Sokongdong

2716 W Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90189
(213) 380-3737

Sokongdong is one of many soondubu houses in Koreatown LA. it’s located in the plaza right behind Hodori and Nak Won. on a sunday nite it wasnt very crowded.. and they seated our group of 9 with no problems. there aren’t many decorations inside the restaurant either. it almost reminds me of some of the small chinese places that only serve noodle soup or that kind of thing. that’s no problem because it might mean they specialize on serving very authentic tastes, which really has nothing to do with their ability to decorate. in a lot of cases, it’s these small hole-in-the-wall places that have the best food.

the menu is really simple. there’s all the usual varieties of soondubu, they also have bulgoki and spicy raw crab. i didn’t try the crab.. i wasnt in the adventurous mood tonight. i’ve been craving korean food for a while so all i had my mind on was the kimchi. i was surprised, though, that they didn’t offer a soondubu/meat dish combo like they usually do in other places.

WHAT I ORDERED: Kimchi Soondubu w/Pork (medium spicy).

so before i review this, let me get one thing straight. i’m not really a big fan of soondubu. i actually crave kimchi jigue constantly because i practically lived off it when i was in baltimore. but since soondubu is really popular out here in southern california, and there’s a million soondubu houses out here, kimchi jigue is never on the menu unless i go to a traditional restaurant that offers a larger menu.

ok well the meal starts out like all korean meals… with banchan.. which were pretty standard. they had the kimchi, cucumber, fish cake, etc. and i thought they were pretty decent. i liked the kimchi. they didn’t have the potato salad that i always like, though, but not all places serve that so it’s ok. rice is also served in a stone pot, which is transferred to a steel bowl by the server.

now the main dish, kimchi soondubu with pork, i thought was a bit bland. it wasn’t watered-down in consistency, but i thought it just lacked flavor. it might have been partly because i ordered it medium spicy, and i usually have it very spicy, but that still should not affect the amount of flavor in the soup. i also noticed there was too little kimchi and too much tofu. the tofu was pretty good, though, and was soft and silky.

as a dish, you can’t really mess up on soondubu too bad.. i mean it always tastes pretty good at any legit korean restaurant. so at Sokongdong it didn’t taste bad at all, and i finished the whole thing feeling satisfied. however, comparing it with the other soontofu places i’ve been to around the LA area, for me it ranks toward the bottom rung. maybe we caught them on a bad day but that’s my opinion from this experience. it was a bit disappointing because i saw some really good reviews for this place. so long, Sokongdong. i probably wouldn’t go back again if it were my choice.

and i should also point out.. at the very end of the meal, they add hot water to the stone pots with leftover rice. this used to kinda confuse me since a lot of places just serve rice directly in a steel bowl. but if it’s in a stone bowl, they add water and scrape the leftover rice from the sides to make this rice-water after-meal dish. im not a big fan of it, but who knows, maybe it will grow on me eventually.

so overall, a thumbs down because i think there’s definitely better places in ktown. i had a pretty good impression of Nak Won and BCD, and they are open 24 hours and offer a larger menu. and there’s also Young Dong Tofu in san gabriel and Tofu House in monterey park that have pretty decent soondubu and are closer to my area. but those are just my impressions. maybe if i actually try and review them my opinions will change.

SUMMARY
Pros: Good kimchi, fast seating and service
Cons: Bland soondubu with not enough kimchi and too much tofu
Grade: 5/10