Hangari Kalguksu

So good…

Won’t rehash the sparse banchan, although the family loved the barley rice. We were here for kalguksu and sujebi.

When we lived in NYC, we used to get the most amazing kalguksu and sujebi in KTown. It was hard to find in the Bay Area, where we moved to next for over a decade, so I was quite excited when we moved to Socal. But, I’ve mostly been eating Korean food in South Bay, and to put it bluntly, the k / s we’ve found has not been good.

This weekend, we went to Hangari and were not disappointed. Got excited to see a deep throng of people and as we soon found out, for good reason. Deep fragrant broth, redolent of chicken and garlic. Slightly chewy kalguksu that stayed chewy even as the bowl remained hot throughout the meal. Even better sujebi… God these were so good. Squares of pappardelle-thick dough that had so much texture. And the half chicken was delicious and not overcooked, as can happen in soups.

Afterwards, but Sul and Beans, which has become a family favorite… Would love other bingsoo recs! And hit Somi Somi, which continues to be meh for me. Reminds me of eating cold, sweet butter with minimal hints of the intended flavor.

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Somi Somi’s “soft serve” is really unfortunate, because that cone is great. I usually just get the bungeoppang/taiyaki. They seem to come out best when there’s less filling and they cook a little longer. The one time I got ice cream, I liked how the cone got extra browned on the outside and inside. I wonder if you can just get some empty cones and BYOIC.

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Da maat in Torrance does a pretty decent kalgooksoo

I assume you went to the DTLA branch? If you ever go to Garden Grove there are ample opportunities for some great bang bangs. Oc & Lau and Morangak are blocks away.

I’ve yet to find a good ice cream shop in that area. We usually end up at Mochinut or the Matcha Cafe Miko for boba or pretty good but limited soft serve flavors.

I was lukewarm on the Da Maat version. Noodles and ingredients were fine, but didn’t like the taste of the soup. I do love the seafood pancake there though!

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Yeah, DTLA. But didn’t know about the Garden Grove branch, which may end up being faster to get to for us. Ooh, but Matcha Cafe seems right up our alley!

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