Ham Hung Restaurant

LA’s North Korean Noodle Restaurant Ham Hung, 34 Years Later | Eater LA

"I watched Sam Oh, the owner and handyman, stare out the window on a slow Wednesday evening as rain and chilly Los Angeles weather threatened the seasonal business he longs for—“I remember when we used to do 1,000 noodles a day,” he says. The restaurant, named for Hamhung, North Korea, specializes in naengmyeon—the North Korean cold noodle that even made a stir at last year’s Korean Summit when Kim Jong Un mentioned it—and Sam serves both Hamhung-style bibim-naengmyeon and Pyongyang-style mul-naengmyeon year-round. The dish is about the constant warming and cooling between ice-cold noodles and piping hot broth; Sam’s process is meticulous and fast: an American-made extruder built in 1985 (the year Ham Hung opened) with a rare 50-gallon vat pushes potato/sweet potato-starch dough into near-boiling water, the noodles are whisked about 10 seconds, shocked in an ice bath, and plated in under two minutes, producing freshness and resilience few places match. His bibim is dressed in a secret dadaeki red-chili paste that’s unctuous and tangy, while the Pyongyang style uses buckwheat noodles in an icy brisket-and-dongchimi broth; the noodles themselves contain roughly 5% wheat flour for elasticity, are light on gluten, and easy to digest. Sam keeps the place traditional after taking it over from his parents in 1998, even though naengmyeon isn’t very profitable (many spots use frozen noodles), so he supplements income with winter dishes like galbitang and kimchi stew and catering (he supplies Netflix offices through Eat Club) while keeping a 50-gallon vat ready in case interest surges — proud, stubborn, and quietly holding onto an underappreciated specialty." - Danny Palumbo