Myung Dong

I’ve been to the BBQ place twice. I can’t remember when the first time I went but this past weekend’s visit has assured me that I shall never go back.
It was the six of us and we sat at the same makeshift table by the kitchen entrance. The pork is fine. The problem is with the garlic/​peppers and the wraps. The garlic/​peppers looked old and dehydrated. The wraps (Korean perilla leaves and lettuce) were not fresh at all. The lettuce was browning badly at the stem and shriveled at the edges of the leaf. The Korean perilla leaves (not sesame leaves, which some people mistaken them to be) were a little better but certainly not fresh.
The sauteed (not fried) rice with kimchee (kimchi bokkeum bap) was okay.
They give you little bottles of Korean yogurt drinks at the end of the meal.
If the wraps were fresh, I’d go back. I can let it slide on the garlic/​peppers.

DISCLAIMER: I dined at the BBQ part of the restaurant and not the noodle place.
For my meal, I had tableside BBQ and ordered the joo mool luk kalbi (short steaks marinated with sesame oil) and the ohri (duck). The banchan (side dishes) here is pretty good and they have a good variety of stuff, including a delicious pot of mussels in broth (note that the broth the mussels are cooked in is SO good!). They also give you a small side of dwen jang jji gae (bean curd stew) with your BBQ.
The bbq I thought was as good as anywhere else. I love duck BBQ, even though it’s horrible for your health. One bonus about this place is that for your BBQ wraps, they give you pickled slices of radish as well as ggaen-​ip (perilla leaf, my favorite!) in addition to the normal lettuce. They also provide two different kinds of marinated scallion to include in your bbq lettuce wraps. Delicious!
My only disappointment is that the kimchi fried rice at the end of your meal (which they will fry on the same grill used for your meat) was a bit weak. I’ve had much better end-​of-​the-​meal kimchi fried rice (a la Honey Pig) and was somewhat disappointed with how Myung Dong’s tasted. However, the taste may just be a function of the kimchi they used and might be better on another night.
On another note, the inside of this restaurant is a bit dingy compared to other places in the area. Overall, not a bad restaurant in terms of the food, but probably not one of my favorites in Pal Park.

This place is comfort food! This is one of the places I insist on going to when I am back in Jersey, even ALONE! My favorite is their soojaebee (dough flakes) in the spicy seafood soup. It’s so yummy, I always burn my tongue! They always give you yummy and spicy kimchi and kkakgooghee (just the radish kimchi), and cold barley tea to cool your tongue. Not too pricey, either! I don’t care if I look like a freaky alien slurping my soup alone in this place (Pal Pk is kinda known for its «who’s-who» type atmosphere for the Koreans who live there), just bring my my soojaebee and make it HOT!

i don’t like soojehbee because it ususally tastes too doughy and bland. i’ll eat it at myung dong though — it’s made so each piece is thin, but substantial enough to chew. their green kong gooksoo (green noodles made from spinch, i think, in soy milk) is lovely. i always finish the whole thing, which isn’t really a stretch for me, but i thought it would help illustrate how freaking good it tastes.

So I’m not that big of a fan of Kahrgooksoo or Sujehbi… to be honest, I don’t like most Korean foods made with flour, the exception being mandoo (wontons.dumplings.whatever you want to call them). So even though this restaurant is known for its Kahrgooksoo (floury noodles in a thick soupy broth) and Sujehbi (misshaped pieces of dough in a thick hot broth with veggies), I ordered the Galbi Tang (short ribs in a hot broth with clear noodles). It was very tasty although the broth wasn’t very «beefy.»
Service is fast and all foods are pretty good at reasonable prices.

another favorite korean specialty restaurant on broad avenue. this place specializes in kalkooksoo (a type of handmade korean noodle) and sujebi (korean dumpling like a gnocchi or southern style dumplings). they come in regular or spicy with meat or seafood. if you can’t decide whether to have sujebi or kalkooksoo, you can have a combination of both after picking your broth. i like the spicy seafood the best. the kakdugi (raddish kim chee) is really good here too. the portions are very generous and at $ 8.95, it’s a good cheap filling meal.
they have other things on their menu, and though i haven’t tried them, i’ve heard it’s best to stick with the sujebi or kalkooksoo.