Sea Dragon's Korean transformation worth a new look

Nadine Kam photos
Sea Dragon Cold Noodle House's namesake cold noodles with ban chan including fishcake, fantastic roasted eggplant, beansprouts and daikon kim chee.

I wasn't very interested in Sea Dragon's various shape-shifting evolutions, from Sea Dragon Table to Chukaya Sea Dragon Table, because I just didn't find the Japan-style Chinese cuisine as good as our own. After one visit, I just never went back. Even when the name changed slightly every few years, that old "once bitten-twice shy" phobia had set in and I wasn't going back until a major rehaul happened.

So I was surprised when a friend wanted to take me there, saying it had changed to Korean cuisine. The Sea Dragon name is still there, but attached to it is Cold Noodle Restaurant. The perfect draw for another hot summer.

And it turns out, the food is the best being offered on this site since the Shanghai dumpling restaurant Jin Din Rou brought this corner to life in 2011. My review is in the paper today.
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Sea Dragon Cold Noodle House is at 1491 S. King St. Call 941-2929.

I've been seeing "L.A. galbi" popping up on more Korean menus lately, which is what this bone-in cut is called in Korea. But it's also been Hawaii's style for years due to the proliferation of Korean fast-food and casual restaurants, vs. the all-meat wang galbi, or "king's cut" galbi available only at high-end restaurants. Sea Dragon's is plenty meaty for our taste.

The start of the spicy pork stone pot bi bim bap, before all the ingredients are mixed together on the skillet to make what is essentially fried rice with nice crispy crust.

One thing I didn't care for here was the steamed mandoo, veggies served in a Chinese-style bao bun. Too much carbs without an equal flavor payoff.

Goat stew is not for everyone because the meat is as gamey as lamb. The goat meat shares the pot with sesame seeds, green onions, chives, water parsley and kkaenip, also called sesame leaf in Korea, although it is more closely related to mint than sesame, and has a strong herbal taste that I liked less than the goat.

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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her food coverage is in print in Wednesday's Crave section. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.

One-woman show at Sara's Cafe

Nadine Kam photos
Chili pepper lovers can test their endurance with Sara's Cafe's spicy fried chicken wings. The bits of red and yellow are Thai chilis and their seeds in a honeyed shell. Don't even try this if you can't drink in something as mild as Sriracha.

Korean women have a reputation for toughness, and some prove it by being masters of their domain in the restaurant biz. It's a difficult enterprise even when many hands are involved, yet these strong women are willing to go it alone.

Those who miss the Angry Korean Lady behind Ah-Lang, who's now on hiatus, might try heading to Sara's Cafe. There, Sara Kim is similarly a one-woman act, doing all the cooking, waitressing and cleanup. (Now that she knows my newspaper column is coming out, she may call on some extra hands and see how it goes.)

Sara Kim rules the kitchen.

But, unlike Angry Korean Lady, Kim is quite the opposite, doing her best to be accommodating. If she seems to ignore you when you walk in, it's just because she's juggling dozens of other details. It's not only in-house customers who need tending. There are also phone and take-out orders to deal with.

Their cooking styles also differ, with Kim providing more casual, simple home-style Korean dishes, along with the comfort of knowing you won't get yelled at. Whew!
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Sara's Cafe is at 1551 S Beretania St., on the ground level of the Kualana Hale senior housing building. Call 955-1353. Hours are 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays, 5 to 10 p.m. Mondays to Thursdays, and 5 to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Look for these street signs on Beretania Street, on the ground level of the Kualana Hale senior housing building.

The living room ambience has the feel of being at your aunty's house.

TOP 3

Here are my top three dishes. Keep in mind that my personal biases have no bearing on these choices that I think best reflect the restaurant's strengths. For instance, I love Korean spicy pork, but it's not a dish that defines this restaurant:

No. 1
The spicy fried chicken wings at the top of the page. Sorry some of you will not be able to withstand the heat.

No. 2
(Tie) Depending on your preference for seafood or veggies, a soft egg-y texture, or crisp flour-based pancake.

Among Sara's specialties are her pajeon, scallion pancakes, including this seafood version. Killer with accompanying sauce of vinegar, shoyu, Thai chilies and pickled onions.

In contrast to the egg-y seafood pajeon, a kim chee pancake had a beautiful crisp finish.

No. 3

Sara's kalbi looks like typical teriyaki-style shortribs, but the sauce is Korean, with shoyu and plenty of chopped onions lending natural sweetness to the sauce.

Last supper at Angry Korean Lady

 Nadine Kam photos
Angry Korean Lady Won Nam shoots me a dirty look because my phone is in her face.

Stopped by Feb. 26 for a last supper at Ah-Lang, a k a Angry Korean Lady, as the restaurant came to be known over the years due to the fiery nature of proprietor Won Nam. I'd heard she planned to close at the end of February, but fans are in luck, as she now puts the date somewhere between March 15 and 31.

Sorry. At the risk of a slap on the head, I wasn't about to pressure her into being more precise.

The restaurant opened in 2007, and Nam, though hot-tempered, wasn't particularly angry at the time. "Stupid" customers who didn't understand food and inundated her with hundreds of basic questions, brought out her explosive temper.

The graffiti artwork of one of Won Nam's many fans.

When I interviewed her in 2010, she said, "I love to cook and I want people to enjoy it. I don't want people who only want to fill up their stomach. It's not worth my time. I want to tell them, 'Get out!'"

And so she did, developing a brand identity before self-branding went mainstream. Instructions on her table read, "I'm already angry...don't make me more angry." And in my review of the restaurant at the time, I said, "Those who expect four-star service from restaurants would be best advised to take their prissy, soft hands and delicate hides elsewhere. At this small restaurant in the Imperial Plaza, there is no one to greet you, no one to take your order or bring you drinks."

In this one-woman shop, it was all about self-service and BYOB, and keeping those stupid questions to a minimum. This was before the age of restrictive diets, so you can imagine what would happen if, heaven forbid, someone walked in and requested food substitutions.

Beyond the cult of personality, Won is a terrific cook, so the restaurant was not merely about gimmick. Her kalbi, seafood pancake and chicken wings will be missed. The wings are saturated with flavor from having been marinated 48 hours, fried, then finished with a spicy garlic sauce.

She may be back after taking a break from customers who vex her so much. I'm hoping the hiatus will be brief, but the bruised may be thankful for the recovery period.

Even so, people seem to love punishment. I shot a couple of 'scopes during the evening, and the hearts only came toward the end of the videos, when people were getting roughed up!
Here's one: https://katch.me/nadinekam/v/3eb5dd85-8cd9-3625-9be4-497ab98d171f

We had no idea what to expect for the $50 per person meal, so didn't know how to pace ourselves, and no one was brave enough to ask what or how much food was coming. We were at Nam's mercy, and here's what she served:

Veggie and egg gimbap.

Potato and chicken stew.

Stack of kalbi.

Stuffed mushrooms served with the chili sauce below.

Choi sum.

Spicy fried chicken.

Zucchini jun.

Pah jun.

Gochujang sauced ribs.

First bite: Making a 'Stand' for contemporary Korean

Nadine Kam photos
K-ramen is one of the specialties at Red Stand, a new contemporary Korean restaurant in the Samsung Plaza.

BY NADINE KAM

Locals are accustomed to Korean meals with a centerpiece of grilled meat, but a new wave of contemporary Korean restaurants is veering from that format.

The latest is Red Stand, where carbs form a large part of the menu, with meat taking a secondary role.

It will probably take a while to adjust, but enter by day and you will find an array of grab-and-go fare, such as Spam musubi ($1.90) and its Korean equivalent, samgak kimbap, triangular musubi packed with such ingredients as kim chee and tuna, beef bulgogi, spicy pork, and spicy squid, at $2.25 each. It’s like a smaller version of Mana Bu’s.

The restaurant is small and cozy.

If you choose to stay, dining here is like being fed by your mom, starting with the tidy bentos packed to-go—sending you off to a day at school or work—to tableside service as staffers, currently all women, carefully stir dishes of tteokbokki (spicy rice cake) and stews so you don’t go splattering red gochujang sauce all over yourselves.

There is a definite feminine vibe to the room that is cozy, clean and appointed with floral touches and teddy bears dressed in Red Stand logo shirts. The bears are gifts to customers who spend a minimum of $50.

And the gluten-free demographic may appreciate the presence of rice burgers, with white rice buns standing in for the usual wheat bun. The combination of rice, with centers of kalbi ($3.95), beef bulgogi, spicy chicken, and spicy pork ($3.75 per burger), amounts to eating a giant musubi or a hand-held plate lunch.

Spend $50 on a meal, and the small bear in the logo tee is yours.

For the gluten averse, there are rice burgers, such as this one with kalbi center ($3.95). It’s like eating a giant musubi, or plate lunch in your hands.

One of my favorite dishes here is the shrimp fried rice, the rice flavored with seafood broth to give it beautiful depth.

Mini set bentos can be prepared for those looking for a quick, simple and inexpensive breakfast or lunch. The smallest is a combo of Spam musubi and scrambled egg, accompanied by your choice of kim chee, miso or corn soup, for $4.50. There’s nothing particularly exciting about it, but it’s polished and comforting.

If you’re a diehard meat eater, this probably won’t be the place for you. You won’t find the heaps of grilled chicken, kalbi and other meats associated with old-school Korean take-out spots. In their place you’ll find more carbs in the form of fried rice, tteokbokki and K-ramen (read: instant, which is what’s popular in Korea, where they have yet to embrace the notion of artisan noodles) and stews that serve two or three, cooked over a hot plate.

In spite of the instant status of the noodles, the broth, like most of what’s served here, is cooked from scratch and the ramen is beautifully presented in a covered pot. Seafood ramen ($7.95) is topped with shrimp, squid and negi. Other ramen options are topped with spicy beansprouts ($5.95), cheese ($5.95), kim chee ($6.95), and ham ($5.95).

The restaurant also specializes in housemade tteokbokki, also known by the more Western user-friendly name toppoki. This is the seafood version with shrimp, clams, mussels and fishcake.

Many who dine here gravitate toward the tteokbokki, also known by the more Western-user friendly name topokki. I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a big fan of carbs, so generally steer clear of these thick, tubular rice cakes. At most places, they’re usually reconstituted from dry form with the tendency to be hard and chewy. No thanks. But Red Stand makes its rice cakes from scratch so they’re much softer and pillowy. One order of tteokbokki, at $9.95 to $18.95, generally serves two. A large serving will serve three to four, at $15.95 to $27.95.

The seafood version ($18.95/$27.95) features shrimp, mussels, clams and thin sheets of fishcake, with cabbage, carrots and negi. To these ingredients you can add on such extras as ramen ($3) added to the broth at the end of the meal, hard-boiled egg ($1 each), cheese ($2) or fried mandoo ($2.50). The mandoo features a housemade wrap, so it arrives looking more like a misshapen pancake, with filling that’s milder than usual, without as much of the oil and salt component of typical dumplings.

The spicy sausage stew ($27) might be considered a Hawaiian lunch meat special because of the array of processed meat in it: Portuguese sausage, Spam, Vienna sausage, ham, and one of my friends swears he tasted a slice of bologne, beautifully arranged before it’s tossed with tofu, negi, cabbage, bean sprouts, onion, cabbage and beans.

Finish a meal, or simply stop in for dessert of bing soo, or Korean shave ice ($7.25), with green tea, strawberry or red bean granite topped with pastel mochi, slivered almonds, dried cranberries and fresh fruit. It’s one more way to cool off this summer.

Spicy sausage stew might better be described as a lunch meat stew. The meat comprises ham, Vienna sausage and Spam, cooked over a hot plate with bean sprouts, green and white onions, cabbage, carrots, beans and tofu.

A twist on bi bim bap, with the rice swapped out for noodles.

Sujebi, a soup with filling-less dumplings is a specialty that I just don’t get because I don’t crave carbs.

Korean-style shave ice, or bing soo, is available for dessert. Options include strawberry, green tea, mango and coffee flavors for $7.25 to $8.95. This one is green tea.
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Red Stand is in the Samsung Plaza, 655 Keeaumoku St., open 7 to 10 p.m. daily (subject to change). Call (808) 947-7272.

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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her coverage is in print on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.

Richo's hybrid menu has bright spots

By Nadine Kam 

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Sep 22, 2010

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JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM

Visiting chef Eun Myoung Hee, above, of Richo in Tokyo prepares a specialty of beef tongue at the new Richo restaurant in Kaimuki.

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For too long, the rallying cry for the Internet and its myriad blogs and websites -- to the detriment of, ahem, old media -- has been "information wants to be free."

Maybe so, but as a writer, I'd really like to continue getting paid for my work.

A similar rallying cry might apply to restaurants, although consumers have either been slow or sympathetic to the plight of the small restaurateur. I've noticed since the recession hit that restaurants initially increased entree prices to keep up with overhead. They turned next to adding or increasing cost of incidentals like soft drinks, appetizers and sometimes, even the bread we've come to expect for free.

But unlike information, perhaps food doesn't want to be free ... anymore. (Not that it ever was, but costs could be better hidden before.)

Keep that in mind at Richo, where the first thing that glares at you from the menu is the cost of banchan. Say what?

Surely, banchan wants to be free. It is the minimum show of hospitality we've come to expect from a Korean restaurant.

Ah, but Richo is actually part of a Japanese chain, that, like so many from the land of the rising sun, is wending its way west. Hawaii has always been the logical stepping stone by virtue of some shared culture and heritage. Yet, I can't help thinking maybe they should have skipped one pond in favor of a destination where Korean traditions are less ingrained.

The cost of the banchan, at $6 for assorted namul and $3 for kim chee, isn't much, but I know it will rankle many. It's the principle of the thing. Is a restaurant going to make a show of playing the good host, or not?

Richo is at the base of Waialae Avenue, where the Japanese izakaya Momomo once stood. The monolithic black building has given way to clean white, and a plus of the location is its parking lot, though getting in is easier than reversing out.

Inside, there's a mix of standard tables and multiple, cozy tatami rooms for those who want to curl up in semiprivacy.

There's no sense being stubborn about the banchan. You still have to get the namul, a delicious assortment of tender royal ferns, bean sprouts, seasoned spinach, spicy octopus and pickled onions -- seven little dishes beautifully arranged in a bamboo basket.

Other starters include deep-fried seaweed and noodle spring rolls ($10), and Korean poke ($9) of ahi in kochujang sauce.

The restaurant betrays its roots with a reference to the Korean-style pancakes (pa jun), using the Japanese word, chigimi, plus a series of typos referring to the "panfly" nature of the crisp-fried savory egg-and-flour pancakes, with your choice of seafood and leek ($12 full order, $8 half), plain leek ($10/$7), squid and chive ($11/$7.50) or beef and yam ($12/$8) fillings. I found a half-order to be plenty for two.

You can order entrees such as kalbi ($13.50), bulkogi ($16), and beef or seafood chapchae (rice noodles $10.96) a la carte, but there's more of a show attached to the pork ($40) or beef tongue ($50) shabu-shabu for two. If you prefer a grill specialty over the soupy shabu-shabu, there's just one, pork belly ($24) for two to cook at your table. This is another dish with extra costs, at $3 for lettuce for wrapping your cooked pork, and $2 for garlic cloves. I consider these musts because pork alone (it does come with a slice of onion) would be boring.

It's nice when it's not too crowded here and the staffers have the time to help you cook the pork at your table, starting with brushing the grill with oil and rosemary. The pork is mildly flavored, so it's conceivable some might detect the herb flavor. There's none of the raunchy intense sesame and salt flavors that you'd find at most Korean restaurants.

Some of the dishes are just wrong, like, Spicy Fire Chicken ($11.80) billed as a grilled dish, but that comprises small pieces of meat sauteed in Richo's house hot sauce.

Ahi bibimbap ($10) also struck me as being more Japanese than Korean because of the raw fish and vegetable choices of cabbage slaw, lettuce and slivered carrots. It made a nice salad.

The restaurant is not bad, but I was left wondering about who the audience might be for this Korean-Japanese hybrid. It's definitely not a place for traditionalists who already have two or three favorite Korean restaurants.