Korean-Chinese Noodle House

Jajangmyeon.

Jampong.

Om nom nom nom nom...

Last night, my friend - Jason said that he felt like Korean-Chinese noodles. I had a confused look on my face while I performed the Yelp search. And after a bit of scouting, my party ended up at yet another hole-in-the-wall called Young Pung. One-dollar signs will do that to you.

Anyway, the small 10-booth restaurant was filled with hungry Koreans who were unapologetically packing their faces into their bowls and slurping their sauce-covered noodles. It was a good sign of things to come, but it was a bit agonizing to watch others eat for 15 minutes. As the whole restaurant cleared out at the same time, we took the largest booth available for the elbow room.

Not to go against the grain, my friends ordered the black bean jajangmyeon, and I ordered the spicy seafood jampong. My noodles were soft and chewy without being soggy. The hot, spicy broth was light without being too watery. All the while, I enjoyed my assortment of shrimp, scallop, sea cucumber, mushrooms, and cabbage. On a cold night such as this one, these noodles are a good alternative to soon dubu.

I assume that Korean-Chinese eateries such as these take influence from more northern regions of China, where wheat noodles are more common. As someone with southern roots, I'll admit to not eating wheat noodles much. But I'll be sure to widen my noodle palette.

Young Pung

9922 Garden Grove Blvd.

Garden Grove, CA 92842