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Chodang, a closer look
Aloha!
9/3/09 - Lucky you live Hawaii!
A three-minute drive from my home leads you here, to world-famous Hanauma Bay. The crater that forms it makes for a gorgeous climb, perfect for power hiking and getting-in a little cardio. I sure need it these days, too, with all this eating I'm doing.
Enter Chodang, at the Ala Moana Shopping Plaza, right next to Ala Moana Center. Just another spot to keep pushing my belt one step further, is all. I've not seen this place in one television commercial, one newspaper, one magazine, nor one brochure. In fact, I've never even heard of this place at all, until wifey brought it to my attention a few days ago, after having lunch there with one of her work friends. It's surprising how some places don't need any advertising at all, and Chodang happens to be one such place. Though we arrived at almost 2pm, it was still loaded with people, and I had to wait until we were finished eating before they began leaving and a more opportune time for picture-taking presented itself. And even then, these empty seats didn't stay empty for long, despite it being just past 2:30pm by the time we left!
Perhaps people have grown accustomed to the odd hours this place has, as they open at 7am every day of the week, and stay open straight-through, 'til 1am Monday thru Saturday and 11pm Sunday! Korean breakfast? That has to be a first, for sure! As in most Asian cuisines, there's no real, traditional breakfasts per se, as in America or the West in general, as they often have the same dishes in the morning as they do noon or night. Sure, lighter meals may be favored, such as soup, rice w/pickled vegetables, and maybe some broiled fish, but the same things could also be had at any time, unlike American dishes like pancakes and omelets, which seem odd when eaten outside of breakfast hours.
Personally, like many of us locally, I grew up having rice three times a day, so it's not something I think twice about. In fact, for me, a hot bowl of soup is one of the best ways to start-off the day, and here at Chodang, they have several bowls to speak of, including sollongtang (beef bone soup), yukkyejang (shredded beef soup), dried pollack soup, oxtail soup, seaweed soup, chicken soup with ginseng, and, of course - soondubu. For just $6.74, this popular dish, made from a spicy tofu broth stained red from Korean chili peppers, can be filled with items like clams, mushroom, beef, pork, intestines, and ham. The base version, with lots of tofu and not much, if any, of the other additional items just mentioned, can be had for only $4.99! As shown here, it's pretty small, but with rice and all the complimentary banchan, it's still enough to fill most people:
And the soondubu is excellent here, coming spicy-hot but not as sharp and acidic as most bowls. I wondered if our kind waitress, who may be the owner since she was the only one serving everyone the whole time, gave us the seafood version instead of the regular soondubu, as this one also came with clams, crumbly fishcake balls, and a single shrimp. Or perhaps this was the regular version...?
Whatever the case, here's a couple of the more interesting banchan, a spicy chive and a type of black bean, marinating in a sweet shoyu/sugar sauce:
Neither wifey nor myself felt like having a heavy meal of Korean bbq meats on this particularly fine day, so we both stuck with noodle dishes, instead. The first was a familiar sight, chic naeng myun, or arrowroot noodle, done bi bim-style, or tossed in spicy Korean chili sauce. This popular dish is served cold and done in a few different styles, very often the traditional way, with a light, tangy beef broth mixed with ice (yes, I did say ice). No one here does it better than Yu Chun, as there, it's all house-made, but this one wasn't too shabby.
But it wasn't as good as my bowl, which was called thick noodle with spicy sauce. Not knowing exactly what to expect, I asked for a little clarification, but unless you speak Korean, you won't get far, believe me! I did manage to ask if she was talking about udon, the really thick, Japanese noodle, but she say no, no dat big. Good enough for me! I'll take one!
I was happy to see lots and lots of raw cabbage, which I can never get enough of. At home, I simply chop-up a half-head or so and toss it in all kinds of sauces - sometimes, it's just sesame oil and natural salt, other times it gets the special treatment I use with just about any raw vegetable - ponzu, sesame oil, and Momoya Japanese-style kim chee sauce, the three ingredients working together almost like a poke sauce. Yet other times, I'll just douse it with Oriental or Pietro dressing, shoyu flavor. All are winnah'z!
Like naeng myun, these noodles were very chewy and even tough, in a certain way. It's supposed to be like that, however, so don't worry when you bite-in and get that strange, gelatinous texture that almost seems like konnyaku. Taste-wise, there was once again Korean chili paste, but this time with an extra dose of vinegar, giving it a tang that combined with the cold temperature of the noodles themselves to prove refreshing on this hot, sunny day in Paradise.
I really like the laid-back, very casual nature of this place. Though the atmosphere looks not one bit Korean, the food is definitely authentic. Though regular-priced dishes fall between $7.50 and $16.99 (except for soondubu, at $6.74), there are some very surprising specials availabe any day of the week, and we're not talking about a rotating schedule, either - it's the same list every day! There are a few listed at the amazing price of $4.99, and include mixed rice w/beef and veggies, meat jhun, and the soondubu special we talked about earlier. For a dollar more, there are several very hearty soups, along with soybean curd w/kim chee, kim chee stew w/pork, and a miso stew. Take it a step further, for $9.99, and you can get a soondubu soup with either mackeral (saba) or yellow corvina! Pretty good deals, I'd say!
Thanks Kathy, for bringing wifey here! Just another great Korean eatery to add to the list!
I can't believe that for September 1st, 2nd, and third, I've done a new Closer Look on each day! Don't come to expect it, though, as I know I can't keep-up this pace without a dramatic loss to content. In parting, I'll leave you all with one more shot of the entrance, which sits across from Taiyo Ramen and BlockBuster.
Hope you're all having a wonderful day out there!
Take care and Aloha till next time!
Aku
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Comments:
K.I. (9/15/09) - Aah, you finally made it to Chodang. I was wondering what your take on it would be, since you seem to have visited a lot of Korean restaurants around town. I have been going to Chodang from when they were located on Cooke Street. Hard to beat the price of their specials!
Aku (9/15/09) - How's da bbq beef and meat jhun? I'm guessing they are all pretty good, too? Anything else stand out?
K.I. (9/16/09) - I haven't had it in a while, but when I tried it, the meat jhun and bbq beef were pretty good. The meat jhun isn't heavily battered like some other places and the bbq beef was tender. Usually we just go and eat the soondubu w/ the banchan for a quick cheap meal.
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