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Hyung Je, a closer look
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Yelper's on Hyung Je
Aloha!
10/18/10 - Bummer days. I called Tanaka of Tokyo Teppanyaki restaurant early and they were supposed to call me back, but they never did. By the time we arrived, the manager said they still couldn't get a hold of corporate for an ok to take some pictures, so I guess we won't be seeing any closer looks of the place. It's unfortunate, really, as we had a great time there, especially with our kind server, Vanessa, and our talented and good-fun chef, Jonah. I could have gotten some really great shots, but oh, well. I'd love to go back, but I can't be forking-out another big tab again, so I guess we'll just have to move on...
The real subject of today's Closer Look involves a different, yet similiar form of cooking. Hyung Je (Joomooluck) restaurant is not for everyone, but if Hyung Je is for you, then I already know a little bit about you! You're not looking for good service. You're not looking for ambience. You're not looking for a wide variety of dishes. No, you're all about one thing - Korean yakiniku beef!
Unlike a Japanese teppanyaki like Tanaka of Tokyo, where your personal chef puts on a grand performance, both Japanese yakiniku and Korean yakiniku restaurants present raw meats that you cook yourselves on table-top grills, and in this particular department, it's tough to beat Hyung Je! Located near the bottom of Sheridan St., just off of Piikoi and Kapiolani, it is a favorite of both the Korean community and also a sizeable contingent of Japanese, many of them tourists. There's parking behind the building and also on the street:
The inside of the restaurant is shaped like an "L," with high-backed booths lining the perimeters. Each table, of course, comes with its own table-top grills and ample air ducts that limit the smoky smell to a very respectable degree - some of these yakiniku houses, I tell you - the smokiness has permeated into the very walls, especially the carpet, and you go home smelling like you've just hibachi'd some steaks in your garage!
The better Korean restaurants in Hawaii usually provide up to 8-10 different banchan on the house, but that's not a complete rule. Yu Chun is an excellent eatery, but we were only given two, and neither was kim chee! Go figure. Here at a couple of different stops at Hyung Je over the past couple of weeks, we were provided with a median-range amount of 5 or 6 different banchan dishes.
As goes everywhere, though there are several stalwart banchan types you can mostly count on, varieties differ on a daily basis. Here's a handful we came across, beginning with a delicious sweet-shoyu'd potato:
Then, Japanese cucumber kim chee:
Daikon kim chee:
And a seaweed salad:
One other free dish not shown is a plate of 8-10 large pieces of green leaf lettuce, which are used as wraps for your freshly-grilled meats. A pungent and strong sauce of Korean miso, shown as the reddish-brown mix in the next shot, is meant to be placed inside the wraps as well. Next to the miso is fresh garlic to be grilled and a uniquely Korean sauce I love every bit as much as a Japanese soy-based tare sauce, consisting of a high-quality sesame oil, salt, and pepper. It's very simple, but meats dipped into it are absolutely delicious!
Though my brother's bi bim bap was very good, the one other dish we ordered outside of meat only helped bolster our opinion that the only reason you come here is for yakiniku. Their seafood pajeon, the only type of pajeon offered, was pretty darn horrible. Not only was it bland, but it wasn't cooked nearly long enough, resulting in a starchy-mushy inside and a total lack of that crispy outer shell that helps make the dish so enjoyable. Oftentimes, at the best places, this Korean pancake dish arrives in a Pizza Hut-like cast-iron pan, its tasty crust developing further even as it sits at your table. Makes all the difference in the world! After a few bites, we decided to take the whole thing home! A re-cooking with oil in a hot pan, along with the sauce we poured over while yet in the pan, did the trick later!
Perhaps I'm grumbling too much, but I do have one remaining caveat, even of the famed meats here. Luckily, it has nothing to do with taste, but presentation:
It's no big thing, really, but I couldn't help noticing how sloppily our plate was presented. Everywhere else I've gone, such as the also-excellent Seoul Garden and Korea House, our plates were stacked high and proud, its strips of thin cuts rolled into perfectly-rounded tubes and its heavier sections placed strategically for an over-all dramatic effect. Just looks nicer and more impressive, is all. This plate above just seemed to be thrown together with no particular care whatsoever, so long as it got there. It's a good thing the actual meats here are so good, otherwise it'd be unforgiveable.
Here's another shot at the same pile, from a different angle:
Funny thing is, Hyung je puts so much emphasis on their raw meats that, outside of bulgogi and pork, they won't even offer them cooked! Meats they do include, only raw, are outside skirt, short rib, brisket, two types of seasoned beef, pork belly, and a platter that combines two of the above (brisket and skirt) with two other parts of the cow that may make some squeamish but happen to be two of Kumi's favorite's - tongue and tripe.
You can always distinguish tongue because, number one, they are always cut thin and rolled into a hollow tube, but second and more identifiably, the cuts have a larger portion of white coloring that does not follow a clear grain like other meats, instead forming splotches all over the place in un-uniform patterns. Taste-wise, they are very similiar to normal beef, but much firmer in texture. Only rarely have I ever noticed any gaminess at all when eating tongue anywhere. Tripe, on the other hand, doesn't taste like beef at all and, at least here, looks exactly like scallop!
In fact, seeing how thick its pieces were, I first thought it was cartilage or tendon. It was soft yet tough, and I was very curious to see how it would taste. Not normally one for organs, I actually found it not bad at all, coming with a chewy-firm consistency and a mellow taste, albeit with just a tiny, tiny hint of, well... organ meat:
As you can see from the mix of items above, the grills at Korean yakiniku spots are different from Japanese yakiniku, at least here in Hawaii. The wide surface area found in Korean yakiniku's flat griddles, despite small slits to allow juices to escape, can imprint the meats with the same kind of broad, blackened markings that come from pan-frying. Japanese yakiniku, on the other hand, uses thin-wire grills that cook meats by a pure flame, whether from charcoal or a gas/charcoal mix. It's not a matter of better or worse, but preference. Here's a look at both styles, first from right here at Hyung Je and afterwards, from Gyu-Kaku Japanese yakiniku on Kapiolani Blvd:
The cost for a full order of meats, per person, at a typical Korean yakiniku range from about $20-$25, with a minimum of two people required for using the table-top grills. That may seem a bit on the high side, but when you think about it, it's basically the same as a cheap buffet, and a buffet is pretty much what you're getting! I mean, not only will you fill-up on banchan, but there's enough meats in a minimum two-person order to fill-up three normal folks out there! Hot, sizzling meats fresh from the grill, dipped into that delicious sesame/salt mix or eaten just like that (most meats already carry a light seasoning or marinade) are always a winner, especially when combined with an icy-cold beer!
As stated earlier, there's not a whole lotta frills and extra's here, but if you want a whole lotta delicious Korean bbq meats, Hyung Je is definitely at or near the top of the list! Here's one last shot of a return visit:
Call some friends, gather around the grill, enjoy some good laughs, and get your fill of Korean yakiniku right now! You won't be sorry here at Hyung Je or any of the other great spots I mention in the Korean section of this site!
Take care, and Aloha till next time!
Aku
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