Chunju Han-Il Kwan - Los Angeles, CA

I've been eating a lot of jigaes and stews lately. I think it's because of the cold weather we've been having in LA these days. Nothing beats eating something warm and spicy on a cold, rainy day.

Yesterday, my friend James and I met up to hit some golf balls at Aroma. For those that haven't been, it's one of those Korean golf ranges in the heart of Koreatown. They have those automated golf ball dispensers where each ball comes up from the ground once you hit the tee, which is super convenient. Apparently the balls are cheaper on Tuesday and Wednesday, so keep that in mind! Also, you get three hour parking with validation at the golf range.

I think there are about three or four floors for you to hit. The weird thing is that it looks straight into an apartment building. I guess it's more disturbing for the residents to have all these balls flying at you than for us to be hitting them. Anyhow, there were quite a few people out that night even though it was cold and raining. Koreans sure love their golf.

After we were done with golf, we went to Chunju Han-Il Kwan for some budae jigae. It's basically across the street from Chapman Plaza, in the same strip mall as Holly's Coffee. I've never had budae jigae before, but apparently it's a spicy stew with spam and sausages in it. I guess it's kind of like kimchee jigae but with lots of meat? We were going to order the budae jigae but we saw that they had dak doritang (spicy chicken stew) on the menu and it sounded good so we ordered that instead.

Doesn't it look yummy? The chicken was really moist and the sauce, although it looked super spicy because of its bright red color, it was on the mild side. It takes longer to cook, so just beware if you're dying of hunger.

James said it was one of his favorite Korean restaurants in LA. The restaurant was packed when we were there, so I guess a lot of other Koreans share the same opinion. He said his uncle from Korea said Chunju Han-Il Kwan was better than Korean food in Korea. Blasphemy! I almost disowned him as a friend once he said that, but he quickly apologized. hahaha, j/k.

Here's the different side dishes that they gave us. Usually they give you the side dishes before the main dish arrives, so in those circumstances I would have polished off all the side dishes, but they gave it to us at the same time as the dak doritang, so I was too busy eating the stew to try all the side dishes. I had a couple bites here and there of the side dishes and they were good.

They also gave you purple rice and moo gook (beef soup with daikon). The soup was yummy.
After dinner, James wanted to go eat sushi. Apparently it's dineLA Restaurant Week this week and Sugar Fish was participating, so he suggested we get a few pieces to see if it's really like Sushi Nozawa and worthy of the hype, but his friends saved us from being major gluttons. They were also in K-town, so we met up with them for drinks instead. I actually haven't hung out in K-town in a long time, but it was actually a lot of fun. Dare I say, I think LA is actually growing on me again. Wow. I never thought I'd ever utter those words. And of course, I say this now before I leave for my one month jaunt to NY. hahaha. Can't wait!

Aroma Golf Range

3680 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90010

Chunju Han-Il Kwan

3450 W 6th St, #106
Los Angeles, CA 90020