Shin-Chon Sul Lung Tang — Restaurant in Annandale

I’m pretty honest and blunt when it comes to reviews. I don’t like to BS because I believe in spending your money where it is worth. With that being said, let’s get into it.

The service here is above average. They’re very quick to notice when you need things refilled and will do so. They also serve your food very quickly so the wait isn’t as long as your normal restaurant. Excellent service.

Let’s get into the food. The star of the show is the oxtail Gom Tang. As someone who grew up eating gom tang every single day since I was 5, I like to believe my palette is very sensitive to this particular dish. My grandma used to make this for me and my grandpa every single day. She would spend hours in the garage on a burner boiling this from morning all the way through til night. The best pairing for this is yellow croaker (fish), that’s just how I grew up on it. It’s the ultimate sidekick. A half spoon of rice, dipped in the broth, topped with a piece of yellow croaker. The fish almost acts as a seasoning since it has a salted flavor from the skin that pairs well with the blandness of the rice dipped in the deep riches of the broth.

There are other reviews that say the oxtail is average at best but let’s be real. Half of them aren’t even Korean and don’t understand the complexities of this dish. Remember I said I’m honest and don’t BS? My honesty says they aren’t qualified to judge this dish. They don’t have a reference point to compare the flavors of it. They can’t even comprehend how you much have to babysit this during the multiple brew phases. Scooping out impurities every hour. Letting rest before brewing it again for hours. Scooping out the fats. It’s $20+ for a reason. This is the definition of “made with love and care”.

The broth is so deep. You can tell multiple hours of boiling have been incorporated behind the scenes into a single bowl. By your 3rd sip of broth, you start to notice the bone marrow from the oxtail that’s been harmoniously melted into the broth, taking your taste buds into the deep waters of nuttiness. No lie, I had about 10 spoons of just broth before I picked up any oxtail or noodles. Only a pinch of salt was added because I didn’t want to take away from any of the original flavors. This was the most quiet I’ve been during any meal in 2024. My brain was so locked in on trying to figure out how many hours were put into this broth for it to taste so deep. If you’re a oxtail-gom tang master like myself, this is the one. I absolutely cannot wait to be back here. This one definitely took me on an emotional rollercoaster. After my grandma passed away, I haven’t had the same meal since..I’ve scavenged through LA K-town, New York, New Jersey looking for the one. This whole time it was in Annandale lol. Get the oxtail gom tang. If you’ve never had it before, you might walk away thinking it was just another gom tang. But if you grew up on this stuff like me, you’re going to be mind blown by the balance...

This place is a MUST for seolleongtang. Seolleongtang is a Korean ox bone soup that's cooked for many hours to an entire day. This allows for flavor to be extracted from the bones and other beef parts. When fully cooked, it looks milky/cloudy. It's best commonly flavored with salt, green onions, and red pepper and eaten alongside rice and banchan (side dishes).

I love seolleongtang and find it to be one of my favorite comfort dishes, especially during the colder months. It's a dish I often order at Korean restaurants. When we first discovered Shin Chon and their specialty with seolleongtang, you can only imagine my excitement.

The menu isn't extensive with no pictures. Aside from seolleongtang (and there are different kinds of seolleongtang that you can order), they also have oxtail soup, cabbage soup, galbitang (beef short ribs soup), beef knuckle soup, dumpling and rice cake soup, spicy beef/vegetable soup, beef/vegetable platter, braised short ribs, braised oxtail, seafood pancake, bibim naengmyeon (spicy cold noodles), and dumplings (steamed and fried).

The seolleongtang is delicious and flavorful. I also like their braised oxtail, dumplings, bibim naengmyeon, and seafood pancake. Frankly, I don't think you can really go wrong with any of their dishes. Service is friendly and attentive too (even if you don't speak Korean like me!) - we always felt that the owners and servers were...

Shin Chon is one of the recommended spots for seolleongtang in the area and so I went with two other people. The broth is milky but you do have to remember to season it with salt, which is placed at the table. They also give you a container of green onions to add to your heart’s content. It was hearty and comforting, and the brisket was tender. The portion of noodles was also decently large, although it didn’t look as large as the galbitang. The galbitang is not too flavorful but not bland either. The meat was super tender and plentiful.

The standout was probably the haemul pajeon, which was crispy and had a decent amount of seafood and sweet vegetables. It’s definitely a portion worthy of the price and I’d definitely come back to get it.

They offer Kirkland water bottles for the table and their kimchi was sweet without much fish sauce taste! Park in the 9292 plaza if the four available spots are filled. It can be a little hard to find but you can enter either from a Little River Turnpike service road or from...