Fine traditional Korean food at a fair price. They have the best Korean ginseng chicken soup (samgyetang) in New Jersey

PalkagJung is a traditional Korean restaurant with a very diverse offering. They provide a generous amount of Korean side dishes (Banchan) and their services is attentive and friendly. They’re best known for their authentic Korean ginseng chicken soup (samgyetang), which is the best I’ve had in all of New Jersey. This soup is composed of a whole chicken stuffed with rice, ginseng, garlic cloves, daechus, and number of other herbs. It’s traditionally served in the summer for its supposed nutrients, but I’ve had it in the winter and it think it’s just as good, if not better.

In addition to their amazing chicken soup, I also recommend any of their hot bibimbap dishes on stone plates and tofu soups in stone pots. There ingredients are very fresh and any of those dishes wont disappoint. If you’re looking for Korean BBQ, they also have that here. It’s not great, but decent. There’s no permanent grill at the table, they bring out portables ones for you.

Korean Side Dishes (Banchan) – Free w/ Meal

Octopus Bibimbap – $13.99

Their food is decent, but what keeps me coming back is their attentive service.

Hong Ga Meun Ok Restaurant is a new Korean Restaurant on Columbia Avenue in Palisades Pak, NJ. They offer the round-of-the-mill Korean dishes, but specialize in Korean BBQ. The restaurant is broken up into two sections with a common area in the middle, one half is dedicated for BBQ and the other is for BBQ and non BBQ customers. This review is based solely on their non BBQ dishes, there will be a separate review for their BBQ offerings at a later date.

During my visit to Hong Ga Meun Ok Restaurant I tired their spicy rice noodle (duk bok ki), Korean roll (gimbap), fried pork cutlet, steamed pork dumplings and season beef rice stone pot (bulgogi bibimbap). None of those dishes are particularly special and compared to the vast Korean offerings in the Palisades Park area, they’re average at best . What I found particularly refreshing about Hong Ga Meun Ok was not their food, but their customer service. They’re very attentive and they go out of their way to make customers fell welcome. I was provided with a complementary dish because they felt that my bibimbap was not served prompt enough, which really wasn’t the case. The majority of their customers are Korean (I think 95%), thus they don’t even have a english menu but the waiter was patient enough to slowly explain the entire menu to me. I was told that they’re in the process of creating a english menu, but until that’s available it may be difficult for patrons that are unfamiliar with Korean food to order (even with a waiter translating the menu). The store front is also entirely in Korean (see image below), so unless you can read Korean get acquainted with the address and/or the image of their store front below.

Overall, Hong Ga Meun Ok has decent food, nothing mind blowing, but worth visiting because of their wonderful service.

Fried Pork Cutlet – $13.99

Steam Dumpling

Korean Roll (Gimbap) + Spicy rice Noodle (duk bok ki) Combo – $9.99

School Zone is a fairly a new self-service diner in New Jersey with two locations, one in Palisades Park and the other in Fort Lee. They serve Korean style cafeteria food, which is nothing like the cafeteria food in the States. You can order dishes like ramen, spicy rice cake, pork cutlet, fried rice, curry rice, and rolls. There’s a good variety to choose from, the portions are fair and soup is always free. They attracts a lot of youngsters, but don’t be fooled in thinking this place is only for kids, it’s for everyone. Their food is decent, their prices are acceptable and you have the option to can eat-in or takeout. They also have a self-service frozen yogurt counter that’s similar to 16 Handles, only with a lot less favors. I recommend their mango frozen yogurt, it’s my favorite of the bunch. I’ve been to both of their locations and I prefer their Palisades Park branch because there are more seats and it’s often less crowded. Overall, I think School Zone is a good place for a quick no-frills Korean meal.

Front Counter

Free soup (fish cake is an addition $1.50)

Spicy rice cake with sauce $7.95

Ramen with seafood $7.00

Pork cutlet $8.75

Frozen Yogurt Station

Toppings Table

Kogi BBQ is where Korean barbecue meets, Mexican tacos and burritos, meets restaurants on wheels, meets twitter. It’s an unusual combination, but has a cult following and is refining, not only the melding of ethic foods, but the way food is marketed and served.

Kogi launched last fall and sells primarily through two trucks that are always on the go to new locations in the Los Angeles area. They serve Korean BBQ tacos and burritos that are recession friendly at $2 a piece. Their menus and locations are tweeted out daily, you can follow Kogi at http://twitter.com/kogibbq.

Their way of doing bussiness is very innovative, not only are they using new forms of media to spread the word about their business, but they are essential making it fun for people to become their customers. With over 12k followers, Kogi generates lines wherever they go and draws customers to neighborhoods that they wouldn’t have visited otherwise. They’re like a party on wheels that serves food, customers on line socialize while they wait and everyone is usually enjoying themselves with or without food. My only complaint is that they’re only in LA, I really wish they would open a truck here in NYC. I guess I’ll have to wait until my next visit to the west coast to give Kogi a try.

Below I have embed a video entitled “Chasing the Dragon (The Kogi BBQ Adventure)” by DJ Akaider and it documents his adventure in finding and finally trying the “elusive” Kogi truck.

Totowa is one of the better Korean Restaurants in Palisades Park. Their management, however has recently been changed and they have been re-branded as the New Totowa. Under the new management, they still provide a fair amount of side dishes and their potions remain very large (for me at least). Their pork cutlet and spicy rice cake (duk bokki) are among the best in the area and their friendly service is what keeps me coming back. This is definitely a place worth try if you’re ever in the area.

Light House is a Korean BBQ house that specializes in tofu soup, but I found their BBQ and tofu not all that impressive. They are Ok, just not the place I would run to if I wanted some BBQ or tofu. Their octopus stone pot rice on the other hand is amazing. It’s well flavored with Korean spices and their portions of octopus is very generous. They also serve a good amount of ban chan (side dishes) and their food is MSG free.

Having previously tried two Korean Fired Chicken joints (Bon Chon & Kyedong), I found Boom Boom to be the best out of the three. Boom Boom, formally a Bon Chon, has similar fresh, never frozen wings and drumsticks, a 20-minute turn around time and similar choice of sauces. Like Kyedong, it also offers whole fired chickens that is sure to please customers who like breasts and/or thighs. The restaurant has a total of three tables that can seat six. The staff is extremely friendly and can speak both English and Korean. The restaurant is located on a street that has very limited parking, so be prepared to circle a bit.

When visiting Boom Boom the only decisions you will need to make are:
- Large ($20) or Small ($21)
- Drumsticks, Wings, Mixed, or Whole Chicken
- Soy Garlic, Spicy, or Mixed

All orders come with a can of soda and and a cup of Korean daikon radishes. If your taking away, your food will be neatly packed; if your eating in, you will be provided with wooden bowls to eat from. Similar to other Korean fried chicken joints, I recommend you phone in 20 minutes prior to pick up or dinning.

We got a small order of wings and drumsticks with half soy and half spicy sauce. Like its counterparts, the skin was very crispy and the meat was very juicy; however, Boom Boom’s soy garlic was a lot more bold and the spicy was not overly spicy. With that said, if you really enjoy the overly spicy taste (and I know a lot of Koreans do) Boom Boom wont do it for, hit up a Bon Chon instead.

Bon Chon Chicken serves Korean style fried chicken that is amazingly good. They have a number of location in the tri-state area and some over on the west coast (CA). I ate at the Bon Chon on Lemoine Ave and found the service to be exceptionally good. The staff speaks both English and Korean and are very friendly. The restaurant has amble amount of seating. Parking in front of the store is limited, but if you circle around you should be able to find a spot in no more than 10 min. Furthermore, there’s a parking lot around the corner that is free for shoppers (limited to 2 hours).

Both the spicy (contains vitamins A & C) and soy garlic are very crispy, juicy and not very greasy. According to Bon Chon, they use a proprietary sauce that stays on the chicken and not on your fingers, which is totally true. The soy garlic is exceptionally sweet and the spicy is very spicy compared to their competitors (Boom Boom & Kyedong). You can choose from a number of combination: wings drumsticks, soy garlic, spicy, or a mixture of both. An order of large goes for $20 and the medium is $12 (tax included). As of Oct 2008, the Leonia location no longer provides a free soda with each order, not sure about other Bon Chon locations. Do remember to pre-order 20 minutes prior to pick-up or dinning because the chicken is made to order and will take sometime to prepare.

I had a medium drumstick and wings with a mixture of both spicy and soy garlic, which also came with a cup of Korean daikon radish. I couldn’t decide which one I liked more as they were both very good!

Kyedong Chicken is Korean Fried Chicken house that has two locations; one, on Northern Blvd, NY (718-358-8300) and another on Broad Ave in Palisades Park, NJ. My review is based on the Palisades Park branch, which has no seating and is strictly for takeout only. The shop is located behind a bus stop and maybe hard to find since the shop’s sign is entirely in Korean and is co-located with New York Meat Market, a Korean butcher shop. Parking in this area is limited, so be prepared to circle a bit.

Kyedong Chicken, like their competitors (Boom Boom), offers wings, drumsticks, a combination of both, or whole chicken in either soy or hot sauce. You can also get a combination of sauces in any order, medium ($14) or large ($20) size. All orders come with a side of Korean daikon radish and a choice of soda. Remember to pre-order prior to pickup because it can take anywhere from 20-30 minutes to prepare.

I had a medium order of wings and drumsticks with a mixture of half soy and half spicy. The skin was crispy and had good texture, but there’s nothing good I could say about the meat itself. It was very bland and lacked taste. For the price I paid, I would have been better off going to Boom Boom or Bon Chon, which is significantly better! I have however, heard that the Northern Blvd branch of Kyedong is worlds better and cheaper for that matter. If you really want to try Kyedong Chicken, I would suggest you skip the Palisades Park branch and head straight to Flushing.

BBQ Chicken is strictly for takeout only . There are no tables, just a waiting area. Everything is made to order and could take as long as 20-30 minutes to prepare, so call in a head with your order.

BBQ Chicken is a Korean style fried chicken joint. They have an international presence with over 3500 locations in 37 countries. There are a number of locations in NYC, but I happen to stubble upon the one in Palisades NJ.

The people that work Pal Park location are nice and friendly and although there English may not be the best, they will go out of their way to try to help you. (ie. explain the difference between the style of chicken they serve).

I tried the original, sweet and spicy, chicken nuggets, and waffle fries. Being a fan of white meat, my favorite of the bunch are the chicken nugget, which are more like chicken strips. They come in one size (16 pieces), are all white meat with crispy corn flake breading, and topped out with honey mustered or BBQ dipping sauce. The sweet and spicy is basically the original with a small amount of injected spicy and drowned in their creation of sweet and spicy sauce. Having been drowned in all that sauce, the sweet and spicy was still surprisingly crispy. The waffle fries are nothing special, however the portions are huge.

For first time goers, I would suggest you try the original which like sweet and spicy comes in 2 sizes, half chicken (5 piece) or whole chicken (10 pieces). The original is a good starting point and provides a good bases to see if you enjoy the EVOO cooking process.

From my experience, I felt that EVOO cooking process does make a difference. They market the chicken as being healthier and having compared BBQ Chicken to KFC I don’t see any major difference in the calories and total fat; however, I don’t get that disgusting felling of having eaten fried food after BBQ Chicken like I do with KFC.

I don’t enjoy fast food often, but BBQ Chicken is a great place to indulge on once in a while :)

Update: the chicken nuggets are NOT all white meat. It just so happens that every piece that I had the first time around were white meat. I also forgot to mention that all chicken orders come with cold radish cubes, which eases that nasty felling you have after having fried foods.