My grandmother was born and raised in Korea and immigrated to the United States as a young woman, so, growing up, I was very familiar with Korean food. When I was 3-4 it was pretty much the only food I would eat. My palate has expanded a bit since then, but Korean food is still some of my favorite food. That is why I am so excited when I hear about a great Korean food restaurant!

BCD Tofu House is a chain of 24-hour Korean food restaurants that have become super popular in the last couple of years. There are now 13 restaurants, and I went to the one on Wilshire. This location has a fairly large parking lot, which is pretty miraculous for Koreatown.

I went with my family so we were able to have a pretty big spread! My sister and I both ordered the Hot-Stone Bulgogi Combo (#3). The combos come with Soon Tofu soup, and we both ordered the Kimchi Soup with Pork at medium spicy. I like spicy food, but I usually order medium spicy the first time I go to a restaurant. BCD’s medium spicy level was very flavorful, but not very spicy, I’ll probably order spicy next time I go. My mom ordered the Galbi Combo (#1) and also chose Kimchi Soup with Pork. My dad chose to order a full-sized Kimchi Soup with Pork (#23). We also shared Kimchi Dumplings as an appetizer.

Everything was delicious! Bulgogi is thin, marinated slices of beef grilled on a barbeque. It is my favorite Korean meat, and probably the most universally popular. The Bulgogi Combo came with the bulgogi in a broth with Jap Chae (glass noodles) at the bottom of the stone bowl. I love jap chae, so that was a nice treat having it included in the combo. The Galbi was probably the best Galbi I’ve ever had. Galbi is grilled ribs (usually beef hort rib) and it just fell right off the bone. It was juicy and flavorful and all around wonderful. The Soon Tofu Soup was also delicious. It comes in a stone pot and the soup comes out boiling. You are also given a raw egg to crack into the soup and it cooks right in front of you! Actually, everything came in a stone pot bowl so all of the food comes out very hot and stays very hot. Be careful not to handle the bowls or you might burn yourself. Kimchi is a traditional Korean side dish made of fermented cabbage. It is spicy and a bit sour. Kimchi is also full of probiotics. I love Kimchi soup because I love Kimchi, but it can be a bit of an acquired taste if you’ve never had it before, so I might suggest going with the original soup (#20) or the dumpling soup (#25) if you’ve never had Kimchi before. The Kimchi Dumplings were very good as well, not the best dumplings or kimchi appetizer I’ve had, but still very good.

Like all good Korean restaurants, BCD Tofu House provides complimentary banchan, which are various mini Korean appetizers. BCD had kimchi, fish cakes, pickles, cabbage and fried fish. The fish is a full fish, so there is still a head, tail and bones. The banchan was good, but I’ve had better. Overall, I am very excited that I found a new, delicious Korean Restaurant.

bcdtofu.com

3575 Wilshire Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90010