Precious precious pork at Dae Ji

The word daiji in Japanese means precious. In Korean it means pig. Perhaps both are right. Or at least they are at this little hole in the wall off on Dunsmuir.

Sure the menu features other items, like fried fish, and curry with rice but really, the whole set up is a paean to deep fried pig, specifically in the form of tenderloin, which is butterflied, beaten flat, rolled in panko flakes and deep friend to crunchy juicy perfection before being served to you, the blessed and fortunate consumer.

They’ve even got this remarkable thing that involves layering pork cutlet with kimchi and rolling it up before deep frying it ($7.99). That’s right: it’s like deep fried pork kimchi sushi and it’s genius.

Yes all the walls are a eye-twitching shade of neon orange. But really, who’s looking at them when there’s a pair of perfectly fried pork cutlets in front of your eyes – in such large portions, smothered in some mystery tasty sauce, and kept company by some rice, pickles, spicy mac and cheese, and slaw ($6.99).