Tried this yesterday and it immediately earned favorite status in my book. The knee bone soup (“do ga ni tang”) isnt something you find on many menus as it takes many hours of simmering to break down and soften the collagen. It’s considered a health food. Like an advanced version of sullungtang. Was it just a coindence that my knees felt better for the rest of the day after eating this soup…? Hmmm…
If gelatinous collagen pieces isn’t your thing they also have the same soup with chadol (brisket) which the entire table of three next to me ordered.
The kimchi and kakdugi are indeed excellent but the rest of banchan wasn’t special. But with these milky bone soups, kakdugi is the thing to eat, to cut the richness. Btw that particular type of pepper has little to no heat unless you get lucky (or unlucky, depending on your preference) and get the occasional hot one–maybe one in 50 or so.
As for the metal chopsticks, it is a Korean thing. They can get heavy and slippery foods are really hard to grab (e.g. yam noodles) but I consider them more hygienic and less wasteful than wooden ones or disposable ones which are likely treated with chemicals. At least this place has the fat ones with ridges on the business end unlike the ones my mom has, which are about 2mm wide and get lost in my fingers.
The place is very clean and uncluttered, unlike many other mom and pop Korean joints. The folks running the place couldn’t have been nicer or more sincere. There must have been at least three ajumma and an older gentleman who all came by to make sure I was enjoying the food, without being overbearing or annoying.
Looking forward to going back trying more items.