Mo Ran Gak

Mo Ran Gak’s reputation within Orange County is very simple and largely deserved. For at least 25 years, it has operated inside a freestanding building in what has become a fairly congested part of Garden Grove, Koreatown. The website and menu point customers to “traditional North Korean style noodles,” mul naengmyun. Although the restaurant also serves – better put, primarily serves – grilled South Korean-style meats, the suggestion is to pair the naengmyun “perfectly with a side of galbi.” That’s a very good suggestion.

Decades after it opened, lines still form for both the Korean BBQ and their naengmyun buckwheat noodles, which are made fully from scratch and served in two versions. The North Korean “mul” style features iced noodles in beef broth, while a spicy “bibim” version arrives with gochujang red pepper paste and some of the broth. Both naengmyun versions are served at a hundred places in Orange County; this is the best place to get the mul version, which tasted fresher and more intensely flavored than we’ve had elsewhere, while Yukdaejang is our top pick for the bibim naengmyun.

Mo Ran Gak’s banchan were also delicious and more numerous than at some places (including Yukdaejang, which is stingy in offering only three variations but generous in refilling them as much as you want). Here, there are six standard side dishes with a meal, which isn’t quite Soban level but better than three, and Mo Ran Gak offers additional perks: unlimited bone broth for everyone, and for at least some orders, a hot steamed egg and fried mung bean pancake, served as larger side dishes. These extras are rarely offered at Korean places here, and welcome at any time.