Decent Bowl of Noodles in Koreatown?

No soup, no pork (difficult, I know).

Something with parking, if possible.

Any spice or price range.

Much appreciated!

No soup and no pork, well that leaves out pretty much everything! LOL

Off the bag, jap chae

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Cold chewy noodles at Myung Dong Kyoja

The only two types of Korean noodles I can think of that fit this description are
jja jjang myun (some places use pork and some use beef)
bibim naengmyun - spicy cold noodles mixed with veggies and pork

For the jja jjang myun try either the Dragon or Lee’s Noodles. I have a feeling that most are going to use pork but you can pick out these pork pieces pretty easily.

For bibim naengmyun I would go to Park’s. Maybe not necessarily just for the noodles but for the meat and pork belly. It’s still pretty good though.

this place is really spicy. the make a rice cake dish. the rice cakes look and
taste like elongated gnocchi in a spicy looking tomato sauce. you can (and
should) add the mozzarella cheese and cellophane noodles. beware- order
the mild to start.

yup dukk 3603 w 6th st @ normandie

How about the acorn noodle platter at Kobawoo, spicy squid with noodles at Ham Ji Park, or the spicy squid and tofu noodles at Tofu and Noodles?

And then there’s always kimchi cream sauce pasta… :sweat_smile:

a number of choices at ma dang gook soo. especially cold.

cold spicy noodle

cold buckwheat noodle

the prices are a bit dated:

someone’s already suggested chapchae. a few places sell it as a separate order like mapo kkak doo gee

would you include duk boki (rice cakes) in that category? you can find tteokbokki most anywhere near k-town.

ham ji park, better known for the gamjatang & pork ribs also does a pretty good squid noodle dish.

those are a few of the noodles i can think of, no soup, no pork.

went to a food court in a korean mall in k-town with my friend last week.
there were a couple of places that served noodles that fit your criteria.

The name of the mall is KOREATOWN PLAZA
928 S. WESTERN AVE.

one place, in particular, at that food court that offered a number of dishes that meet your critera, was
TOWN NOODLE (their spot is #131), but they were far from the only place for you.

i’m not all that familiar with what authentic Korean food should taste like, so i can’t tell you much more than this.

Spaghetti alle vongole at Ca’brea.

Free parking (behind restaurant at the Ramada Inn)

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Ma Dang Gooksu is still heavenly

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Hangari bajirak kalgooksu, best chicken knife cut noodles in ktown. So happy they expanded and doubled their amount of tables. The wait used to be terrible.

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I like Hangari too. I’ll have to try it again soon to compare. So far Ma Dang is still my favorite.

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i was there earlier this month. wanted to try more of the menu and went with the noodles in anchovy broth. i found it surprisingly subtle.

Not being well-versed in Korean cuisine, I would like to ask those of you who are:

Are the “subtle” (I dare even call them overly light) preparations of some Korean dishes done so intentionally, so that the eater may add appropriate amount of spice/funk/post-edit to personalize to their own palate just before consuming? A recent personal example was my experience at Mountain Cafe in Ktown: I received a very light abalone congee, and also a very subtle ginseng chicken soup. As a point of reference, I think the Chinese versions of these dishes are “denser”, flavor-wise, than the Korean version served here, and do not require any further modification for me to enjoy them.

Either that, or my taste buds are getting whack with age. Could be just that. (In which case: Sriracha-buddy, you’re coming with me…" :slight_smile: )

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There are some soups based dishes that are purposely either bland or lightly salted. I’m not sure why that is but that’s how I grew up with them. These are the ones of the top of my head that require the eater to add salt and seasoning
Sullongtang - add salt and radish kimchee
Kalgooksoo - add the soy sauce green onion red pepper sesame seed mixture
Samgyetang - add salt and gochujang

It’s an interesting question because there are other soup dishes that are always preseasoned like dduk mandoo gook and sujaebi (dough flake soup). But these dishes have some type of anchovy or soy sauce that might be harder for eater to season themselves.

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I think it’s so that you can, and should (?), be pairing them with the banchan.

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i’m at sun nong dan (in SG) about once a week taking advantage of the $6.99 breakfast soup special (7-10:30am), and for me, the flavoring of the soup (whether it’s sul long tang or do ga ni tang) has become a ritual; two little scoops of salt (but i taste before adding the second scoop) 1/2 scoop of black pepper, three spoonfuls of green onion, and a tablespoon of the radish kimchi banchan juice. it’s a surprisingly personal experience and i suspect that that is part of the appeal as a comfort dish. it’s simple while still individualized and the routine becomes part of the generational memory, if that makes any sense.

then there’s the banchan. i’ve seen some at breakfast use scissors to cut the cabbage into bite size pieces. i’ve observed others wrapping their cabbage kimchi around a ball of brown rice. both habits were new to me, but i suspect that if asked, they’d respond “i’ve done this ever since i was a kid.”.

For Korean noodles, no soup means cold mixed noodles of some sort. The only exception would be jjajangmyeon, which Koreans would consider Chinese food (and I think is always pork).

Jjolmyeon and Bibim Naengmyeon are pretty common and I feel like they’re pretty good wherever you find them. My wife likes the Jjolmyeon at Hodori and at the little kimbap stand at the back of the California Market, for example.
Bibim guksu is basically the same thing with a soft wheat noodle. The kimbap stand is good for that too.

I like Jjaengban guksu - it’s a salad-like platter of stuff to mix together, where one of the items is a noodle. It’s common in Korea, but around here it seems like you run into it as a modified version of some other dish.
Andong Gooksi’s version of bibim guksu is like a jjaengban guksu with extra noodles. It ends up being a less spicy, more salad-y and light version of the typical spicy mixed noodles.
Another hidden jjaengbang guksu I like is Dan Sung Sa’s version of golbaengi muchim (spicy sea snail mixed salad), which includes noodles to mix in.