Go Hyang Jib Korean — Restaurant in Norwalk

Don't stop, but Go Hyang Jib!

Looking for a new place to eat, I gathered intel on Go Hyang Jib, located in a Korean strip mall across one of those Korean nude spas, where your skin is scoured off like a trout being cleaned for dinner. I deduced I wanted either their soondae gook or their mudfish soup. Mission directives certain, I made my way over for a lazy Saturday lunch.

Mudfish soup- Just like it's namesake fish, it's like eating mud. Think hot fish smoothie with vegetables and other things. A textural nightmare. Kinda weird, kinda gross. I loved it! The mudfish soup was hearty, rich, and comforting. I asked for green onions to add, which would provide some much needed texture and was given a container of it. I also added chopped jalapeno which was on the table. A filling meal, I'm glad I can cross off mudfish from my food to-do list.

Why the 5 stars, Rodney? Well, it's da bomb banchan!

Specifically this! The raw crab banchan! Sweet, spicy raw crab which you eat shell and all. The only difficult part being the claw, where the flesh needs to be picked out. I had a refill of the banchan, which I usually do, mainly for another go at the raw crab. Think about it. Have a couple servings of the crab, and it probably costs as much as the soup. That's a deal!

No complimentary sikhye (rice dessert), unfortunately.

Service was great. The sweet waitress was accommodating to this gringo who spoke a little Korean with her. After my refill of banchan, she asked me "You're just going to eat banchan??" "I have an appetite", I replied. The understatement of the millennium. A fair amount of seating, Go Hyang Jib is a homey, hole in the wall place.

Parking is in a private lot, which fills up fast.

I go-go dance for Go Hyang Jib! The food's authentic, full of flavor & not bad on the wallet. What sets it apart, for me, is the raw crab banchan. I would've asked for yet another refill, but I was afraid the sweet little waitress would've cut me off abruptly like the sexiest woman in the room that I asked for a dance. C'est la vie! I can't wait to try their soondae gook, as I'm big on blood sausage. Till next time!

Highly...

Why did I take so long to come back! Looks like they figured out take out and on line ordering pretty well as they still apply some of those tactics for dine in. Some of the items are still packed in “to go” containers for dine in, but worked well in our case because their servings are so large. Four of us ordered a different combo each and we probably could have shared two combos and been satisfied. Anyway, we were hungry, wanted to try different dishes and it’s been a while since our last visit here so we went for it.

Me: spicy beef soup with pork hock. Both delicious and something I will order again. 5 stars Son: cold noodles and spicy pork. Also really good, no regrets on either front. 5 stars Son’s GF: dumpling soup and blood sausage (mix). Soup was amazing. Blood sausage was good, but they asked is we wanted the “mix” or all sausage and we went with the mix, which we are glad we did. The mix came with sausage and other pork parts, like belly, tripe and two other cuts (maybe pate/liver and tongue?). Anyway, those cuts were better than the sausage and need to find a way to order just that, cause it was amazing. All expect the liver/pate which is just not our taste. 5 stars. Daughter: knife cut noodles and bbq beef. Noodles were great. Broth had options for anchovies or seafood. We went with anchovies, which is traditional but didn’t have the bold flavors we were craving so may order seafood option next time. BBQ beef was really good too, so 4.5 stars.

Service was exceptional as well. Very considerate with our orders making sure we knew options and helping us decide. Really thoughtful about our table space as well and brought us all t go containers when they realized we were not going to finish. Thankfully we were able to repurpose some of the containers and just needed something for our soups. Language barrier was there as my Korean is terrible but unlike the days of old, where they look down on you for not speaking Korean, we both tried and...

We had families visit and some were craving Korean dishes. Checked Yelp and located this restaurant that wasn’t far away. It was our first time and the photos of several dishes looked appealing. But the consensus was that it was mediocre and left a so-so impression based on the items we’ve tried:

Bossam (Korean boiled pork wrap): the pork was alright, but the lettuce wrap and ssamjang didn’t taste fresh; something was off, like if it had been made and kept in the fridge for some time. I understand the business may have been slow and a lower turnover with their condiments but it left a bad impression. The soondae (blood sausage) was just ok, nothing special.

I don’t know if the restaurant specializes in any dishes, but it does offer a variety of Korean dishes. A good place to visit to try some, but it was pretty ordinary and wouldn’t be a restaurant I would particularly recommend when someone asks....