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| - A fellow yelper told me I should check this place out. He noted that from what he remembered it was okay, but that I should give it a go if I haven't been just to compare it to the rest of the Korean places I tried. So, I took his recommendation and stopped in for a quick lunch with my husband.
They have a good selection of Korean food, from various jigae's (hot pot) to nengmyun (cold noodle soup), as well as Korean-Chinese favorites like Jangpong (spicy seafood noodle soup) and jajangmyun (noodles with black bean past sauce). They also have a pretty good offering for lunch specials, various bento boxes and combination plates.
I got a nengmyun and galbi (marinated short rib) combo lunch and my husband ordered a bulgogi (marinated thinly sliced beef) and soon tuboo (tofu hot pot) bento. Both our meals came with a side of california rolls, and banchan (side dishes) placed in a traditional bento tray.
The nengmyun, galbi, bulgogi, soon tuboo, and california rolls were good. I would rank them fourth in terms of flavor and quality, after Chodang, Paldo Cafe, and Hadori/Takamatsu (tie). However, I could not bring myself to give them any more than three stars. Why you ask?
The mark of a good Korean restaurant is the banchan that they offer and, unfortunately, I can't say I liked any of Chuhgjib's banchans. My criteria for an offering of good banchan is: 1) freshness, 2) flavor and 3) variety, and Chuhgajib missed the mark on all three counts. We were offered a variety of seasoned veggies (cabbage, bean sprouts, and radish) as well as two kinds of kimchi (cabbage and cucumber). The seasoned veggies were pretty one dimensional. The predominant flavor for the bean sprouts and cabbage was salty and sweet for the radish; no garlic, no onion, not spicy, no sesame oil, no vinegar, etc. Both kimchis were okay, but again something was missing. Also, the cucumber kimchi was too "ripe" for my taste.
Note that many Koreans prefer their kimchi to be "ripe" or "aged" in the pickling process, so this could just be a matter of personal preference. I like my kimchis to be fresh, newly made, no older than two weeks. I only eat "ripe" kimchi when it is turned into kimchi jigae, which is the way it should be made. (Never, never use fresh kimchi for kimch jigae.)
The impression I was left with was that banchan was an afterthought, and that was a disappointment.
So, all-in-all, I would have to give them three stars. It's their banchan that's holding them back.
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