Hamjipark: Sizzling Pork in Koreatown

Korean Restaurant Los Angeles

Hamjipark serves recognizable Korean comfort food, but modernizes the experience.

Hwa Shin Kim and her family opened the first Hamjipark in 1993 on a grungy stretch of Pico that can only loosely be described as Koreatown. She prepared a number of specialties, but her customers anointed barbecued pork spare ribs as the must-order dish. A decade later, Hwa Shin opened a modernized branch in the heart of K-town with daughter Eunji. Since the food is equally delicious and the stylish confines are infinitely more inviting, I see no reason to return to the Pico flagship.

Two dining rooms are divided by glass walls stenciled with what may or may not be hamjiparks, which Eunji told me is a traditional carved wooden vessel used to hold food. To celebrate her porcine-fueled success, Hwa Shin has peppered her restaurant with pig figurines. Strangely, the oinker with angel wings in the yellow coat and top hat disappeared since my previous visit. I suspect pig-napping. Where’s Anthony LaPaglia when you need him?


Korean Food Los Angeles

Every meal at a Korean restaurant includes an array of complimentary dishes called banchan.

Hamjipark offers six banchan per day, with minimal variation in three recent visits. We received turnip strands bathed in chile sauce, pungent radish chunks, bean sprouts tossed with chilies, crunchy little cucumbers seasoned with raw garlic, pickled broccoli with shaved carrots and daikon, and of course kimchi, the spicy fermented cabbage that is a Korean staple.

Korean Food Los Angeles

Pork spare ribs ($16.99) arrived on a sizzling platter, sprinkled with sesame seeds and chopped scallions. We received scissors to trim jutting hog meat. The sticky, chile-brushed ribs were sensational, with flavor that built in intensity with every bite. After dispensing with the ribs, we were treated to caramelized onions infused with a pool of sauce and pig fat.

Korean Food Los Angeles

Marinated sirloin beef ($21.99) was just as satisfying. Raw beef medallions marinated in a dizzying blend of oyster sauce, sesame oil and garlic.

Korean Food Los Angeles

We seared the meat on our hubcap-shaped tabletop grill. Not that the succulent meat could be improved, but we had the option to dip the meat in sesame oil, salt and pepper. Our waiter also brought a three-compartment dish of fermented bean paste, sliced jalapeños and sliced garlic cloves, which went untouched. We also cooked marinated onions and scallions that caramelized on the grill to good effect.

Korean Food Los Angeles

A massive bowl of pan-broiled squid with noodle ($17.99) starred a chile-soaked stir-fry of supple tentacles, abdomen and tail meat, plus sweet onions, sliced mushrooms, zucchini and red pepper strips. The dish was topped with four piles of springy vermicelli. Tossed together, it made for a top-flight noodle dish with both spice and flavor.

To drink, every table receives a pitcher of iced barley tea, which helped to extinguish the food’s chile heat.

Hamjipark is dessert-free, but if you like shaved ice topped with green tea ice cream, fresh fruit and Fruity Pebbles, Ice Kiss is located next door.

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Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

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