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Bukchang Dong Tofu House LA: Authentic Korean Soon Tofu Soup in Los Angeles Koreatown

Hello everyone! I recently visited Bukchang Dong Tofu House in Los Angeles, USA, and I wanted to share my experience. For those who are just here for the food, you can skip to 3 minutes 20 seconds in the video, but I encourage you to read on for the full blog post! It’s been a while since I uploaded a video from the US. I have a few places I visited previously that I still wanted to share, and lately, I’ve been mixing them in with my domestic Korean videos. It seems like I’ll be mixing in videos from even more places as I travel more – the chances are getting higher and higher! I’ll try to upload everything quickly.

This time, it’s a Soon Tofu restaurant, but it’s in America! Bukchang Dong Tofu House is actually the very first Korean food restaurant I ate at when I arrived in LA. These days, I feel like I crave Korean food as soon as I board a plane. The moment I step off the plane and breathe in the American air, I feel a bit… greasy inside. It’s not that I dislike Western food, but my stomach just feels heavy. Now, when I travel, I find myself looking for Korean food to some extent. However, there’s always the price issue when you try to eat Korean food overseas, compared to eating it in Korea. But I guess there’s no avoiding that. LA, at least, is a place where Korean food is quite developed. Almost every Korean dish that comes to mind is available here, and the taste is good too. It’s not much different from eating in Korea. That’s why LA is a comfortable place to visit even with older people. If you just consider LA’s Koreatown, you could probably live here without speaking a word of English. It’s almost like Korea. There are many Koreans and Korean immigrants. So, even though it’s a foreign country, I feel a certain peace of mind when I’m here. I personally like seeing Koreans and feeling a Korean vibe when I travel, but I know that’s a matter of personal preference. Some people dislike seeing many Koreans when they travel. That’s their taste, and I respect it. I personally really like the Korean vibe of LA.

A Taste of Home, Far From Home

The only thing that’s a bit of a concern here is the price of Korean food; it’s about three times as expensive, roughly. The Soon Tofu I’m about to eat is $15 if you just order the Soon Tofu itself. $15 might not sound expensive, but after adding tip and tax, and converting it at an exchange rate of about ₩1,300 per dollar, it comes out to around ₩25,000. Once you add everything up, it feels a bit different. I heard that LA is a place where people come from all over the US just to eat Korean food. But for someone visiting from Korea, it feels a bit strange to pay three times the price for food that tastes almost exactly the same as in Korea. But then again, if I don’t eat it, I can’t handle the greasy feeling, and there aren’t many other options. Still, I’m grateful that I can eat delicious Korean food abroad; it’s better to have it and pay than not have it at all. It’s only when you compare it to prices in Korea that Korean food seems expensive. Dining out in America itself is generally expensive. Vietnamese people probably feel even more burdened, having to pay ₩20,000 for Pho that costs ₩3,000-4,000 locally. It seems America, as a place, just has high restaurant prices. People from Switzerland might find it cheap though!

Bukchang Dong Tofu House – LA vs. NYC

I’ve eaten at Bukchang Dong Tofu House in both LA and New York (after I moved on from LA). Perhaps because LA is the original location, I personally found the LA branch to be a bit tastier than the New York branch. The prices were also slightly lower in LA. I understand that this brand started in LA and then expanded to Korea in reverse. It’s been quite a while since I visited a branch in Korea, so it’s hard for me to compare directly. But considering the ‘Korean food correction’ factor you get when eating abroad, it probably tastes better when you eat it overseas.

We’ve arrived at Bukchang Dong Tofu House in LA. It’s quite spacious and crowded with people. It felt good to see a Korean restaurant doing so well in a foreign country. It really is popular. Although I have no connection to Bukchang Dong Tofu House, I feel a little more supportive of Korean restaurants operating overseas.

A Feast of Soon Tofu and LA Galbi

Looking at the menu, just ordering Soon Tofu is $15. Combo meals with Galbi and Soon Tofu are around $23 for lunch and $28.49 for dinner. I ordered a few different things.
First, Dolsotbap (stone pot rice) arrived. It comes with Soon Tofu orders. It’s very hot. It’s a bit difficult to touch directly, so it’s easier to hold and move it by grabbing the bottom. Then, various side dishes (banchan) are served. When you’re abroad, you miss these kinds of things. I’m not sure if the side dishes are refillable here, but since it’s a Korean restaurant, they probably are. But I’m not certain.

This is Jogi (croaker fish) fry. It’s a familiar taste that brings back memories. It’s the taste you’re thinking of. There’s Jogi in LA too! Seeing this made me wonder if Jogi lived in American waters. But later, when I went to a Korean supermarket, they were selling Yeonggwang Gulbi (dried croaker from Yeonggwang, Korea). So, I’m not sure if this Jogi is American-caught or shipped from Korea.

Let’s open the rice. When Dolsotbap comes out, you always do this: scoop out the rice, pour water into the pot, and close the lid. Then you wait and eat it as Nurungji (scorched rice) later.
Next up, Gejang (soy sauce marinated crab) came out. The Gejang is a bit ambiguous. Considering the absolute price, the taste is a bit disappointing. But considering the Korean food correction factor in the US, it’s not bad. It’s not delicious enough to rave about, but I ate it moderately. The seasoning was good. The seasoning is good, but the crab itself isn’t in particularly excellent condition. But considering the price, it’s acceptable.

And then, LA Galbi arrived! LA Galbi in LA. It’s probably American beef. The US has plenty of good quality beef without needing to import. They wouldn’t use Hanwoo (Korean beef) here. I don’t think they import Australian beef much either, although I think I’ve seen it occasionally. And Wagyu is usually served as fatty beef in fine dining restaurants, but this isn’t Wagyu. Personally, I like Hanwoo, but I also like American beef. Hanwoo generally has more fat, making it more tender. But American beef sometimes has a more pronounced meaty flavor. High-grade American beef, which isn’t imported much into Korea, can have both good marbling and a good meaty flavor. Both have their pros and cons. The beef used here isn’t top-grade, but it’s still decent. Considering that you’re paying about an extra ₩20,000 on top of the Soon Tofu price for this much meat, it’s quite cost-effective. It’s seasoned in a Korean style with a bit of sweetness. It’s delicious with rice. Even though it’s probably American beef, eating it makes me miss Korea.

Soon Tofu Variations: Gopchang vs. Seafood

Next is Gopchang (tripe) Soon Tofu. It’s Soon Tofu with Gopchang, and the broth is quite thick. I cracked an egg into it too. Depending on your preference, it might be better not to add the egg. Adding it is nice, but it slightly changes the broth’s consistency and dilutes the flavor a bit. It’s similar to how adding an egg to ramen changes the soup. The Gopchang Soon Tofu was delicious. The Gopchang isn’t completely odor-free, but considering the price, it’s quite acceptable. It has Gopchang and Yang (beef tripe), and they were reasonably tender and quite plentiful. The Gopchang adds a more intensely Korean feel to the dish. My friend who lives here always orders this when they come to this Soon Tofu place. He’s the type who can’t eat rice without Kimchi, so I’m not sure how he ended up living here. But these days, it’s quite easy to find Kimchi in America. They sell it at regular supermarkets. The thick broth from the rendered Gopchang was good, and it was delicious mixed with rice. Watching this now makes me want to eat Gopchang Soon Tofu again.

This is Seafood Soon Tofu. Instead of Gopchang, it contains various seafood. For those who don’t like the Gopchang flavor, seafood might be a better option. Seafood Soon Tofu is cleaner in taste than Gopchang Soon Tofu, while Gopchang has a richer, heavier flavor. This is what I ate in LA. When I ate at the New York branch, they didn’t have Gopchang Soon Tofu, so I had the mixed Soon Tofu and a LA Galbi set. 🥘 I personally preferred the Gopchang Soon Tofu. And the New York branch was slightly more expensive than the LA branch. Just the Soon Tofu alone is $18 at dinner time in New York. The Galbi and Soon Tofu set is $30. $30 sounds like ₩30,000, but if you calculate tax, tip, and an exchange rate of ₩1,300, it comes out to ₩51,000. $18 is about ₩30,000, so you’re faced with the choice of paying ₩30,000 for just Soon Tofu or ₩50,000 for Soon Tofu and LA Galbi. ₩30,000 for just Soon Tofu is a bit much. But ₩50,000 for Soon Tofu and Galbi feels somewhat reasonable in the US context.

Final Verdict: A Korean Oasis in LA

Bukchang Dong Tofu House is a great place to visit during your US travels. It’s a great resting spot when you’re traveling in America. The Soon Tofu is spicy in a Korean style, and the side dishes aren’t much different from those in Korea, making it a good place to visit when you’re feeling greasy from American food or simply struggling with foreign cuisine. There might be some questions about the price, but if you try to eat something other than Korean food, it will cost about the same or even more in many cases, so it’s not particularly expensive within the US context. It’s only when you compare it to Korean prices that the difference becomes apparent. So, my price judgment criteria changes depending on the place I travel to. The same food might cost ₩20,000 in Vietnam, ₩20,000 in the US, and ₩20,000 in Switzerland, but my perception of the price will be different in each place. Switzerland felt like there was a problem with the prices there, which I’ll talk about if I get a chance later. Anyway, I felt like I had to eat this, and I enjoyed it very much. Thank you for watching this long video. If you like and subscribe, I would be even more grateful. Please turn on notifications too!

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