Kyodong Noodles

Kyodong Noodles (sometimes spelled Kyo-Dong Noodle or Kyodong Noodle from location to location) is a Korean-Chinese noodle and fried food chain that currently operates two Orange County restaurants: one inside H Mart’s H Market Eatery in Irvine, and the other in Garden Grove’s AR Supermarket. Kyodong dates back to 1979 in South Korea, and caught our attention twice, first when the H Mart location opened, and then when a second Irvine store appeared in a plaza only blocks away.

Kyodong is perhaps best known for its jjajangmyun black bean noodles, a Korean-Chinese fusion dish that combines thick, almost udon-like wheat flour noodles with a thick, salty-bitter black bean gravy and a sprinkling of what’s supposed to be red chili pepper but is unspicy enough to be paprika – arguably the most intriguing part of the otherwise earthy, mellow dish. In our view, the jjajangmyun is not worth waiting for here, as it’s something you could make at home.

Two of its other entrees are kan poong-style shrimp and pork. When we tried each of them at the H Mart location, they arrived completely assembled  – a typical mix of deep fried, battered protein with sauce, carrots, cucumbers, and mushrooms. weren’t particularly good, thanks to too little sauce on the plate, but they weren’t bad, either.

We re-ordered the shrimp at the second Irvine location, and although we’d planned to eat in their dining room, what we received was delivered in deconstructed form in a takeout container. Rather than tossing the shrimp in the sweet chili sauce before handing it off, the dish was just separated into sauce and shrimp, with no mushrooms or other vegetables. Once it was mixed, the batter remained dominant and oily, obscuring the shrimp flavor; it felt like a waste of $25 (yes, $25).