veg options on the menu, and they will also adapt some recipes. For example, "egg-planet" is usually eggplant and ground beef; they will make it with soft tofu instead. Nuns and Monks, and Rainforest soup are also very good. My stepsons usually order a chicken dish which they like.

There is a decent dessert selection, full drink menu and also a variety of white, green or black teas. These are fun as they come in a glass pot with flowers in the tea. The peach tea is wonderful.

Food portions are generous and we often have leftovers to take home.

Even better, parking is free! Take your parking stub to the restaurant or any other merchant in International Village for authorization. This is a nice, relaxing place to eat before or after a movie at Tinseltown. We never get tired of the food.

Didnt wanna go in at first glance at the entrance since it looks like another food court counter around it. But the food is decent and the price is ok. Portion is quite big too.

Most surprising is the decoration is totally different from how it looks like at the entrance area. Quite nice environment.