Seeking Korean food in Houston

What's good for Korean food in Houston? And what dishes do you recommend at each.

Thanks.

[mialebven]

I was browsing B4-U-Eat and then realized that the most positive review establishment in there for Korean was Il Mi Jung. Has anyone been there?

[mialebven]

This thread needs an update. Green Pine is closed... I'm debating about the folllowing to try in Houston but not sure which is good:

Il Mi Jung
Nam Gang
Seoul Garden
Korean BBQ (Clear Lake)

They all seem to have good reviews and some bad reviews. I left out Airirang because it seems like that one has a lot of negative reviews in B4-U-EAT. I hope that wasn't a mistake!

[tatitraveller]

I tried Jangkum Tofu House recently. 9888 Bellaire Blvd Houston 77036
[phone]

In sum: excellent tofu, decent banchan, weird soft-serve yogurt.

It's in a relatively new shopping center (1 year old) on Bellaire (inside beltway 8). For $10 pp we ate soft tofu stew in an iron pot (sundubu jigae), rice served in a secondary iron pot, a variety of small dishes (banchan), and as much soft-serve yogurt that you might wish for.

The tofu was excellent. The seafood tofu pot included shrimp (head-on), clams and oysters. I ordered "very" extra spicy and it was not that spicy. I also tried the beef tripe tofu stew which I thought was better - the broth was more dynamic (more umami taste), but my partner was disappointed that there wasn't both beef AND tripe, just tripe. It is served with raw eggs which you crack into the stew to cook through.

The banchan: a whole fried fish which was ok, and would have benefited by a dipping sauce, bean sprouts, kimchi, spicy zucchini (the best of the lot), cured tufu slices. Overall, the banchan were tired tasting, if that can make sense.

The soft-serve yogurt gimmick was strange. The machine sits in the middle of the restaurant by the front door and the hum fills the space. The soft-serve does not taste of either chocolate, vanilla, or even yogurt. It's just kind of...cold. But, hey - you can eat as much as you want.

The restaurant was full of Korean speakers at lunch, and the decor is pleasant (korean newspaper print wall paper, bamboo, nice lighting). I think I'll go back to try the bibimbap. If you like tofu, you should check this place out.

[mialebven]

How could I have missed that one... I don't think I noticed it in b4-u-eat.com! But from the way you described it - it sounds like it may be the best place for Korean in Houston. Hrm.

[texnosh]

Tofu House is great, I've sent a lot of people there and everyone's been happy. Agree that the extra spicy soup isn't very spicy. Maybe ask for it "Korean hot"? Banchan is also great, and you get it all for $7.70 plus a tip..tofu soup, banchan, the little fried fish, a crock of great rice, and the awful frozen yogurt. One of my favorite places.

Here's a link to a list of Korean restaurants on the Houston Press site.

Link: http://www.houstonpress.com/listings/...

Someone will hopefully be able to name this little Korean place on Long Point. I have not been there in a while, since Ilive in Austin, but it was very good.

Green pine bbq at gessner and longpoint.The lunch orders are great!

There are at least two other Korean restaurants on Long Point: Korea Garden and Seoul Garden. I haven't been to either one in several years., so I cannot say anything about them, except Korean Garden used to be quite good.

Seoul Garden is really good - great BBQ and fab pancakes. Miso soup is usually damn good and they have a raw fish salad that's very interesting. English is definitely not the first language here.

Almost all the Korean food places in Houston seem to be along Long Point.