Los Angeles: Hangari Kalguksu

Happy New Year, everyone!  New year, new...oh, who am I kidding?  Things haven't magically gotten better once the clock struck midnight.  Which is why we're still under shelter-in-place, Trump still won't concede, and I'm still behind on my posts.  Nothing new there.

Anyway, back to my SoCal trip in October.  We figured we should get our fill of good Korean food while we were in SoCal and so we stopped by Hangari Kalguksu for dinner one night:

The tiny plaza parking lot was INSANE.  It certainly didn't help matters that part of the parking lot was taken up by tables so people could dine outside due to COVID-19 dining restrictions.  Seeing so many people crammed so closely together with only a plastic sheet between them was enough to make us slightly anxious.  We ordered our food and skedaddled back to our Airbnb as quickly as we could.

The lighting at our Airbnb wasn't the best, so please forgive the bad photos that are coming up next.

We ordered the clam kalguksu ($13.99):

The knife-cut noodles came with an anchovy broth with clams, zucchini, kabocha, potato, and green onion.  The broth was rich in clam flavor and the noodles had just the right amount of chew to them.

While I love knife-cut noodles, I love bossam even more.  Just thinking about those glorious slices of boiled pork belly is making my mouth water: 

So soft they just seem to melt in your mouth.  Sigh.  I actually prefer bossam over grilled pork belly.

Hangari's bossam ($32.99 for a medium) came with cabbage leaves and radish kimchi:

It also came with rice, fish cake broth, and other goodies for wrapping:

Put it all together and voila!:

The perfect bite.  Well, the perfect bite for me anyway.  I'm a wimp when it comes to spiciness, so I left out the chili pepper.

The biggest surprise of the night turned out to be the side soup, which had an unexpected kick to it.  I was completely fooled by how innocent it looked!  Which just goes to show that you can't judge a book by its cover.  

Or a dish's spiciness by its color.

Hangari Kalguksu

3470 West 6th Street, Suite 9 and 10

Los Angeles, CA 90020

(213) 388-2326

https://www.hangarikalguksu.com/