Yu Chun Bunsik

Yuchun Bunsik

10031 Garden Grove Blvd.

Garden Grove, CA 92844

yuchun.site.mobi/en

Yelp

I wasn't much of a foodie back in college.  Probably because any meal over $10 was kind of a lot of money back then.  I didn't really seek out the best of the best as I do now.  I think I was just discovering different kinds of cuisines and building my own palate.  One cuisine that was really new to me back then was Korean food.  My mom does not like spicy food and my dad disliked the "strange" flavors of Korean food.  Thus, it wasn't until I struck out on my own as a college kid and/or dated a Korean guy that I discovered what Korean food was really about.  It probably also helped living next to the biggest and best destination for Korean food outside of Korea, LA's very own Koreatown.  One of my very favorite Korean dishes is naengmyun, cold spicy noodles.  The best naengmyun can be found at Yu Chun Chic Naengmyun.  Nowhere else are the noodles as chewy, the sauce as perfectly balanced between salty, sweet, tangy, funky, and the pickled accoutrements as flavorful and crunchy.  My favorite part might actually be the icy chilled broth.  So I was literally over the moon when I heard there was an outpost opened in Garden Grove.  LoMa Linda and Big Head Talks-A-Lot are also Yu Chun fans so were happy to come along.

Banchan

Pretty standard fare.

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San Tung

People RAVE about San Tung.  "Best wings ever!" "Crack wings" "Hour long wait for the best meal of my life" blah blah blah.  You know this is just a set up for disappointment right?  I've had some mighty tasty wings in my life, Crisp in Chicago and Pok Pok in Portland.  The latter, being my favorite of the two places.  But Running Man and Triple F looooove San Tung and they are some heavy hitting foodies.  They catered the Twin Tornadoes one year birthday party with food from San Tung.  So the wings weren't piping fresh when I tried them, but I believe the flavor was still there and I was unimpressed.  Korean Chinese food is usually a cuisine I have difficulty appreciating.  It comes off as bad Chinese food, almost Americanized in its overly saccharine sweetness.  I'm sure its not meant to come off this way, I'm just not accustomed to its taste.

Dry Black Bean Sauce Noodles

This is actually one of the few dishes at Korean Chinese restaurants that I really like...when its done well.  Here it was just ok.  You'd imagine that a sauce so black and thick would be loaded with flavor, buuuut its really not, at least not this one.  The noodles could have been chewier, more al dente.  I really like the version at Dragon in LA.

Dry Sauteed String Beans

The beans were not good that night.  Save for that, it would have been your standard fare.

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Del Seoul

Almost all the Chicago restaurants I tried were recommended to me by various friends and family.  Del Seoul was a place I found on Yelp.  It looked pretty delicious and reminiscent of Kogi.  It was a bit far from our hotel but we cabbed it pretty easily.  Seriously, we spent so much in cab fare in the short 5 days we were in Chicago.  Buff Bear and Mega Man joined us once again for a casual lunch at this order-and-take-a-number type of joint.

Seoul Style Street Dumplings

Meh, pretty average.  I have better frozen store bought dumplings at home.

Kimchi Fries kimchi, onions, pork belly, scallions, melted cheddar and jack cheese, sour cream
Buff Bear was a big fan of these. While they were pretty tasty, they were kind of a gut buster.  Surprisingly, the cheese and kimchi went together and wasn't too overwhelming.  I could have skipped them though.

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Crisp

Knowing this trip to Chicago would have a heavy focus on eating, I wanted to make sure we didn't feel overwhelmed and weighed down by food.  I didn't want eating to turn into a burden.  So I tried hard to find "lighter" more casual fare for our lunches.  Crisp offered a variety of rice bowls, burritos, sandwiches, and DAMN DELICIOUS wings.  We really should have skipped the rest and stuck to the wings, but I'm not usually one who can eat just a bunch of wings, that is until I had the ones at Crisp!

Seoul Sassy Chicken Wings

I don't know what sort of mutant chickens Crisp gets their wings from, but these guys were huge!  I guess I was expecting something along the size of buffalo wings.  These had the perfect balance of sugar and soy sauce with kicked up flavors from garlic, onions, and whatever other aromatics used.  They were crispy and just a little spicy.  My mouth is watering just remembering them.

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Ferry Building Farmer's Market

So after an awesome dinner at Gary Denko, we woke up the next morning wondering what our next food adventure might be.  We had reservations for Bottega in Napa Valley at 5pm, so we didn't want to eat anything too heavy or too filling.  Triple F suggested the Farmer's Market where we could just try some small things here and there and still have space for carbo loading later in the day at Bottega.  I had been to the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building before, but never to eat real food.  

I remember watching Anthony Bourdain feast at Primavera.  I was having a craving for Mexican food, so I figured now was the time to see if Anthony Bourdain knew what he was talking about.  As you can see, this ain't no $1 taco stand.

Primavera Chilaquiles Guanajuato organic local scrambled eggs, refried beans, sour cream, avocado, white onions, cilantro
Everything was kinda whatever.  I think I've had better chilaquiles.  The other members of the H.o.P. could not understand what possessed me to stand in such a long line for such unimpressive eats.  I blame it on Anthony Bourdain, but maybe I shoulda had the tamales which is the more popular option here.

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Du Kuh Bee

Aside from dumplings, Portland is also lacking good Korean food.  I'm sure nothing compares to LA's Koreatown except Korea itself.  It's amazing how Korean food used to be something so foreign and weird tasting to something I really love.  I guess it's cuz I have a penchant for stinky things and Korean food is full of that.  Anyways, Du Kuh Bee isn't a true Korean place, but rather a Korean-Chinese place, maybe?  I'm not sure.  They are known for these delicious fresh hand pulled noodles.  I've never seen anything like that in any Korean restaurant.  But then they serve kimchi and galbi.  And then they have mapo tofu and fried rice.  Go figure.  Du Kuh Bee is seriously like one little Korean family running a little kitchen.  Service is on the slow side because dad pulls the noodles and mom does everything else.  Don't go if you're starving.

Kimchi
Nom nom nom

Dumplings
Pretty standard.

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Galbijjim

So after discovering the deliciousness of galbijjim at Seongbukdong, I had Korean savory fall-off-the-bone tender meat on my mind.  It was never anything I thought I could recreate at home.  The Pouter and I discussed that a pressure cooker was probably involved in making such a culinary treasure.  But I actually came across a pretty manageable recipe on Manngchi.com.  So off to H Mart I went.  Yes, there is an H Mart in Portland!

I bought a family pack of short ribs because it was on sale.  The other half is in my freezer waiting for some inspiration.

There was a WHOLE LOT OF FAT that I had to trim off the meat.  Some pieces were mutilated because they were soo fatty, so after all the trimming, there wasn't much left but a big bone and some meat dangling off.

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Feng Mao Mutton Kebab

Who knew there were Chinese people in Ktown?!  I surely did not, but slowly I have come across a few native Koreans who grew up in China or vice versa.  I've had my fare share of Chinese-Korean food, mostly in the form of jja jiang myun at Dragon Restaurant.  For some reason, another popular Chinese-Korean dish is sweet and sour pork.  I can't really understand why, since it tastes like Americanized Chinese food.  Anyways, I digress, since I'm here to talk about a whole different food experience when it comes to the genre of Chinese-Korean cuisine, namely mutton!

Mutton?  No, that's not dog meat, but rather sheep.  Apparently lamb is meat of a sheep in its first year, while mutton is adult sheep.  At Feng Mao, they specialize in grilled meat skewers, varying from mutton, of course, to chicken, beef, and all sorts of offal.

Ban Chan
What Korean meal would be complete without some side dishes?  The offering wasn't very extensive here and I was really craving something to vary up the taste of grilled meats in my mouth.

Gye Gran Jjim egg custard soup
Pretty standard.

Gun Bae or Gan Bay?  Who cares?  Drink up!

Skewered Meat mutton, chicken, beef, kidney, heart
Some reviews recommended 10 skewers per person.  Sounds like a lot right?  I can't remember how many I ate, but it's like eating popcorn, you just pop 'em in your mouth and before you know they're all gone!  I don't think I ate quite as many as 10, but I'm damn sure The Bottomless Pit had his fair share.

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Seongbukdong

The Pouter knows whats up when it comes to food.  She was the one who recommended Seoul Garden to me and I have loved that place ever since.  So when she raved about Seongbukdong, I knew it had to be good.  What is this strange sounding place, you may ask?  Well Seongbukdong specializes in galbijim or Korean braised short ribs.  I am happy to say I was NOT disappointed, and neither were my friends, Nancy Rheeeeeee, LoMa Linda, and Big Head Talks A Lot.


Brown Rice
I just had to include this picture of what they call brown rice.  Anybody would tell you that this rice is purple!

Banchan 
Pretty standard fare.

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Seoul Garden

There are few times in my foodie life when other people show me the good places to eat in town.  Usually, it's the other way around since I make it my mission to know about and dine at all the best spots in LA.  So it was really nice to discover something delicious in Seoul Garden at the recommendation of The Pouter.  I've been here many times since and I've been able to share this place with other friends.  On this occasion, I brought LoMa-Linda here to enjoy Seoul Garden's specialty, Korean style shabu shabu. 

Salad
Nothing particularly special, but just your standard iceberg lettuce with tangy creamy dressing.


Banchan




Dipping sauce
Japanese shabu shabu is usually served with a soy based sauce and a peanut/sesame sauce.  At Seoul Garden, you only get one sauce, which is a slightly tangy and sweet soy sauce.  It can get a little tiring eating your meat with just one flavor, but the sauce tastes great with everything.

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Yu Chun Chic Naeng Myun

I never knew about Korean food until I got to college.  My first experience was not a great one.  I was really put off by all the strong, pungent, and spicy flavors.  Since then I've really grown accustomed to the flavors, and have really learned to appreciate the bold taste of Korean cuisine.  I would say these days, Korean food holds a special place in my heart.  I'm not just talking Korean BBQ folks.  Sure I enjoy meat, but I also enjoy other things such as naeng myun.  I will always be grateful to my ex for taking me to Yu Chun Chic Naeng Myun.  For me, its the best naeng myun in town.   I encourage you to take that statement with a grain of salt since I am not Korean, so what do I know?  It's like when a non-Vietnamese person tells me where to find the best pho.  In my mind, I'm thinking "Oh silly rabbit!  What do YOU know about pho?"

All I know is that I have not had any other naeng myun like the one that is served here.  I was told that the noodles are not made from buckwheat like the usual cold noodles, but in fact are made from arrowroot which supposedly makes them low calorie and healthy?  That's what the ex told me anyways.  

Naeng Myun #2 (#2 has the broth separate, #1 has the broth with the noodles)
The noodles are indescribably toothsome.  I wouldn't call it al dente.  That just doesn't do it justice.  They're slippery while being chewy.  A combination of pickley radishes, cucumbers, a few slices of beef, half a hard boiled egg, a generous sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds, and some crazy delicious spicy red sauce makes up the rest of the dish.  It's flavor-packed heaven in a cold metal bowl! 

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Soowon Galbi

I haven't traveled the world. I have barely even traveled the country, but I'm just gonna put it out there.  Where is there better Korean food, or at least as wide a selection of Korean food, than LA?  Of course, I'm excluding Korea obviously.  Good food is born out of fierce competition to be the best.  There is a lot of that going in LA's Koreatown.   Korean bbq joints are a dime a dozen in Ktown.  You'll find one on every block.  I always wonder how any of them stay afloat.  I guess one could say the same about Pho restaurants in Little Saigon.  They're everywhere!  I guess everyone just has their personal favorite.  My favorite Korean bbq joints are Soowon Galbi and Shik Do Rak.  I haven't been to Shik Do Rak in a while, favoring the newer cleaner Soowon Galbi.  I'm pretty sure there are better bbq places, but I haven't been motivated to find any new ones.  Once you eat the galbi here, you'll be satisfied to make this place your own too.

It was an occasion to dine here, because Zhu Zhu Hamster was in town.  I called up The Communist to make it a girl's night out.  By that, I mean eating till we drop, not drinking or partying because I'm so boring like that.  The Communist invited Soprano Man.  I was like, "Oh fine, I see how it is!"  So then I called out Wontuan who begrudgingly drove his pale ass up from the LBC.  It turns out Zhu Zhu Hamster called out #1 Fan to join as well.  What started out as a private 3 person affair turned out to be a mish mosh group of 6.  Anymore and I would have been annoyed.  I do not dine in groups large than 6 when I intend to enjoy the food and specific company of the people around me.  In any case, it turned out to be a really fun night and I'm glad everyone brought a date.

The spread...


Hae Mul Pa Jun seafood pancake
Pretty standard.  Packed with seafood, onions, and crispy goodness.

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Ondal 2

You're probably thinking, how's Ondal 1?  That is a question I have no answer, but I would guess it's probably closer to Ktown than this place.  Yes folks, this very KOREAN restaurant is not really located in the general vicinity of Koreatown.   There's a lot of Hispanic businesses around.  In any case, the place was filled with Koreans, so we knew it had to be good.  It's a place many have been wanting to try, but requires bigger parties.  Ondal 2 is known for their spicy crab soup.  When you walk into the restaurant, you know for sure that there is definitely some seafood cooking.  The air is rich with that indescribable delicious ocean smell.  Hates Asian Food, The Communist, Soprano Man, Buff Bear, and myself gathered for some seafood spicy soup goodness.

Salad


Pan Chan
All pretty standard...


...but this was my favorite.

Tofu spicy sauce
We loved how the tofu still retained the shape of the container from which it came, like a plastic tube.  It was silky smooth and deliciously seasoned with the spicy sauce.


Raw Crab
I don't see this dish too often at many Korean restaurants.  I've only had it at So Kong Dong, but I never like it much there.  Here, it was ok.  Maybe my taste for Korean things is just growing.

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Kogi Taco Truck

So I thought I was one of the last people to try Kogi, but apparently there's still tons of people who hadn't even heard of Kogi until recently. One such person is my old roomie. She too is a foodie and I remember when we first started rooming together she told me it was nice that I liked to eat cuz her previous roomie was not much of an eater. She liked to eat. I liked to eat. She liked to cook. I liked to cook. She liked to bake. I liked to bake. What a pair! Haha. I kid, but its always nice to be around people who have similar interests. More and more, my life becomes centered around food. So I find myself gravitating toward fellow foodies.

On this foodie journey, my old roomie and I planned to chase down Kogi and Marked5. Marked5 you ask? It's like japanese burgers on rice buns. That's about the extent of my knowledge. First stop Kogi. Luckily we got there just as it parked and started setting up, so the line wasn't bad at all.




The menu:


My roomate and I weren't sure of what to get and of how much to get. Especially since we planned on eating more at our 2nd stop, Marked5, we wanted to plan appropriately so as not to overeat. We got 2 tacos each. 1 beef, 1 pork for me and 1 beef, 1 tofu for old roomie. We were concerned that that might not be enough and that if we wanted more we would be stuck in a longass line. So we also got sliders to split.



I chomped on the sliders first. The flavors were immediately mouthwatering, and my first thought was like "All the hype is true! This stuff is well worth the wait!" Well-marinated beef and a perfectly complimenting veggie/salad toppings. After a while, the bun became soggy and didn't seem to compliment the filling as well. So I moved onto to the tacos.



What was in the slider was the same thing in the taco. Also delicious! I've heard complaints that it all tastes the same. Different meats that are masked in the same flavors since all are slathered in the same sauce with the same veggie toppings. Point well taken. Stuff still tastes good tho! Again after a while i got sick of the taco and just ate the filling and I began thinking to myself. Gosh this would all taste great with some rice! Haha. Maybe next time I'll sneak over my own rice and dump out the filling onto my own rice.

Mmmm, spicy pork taco!


So old roomie had read on their website that they have some special dessert, called chocolate tres leches. I was unimpressed by the appearance. It looked sooooo homemade and sorta suspicious. Wrapped in plastic in a tin foil cup. It was really good tho. Like a chocolate cake I've never had. I can't even describe what about it was different. Certainly the topping of "spiced peanut brittle with toffee, cocoa pebbles, cinnamon toast crunch" was good. You wouldn't really know there was cereal in there. There was also some creamy center with some tapioca balls which was a little weird but really didn't add or detract from the overall deliciousness. I think that makes it the tres leches, but my favorite part is the cake. And it's all yours for $4.





Mmmmmm, chocolaaaaaaaate.....


Anyways, you won't be seeing pics from Marked5 cuz those bastards up and moved from their posted/planned location. My poor friends who I was gonna meet up with even got there before I did and had to break the news that there was no such Marked5 truck at the Venice location. Instead they were over by Robertson and Olympic. I was disappointed and this caused our food truck chase to come an abrupt end. It probably was for the better since old roomie and I were pretty full from all the Kogi-ness. Ironically I did see the Marked5 truck on my way back home and was tempted to stop but I was angry they ruined my plans and didn't want to give them any business for the night. They looked pretty empty anyways. Anyways, there's always a next time!

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Myung Dong Kyoja

To my 2 readers,
I apologize for the lack of updates. I have been "overworked" and I've been forgetting my camera like crazy. It's very hard to document everything that you eat. Props to all the real food bloggers out there. Now on to the good stuff!

Apparently Myung Dong Kyoja is actually a restaurant chain in Korea, very popular for the "knife cut" noodles also called "kal gook soo"...i think. Whatever, I'm not Korean so don't quote me. Anyways, you will soon find out I love noodles and, well, you know who loves dumplings and this place has em both. What I don't like about this place is the lack of panchan. You go there and you get 2. Their infamous kimchi and some other pickled cabbage/raddish thing. I really love going to a Korean restaurant and getting like 5 or 6 diff things, oh heaven!

So let's start off with their kimchi, rumoured to be a first date's worst nightmare. It is true that this kimchi has two main ingredients, cabbage and GARLIC. Lot's and lot's of garlic. If you even eat just 2 pieces, you'll be burping up garlic fumes for the rest of the night. Despite the stinkiness, I still eat it, not as much as I would at any other korean restaurant but I still power through like the champion I am.





I guess that kimchi balances well with the next which is crisp, sweet/sour, and refreshing.





The mandoo cannot be compared to the chinese xiao long bao. Korean just make their dumplings different. This one in particular has a lot of chives as their base vegetable as opposed to cabbage or kimchi. There is a little bit of juice in the dumpling but I don't think its meant to be a "soup" dumpling. The juice seems mostly like fatty juices as opposed to soup. Some mandoo I've had have big garlic taste but these are pretty clean tasting. My one knock is that it comes in a plastic steamer! Really takes away from the "authentic" feel, but whatever.







Ugh, so the next dish was a hot mess. Ironically, it was a cold noodle dish which I had fair warning about after reading the reviews on yelp. After reading the description as an "acquired taste" or as a "soybean milkshake" with noodles, I wasn't really looking forward to trying. In fact, I didn't want to order it at all, but after 5 trips to this place, the Dumpling man insisted we order it out of undying curiosity. I expected soymilk with noodles, but it really was more like a gritty thick soy shake with noodles. I had 2-3 bites and after that I couldn't pretend to like it anymore.




I spent most of my time eating the "knife-cut" noodles. The noodles are pretty soft and chewy, and ppl say the soup is made with MSG, but my MSG-ometer says the MSG content is very low to non-existent. I'm not screaming for water 30-45 min after dinner. I also enjoy the veggies and ground pork that seems pre-sauteed and then added to the dish. I can never finish one bowl, so it's pretty big. It also comes with dumplings that have the same filling as the steamed dumplings.




The place in general only has like 8 things on the menu, which has been revamped to include pictures of all the dishes. The place is pretty affordable and street parking hasn't been a problem.

Myung Dong Kyoja
3630 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90010
(213) 385-7789
Find it on Yelp

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