hodori: cheap quick korean basics

*revise 1.0, per the comment of illewminator*

cheap quick korean basics you say? yes. just head to HODORI, at the southwest corner of Vermont and Olympic. okay. i have to say...not real razzle dazzle...not a lot of subtelty...but just good, cheap home cookin' style korean staples without the fuss, at very reasonable prices. an additional plus is that they are pretty quick on the to-go orders. i mean come on, what is usually the pain when it comes to saying "let's eat some korean food!"? well it often means paying at LEAST, at LEAST 14 bucks for something decent. in this case, i just had three dishes this evening (shared with an eating partner) for the total cost of $21.50...for those with quick division in the brain, that's about 7 bucks a dish.

i had duk mandu guk (rice cake ovals and meat/veg dumpling in soup), duk bulgi with fish cake (rice cake rods with kim chi and fish cake pieces in red spicy and sweet sauce), and yuk gae jiang (spicy glass noodle soup w/ rice). this came with four panchan's or little side pickled dishes/cold dishes that you can have with your hot and spicy food.

other items (a multitude of basics) are on the menu. nae myun (cold noodle soup) and its different varieties, bi bim bap, mandu (pan friend potstickers), and tonkatsu (okay, not so korean). some dishes that include "bacon" (don't really know what that means) went upwards to 12 bucks...but basically prices are between 6 and 13 dollars. the space itself if dining in is well-lit, spacious and no fuss.

let's be honest: the food is nothing to write home (or grubclub) about. not subtle but does its job. but really, this is absolutely the CHEAPEST korean food place one can find if you want convenient, no fuss, lower priced and BASically good korean food! we don't HAVE to gorge ourselves with pricey korean barbequed meats to get that korean palette on the tongue! and what's better is the fact that they never close (apparently post-party post norebang/karaoke kids like to go there).

so enjoy...and don't say this is a TRUE culinary adventure...just some basic grub that should be added to the cheap standbys when your in the mood for a 7 buck korean meal.