Buk Chang Dong Soon Do Bu

I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS PLACE CLOSED DOWN! =(This was my Bestie and I’s favorite Korean restaurant in Oahu! This was our regular hole-​in-​the-​wall spot! It was a really tiny Mom-​and-​Pops restaurant on one of the side streets behind Ala Moana Shopping Center, but they had the best Soon Do Bu and everything was so damn cheap! I LOVED THIS PLACE! =(

What can I say? This is a small mom&pops type of restaurant but maaan is their soon do bu bomb! I always get their seafood combo with kalbi. Nom nom nom.

this sucks. they closed down.

hole in the wall restaurants are usually the best ones around. Buk Chang Dong is one of the pretty good ones.
their Soon Do Bu is good. lava hot and flavorful, this soup is delicious. i got a combination of Soon Do Bu and bulgogi — the soon du bu bowls are on the smaller side, but if you’re planning on getting other things to eat, which you should, than the bowl is actually a perfect size.
their pancake is good — not too greasy and not undercooked
the bulgogi, while also a smaller portion, was tender and good…
prices are cheap! and thats always a plus.
the service is good too — they’re friendly and dont ignore you like some other places… its a small restaurant so go on off times so you dont have to wait. also, parking is crap here — but you can chance it and park at walmart and walk over.

I’ve driven past here numerous times but never stopped to eat here until today.
There was a sign on the window advertising lunch specials. $ 6.25 for a BBQ chicken plate and some other specials that I don’t remember.
The food was better then most Korean restaurants and way better then Yummys. The veggies were fresh and tasty and the BBQ chicken was nicely seasoned and perfectly cooked.
Most of the customers eating there were Korean speaking so you know it’s good. I think they were eating the soup combo. Soup smelled good but looked spicy. Maybe I’ll try that next time.

«Woohoo! As good as it gets!» Yes… this is very true about Buk Chang Dong Tofu soup. When I visited Hawaii, I was feigning for some good korean food but couldn’t find an authentic place whatsoever~! The thing I liked about this restaurant was that it was clean, authentic and way affordable which helps when everything else in Hawaii can be on the pricey side. Next time I go to Hawaii I’m planning to go back here to get my Korean meal fix. Thank you Buk Chang Dong Soon Do Bu!

I thought I would give it a try for the first time. My husband ordered kimchee fried rice. I ordered cold noodles. Kimchee fried rice taste like margerine at best. My cold noodles tastes like rag water. Yuck!!! Paid and walked right out. Getting a second lunch… Never going back.

For a restaurant named after soon du bu, you expect that they will have good soon du bu. Not so much. It was weak and tasted overly artificial, nothing like soup that you would crave. The bibimbap was awful, especially the sauce (it tasted old) — the rice would have been better without it. Kalbi was okay.
Granted the food is cheap (that’s why I’m giving this place 2 stars), but I wouldn’t come back here. If you’re looking for better tasting cheap Korean food, I would head over to Chodang.
I’m still looking for a good soon du bu place here on the island, and so my quest continues.

i’ve only tried the soon do bu, but as the name implies you shouldn’t expect much if ordering something else. the soon do bu was great. no complaints except the size of the portion. i could’ve had a double.
as mentioned in previous reviews its a hole-​in-​the-​wall, but in my vast cheap eats experience, most good cheap eats are generally, hole-​in-​the-​walls. that felt weird to type. i’m gonna stop.

Not too bad. It’s no BCD (Los Angeles) and it’s no LightHouse Tofu (Maryland), but it wasn’t too bad for Korean food. Pa Jun wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, but it was definitely above average. With only 5 – 6 tables inside, seating may be a little cramped and I think I was the only Korean customer (lots of Japanese).
Kalbi isn’t really worth it. You only get 6 pieces of LA Kal Bi. My friend got the chicken, and it’s kind of a hybrid Jap-​Kor Chicken Teriyaki. The server was really nice (maybe because she was shocked to see a Korean walk through the door).
Still looking for a good Korean restaurant.

This is seriously the cheapest Korean place I’ve ever eaten at! (and the biggest hole in the wall, so if you don’t mind that, then you’re in for some cheap eats).
This place is right across from Walgreens, down the street from Kicks HI, and a little ways from Walmart. The tofu soup was pretty good — we got ours not spicey. The bulgogi was also pretty decent, but the thing I wanna brag about is the radish!!! I don’t know what it is called in Korean, but it almost looks exactly like kimchee, but it’s not, it’s actually a radish, and not quite as spicy as kimchee. Anyway, it was SoooOOOoo good! It’s actually one of my favorite of the side dishes, but this one here was so delicious!

We have driven by and wondered about this little Korean restaurant for some time. After doing a little research here, we decided to give it a try. We showed up around 7PM on a Sunday night, and were told that it would be a 20 minute wait for the food. We were so set on eating there that a 20 minute wait was not going to stop us.
The 20 minute wait was certainly worth it! Dinner started with 6 side dishes and rice. The kim chee was well seasoned and not overly fermented-​just the way I like it. One of the side dishes was sliced shiitake mushroom which I don’t see too often. It was a nice change from the other highly seasoned side dishes.
The meat jun was nicely done – fried golden brown in egg batter. The sauce that came with the meat jun was tasty. I dunked piece after piece of the meat jun in the sauce and savored every bite. The marinated spicy pork belly arrived on a sizzling platter sitting on a bed of sauteed onion. The pork was bright orange-​red in color, but it was not overly spicy as one might think. The pork was incredibly flavorful. It was moderately spicy yet somewhat sweet at the same time. I don’t have a Korean grandmother, but if I do, I sure wish she can cook like the one in the kitchen. This is a great place to visit if you are shopping in the Walmart/Sam’s area and want some good, cheap, and super Delicious Korean food. Dinner and Tips for 2 came out to less than $ 30.

«Korean Auntie Hearty Cooking-​No MSG»
This must be one of the longest restaurant names I have ever seen. If you can read Korean it says «Honolulu Buk Chang Dong Soon Du Bu» as I am sure there are some well known Soon Du Bu places in Buk Chang Dong which is an area in Seoul. Confused, don’t be just go inside and enjoy.
For many years, we have been looking for a place like this a comfortable, clean, what people in Hawaii call a «hole in the wall» with great home style Korean cooking. When we walked in, we just knew this was the place. It just amazes me why we had not heard of it before as they have been around for about ten years and the walls are adorned with print media write-​ups from just about everywhere. I think this is the perfect example of the place you find and don’t want everyone to know about. So sorry but I cannot help myself with Unilocaling about this one!
The specialty of course the soft tofu stew which is just about the best I have tasted (sorry sis) with it’s silken tofu and boiling stock of very well balanced beef and hot Korean pepper it sure did satisfy. Six ban chan are served with your meal and a lot thought is put into the selection and quickly replaced as you finish each one.
The Seafood Pa Jun was also excellent. Extra crispy on both sides yet light and full of seafood this is certainly large enough to share. It is also true for the Beef (meat) Jun, well egg battered and not sweet which I liked. Plentiful with a homemade dipping sauce, delicious. Bi Bim Bop was prepared like in the countryside in Korea with shitake mushrooms, blanched spinach, soy bean sprout, julienned carrots mixed well with the sliced beef and sunny side egg. One of the better Bi Bim Bop I have tasted. With each dish, I could tell the owner put her heart into it.
I must say I will back again and again because it feels like countryside in Korea.

This is a small hole in the wall on Makaloa St. Across from Wal-​greens. Their specialty is soft tofu stew (soon doo boo chi-​gye) made with different ingredients, as well as other K-​food items.
The décor is minimal — just a few tables and chairs — and the place is pretty small. The tofu stew run for about $ 7, and they have a combo for about $ 10. The combos are a good deal and highly recommended.
I’ve eaten a lot of tofu stew over the years and this is one of the better ones. It’s spiced just right w/​o being oily, and their sides are really good (definitely home-​made, like your k-​grandma used to make, if you had a k-​grandma). Plus, they don’t do yakiniku here so you don’t come out of the place smelling like your neighbor’s kalbi. Frankly, if I’m going to smell like kalbi, I’d better have eaten some.
Service is quick so a good place to grab a bite. Parking’s limited so grab street parking if you find one.

It took me so long to Unilocal this place because I couldn’t for the life of me memorize the name. And after eating here, I was too full to write it down or even snap a cell phone photo of it.
This is another of my favorite little hole-​in-​the-​wall places on Makaloa next to Wal-​Mart. It’s pretty affordable for lunch, especially if you get their specialty, soon do bu, a spicy Korean stew made with luxuriously soft, silken tofu. The assorted soon do bu runs for about $ 6. They also have plate lunch specials.
Standouts here are the stir fried pork belly with kimchee and onions served on a sizzling platter – they get the flavors just right here, although I thought they were skimpy on the kimchee. The kalbi is just right here, too – not too sweet or heavy on the sauce. Their kimchee assortment is good. Go next door to Elim 2 if you want mandoo or food that is less greasy.