Soban - 1st timer’s visit in December 2019:
At $40 for the Spicy Galbi Jjim beef stew, Soban’s version during my weeknight visit was extremely disappointing - shiitake mushrooms not fully soaked, nor cooked. Beef was on the tough side and no different from the criticism often directed towards Sun Nong Dan. From what I read, unlike the version produced by the original founding chefs (the present ones are the 2nd owners), this version lacked chestnut and pine nuts.
I ate half and took the rest home — I ended up cooking it for at least 45 minutes on the stove so the beef and shiitake mushrooms became fork tender, added more gochjang, Korean chili pepper powder and topped it off with sliced raclette cheese a la Majordōmo style, not a bad way to salvage a mediocre dish.
The banchan @Chowseeker1999 raved about in her review were the best banchan side dishes I’ve had in SoCal so far. Although not as varied and plentiful as Genwa’s generous 23 plates, Soban’s assortment of one dozen were delicious and balanced without overwhelming my palate with cloying sweetness, nor mouth puckering sour flavors. Loved the fact it was no msg so I might come back in the future for grilled fish so I can enjoy the banchan at Soban again.
As for Galbi Jjim beef short ribs, I don’t know if my outlier experience at Soban was just a fluke or not, but I’m not interested in retrying. I thought Seongbukdong’s traditional version of Galbi Jjim cooked in soy sauce was quite good, but that was around 5 years ago and I’m not sure the level of cooking there is still the same.