Hyo Dong Gak
“The Jja Jang Myun, jjambbong and Tang Soo Yook (sweet fried beef) as well as Kkam poong gi are all good here.”
“We got the half & half jjam-jja-myun bowl, fried dumplings, and an order of tang soo yook (fried pork in sweet & sour sauce).”
“The best jjajangmyun (noodles with black bean sauce) and jjampong (noodles in spicy seafood soup) place in the city, period.”
Hyo Dong Gak
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Don't. Just don't – you already know it's bad, don't punish yourself even more. The food is not good, I promise. Ok – if you MUST go here, get the fried rice or dumplings. Everything else is borderline inedible.
Located in K-town, Hyo Dong Gak specializes in Korean-Chinese food. Don't expect the restaurant to offer traditional Korean (i.e. bibimbap, tofu soup, etc.) or Chinese food. Instead, Hyo Dong Gak fuses both cuisines, and I'd highly recommend getting something from the noodle section.
My favorite (and probably the most popular) dish is the Noodle with Brown Sauce, or Jajangmyun. Over a bed of thin, chewy noodles is a thick black sauce made of soybean paste, cubes of pork, and onion. Most places use the fattiest cut of pork meat, but I was pleased that the Jajangmyun here had actual meaty part of the pork. The dish comes with a side of kimchi, pickled yellow radish, and raw onion.
Another popular Korean-Chinese noodle is the Spicy Seafood Noodle Soup, or Jjampong. If you have low spice tolerance, you shouldn't order this dish. The noodle used in Jjampong is the same as the one in Jajangmyun, but instead of the black sauce, you get spicy, red broth with seafood like squid, mussels, and shrimp.
If you are indecisive or want to try both, Hyo Dong Gak also offers half-and-half option of the above noodles.
I have also gotten the Seafood Noodle Gravy Soup, which is similar to Jjampong except the broth is white, THICK, and not spicy. The broth reminded me of a thicker version of an egg drop soup.
Other dishes that I've tried, but would NOT recommend: Mushroom and Bamboo Shoots. It had a weird smell, and the sauce was too gravy-like and thick.
The Candied Rice Balls: these are mochi balls filled with sesame paste and covered in caramelized sugar – way too sweet!
Hyo Dong Gak was recommended as one of the better Korean-Chinese restaurants in the area. I was surprised that the food ended up mediocre at best, and pricier than most. The jajangmyun lacked flavor, the tangsooyook didn't taste right, and service was lacking.
Was a bit hesitant to try this place because the reviews seemed hit or miss, but man, the food here hit the SPOT when I needed it most. (You can't come into restaurants like these expecting some kind of Michelin star-worthy food; you come to fulfill a unique craving for this specific kind of cuisine – which isn't typical Chinese food, it's Korean-Chinese food – that can only be satisfied at places like these. Maybe it's a nostalgia thing because I grew up eating this?) Anyway, I'd been craving jjajangmyun (black bean noodles) and jjamppong (spicy seafood noodles) like MAD and haven't been able to get my fix in Seattle, so when I visited my friend in NYC we decided to try Hyo Dong Gak as we had heard it was one of the better spots for Korean-Chinese food in the area.
We got the half & half jjam-jja-myun bowl, fried dumplings, and an order of tang soo yook (fried pork in sweet & sour sauce). Everything we had was really, surprisingly good. We could have been biased because we'd been craving this kind of food for so long, but we were not disappointed! 🙂 Service was fast and friendly, despite our shoddy broken Korean/Konglish haha.
We were originally trying to go to Izakaya Mew for dinner and they happened to be closed on a Sunday despite the hours of operation sign on the door stating they should be open … Wth ???
It was a blessing in disguise. We ended up at the friendly serviced Korean Chinese restaurant next door.
Hyo Dong Gak is apparently famous in the Korean community for their spicy seafood noodle soup.
I had it and it's great. The soup has an almost creamy texture. The noodles are cooked well and ample fresh seafood accompanies the dish.
Prices here are quite reasonable for a ktown resto and they have a happy hour special for $3 Korean beers.
Service was good and the atmosphere was clean and not too cramped or loud, which is a refreshing change from much of ktown. Just walk 3 blocks north for better value food and avoiding the long waits.
They got the rep, the quality, the value and even the booze down pat.
I was really craving a spicy seafood soup, and my friend found this place on Yelp. It looked promising, mostly because it is frequented by a largely Korean crowd, and you know what they say about an ethnic restaurant that is largely frequented by individuals of that particular ethnicity… For a party of two, you don't need to make reservations, but they were packed on Friday night, so if you could lock down some sort of reservation, that might be the better option.
We ordered the seafood black bean noodle and the spicy seafood soup with noodles, which are two of the most popular items on their menu. The seafood black bean noodle DOES contain meat, FYI. My friend is pescatarian, and she was not pleased to find out half way through a bite that there was meat in the sauce. This might be something good to indicate on the menu…
I liked the chewiness of the noodles, but the food overall was unsettling on my stomach. It might have been the spiciness of the soup or the sheer volume of noodles. Who knows. I also found everything to be a tad bit too salty. I was gulping cupfuls of water by the end of the night.
Overall, the food is decent, but not particularly special. I typically hate wasting food and will doggy-bag a reasonable amount of leftovers, but nothing that we ordered was really worth the hassle of packing and taking to go. Everything is reasonably priced, and you can more than eat your fill for less than $15, but I feel like I'd rather take that money and spend it somewhere else in k-town where I know I'd enjoy the meal a bit more.
I was visiting NY from Chicago, and my cousin recommended this place. Best jjajangmyun, jjambbong, and tangsuyuk I've ever had! Sadly, there are no restaurants in Chicago that serve them this good and authentic.
– ordered the jjajangmyun to go
– generous portions
– probably won't be returning, food was okay but not particularly memorable besides being saltier and oilier than i had anticipated