Ahjae Gookbap — Restaurant in Palisades Park

I saw on Tiktok that this was one of the few places that offers marinated raw crabs, which I have been craving since my trip to Korea. In addition to the crabs, they also have a simple menu, with offerings like their eponymous $18 ahjae gookbap (a warming beef soup that comes with a giant meaty beef bone, cheek meat, and honey comb tripe) and $16 gool gookbap (oyster soup packed with a ton of vegetables like seaweed, daikon, chives, mushrooms and tofu). Personally, I preferred the latter as it was sweeter and texturally more diverse. However, the ahjae gookbap had a very lovely and strong beef flavor-- dare I say even better than the soup at Parksanbal?

As for the soy marinated crabs, they were so flavorful and delicious. We ordered the large platter ($36) which came with four crabs. The crabs were pleasantly savory with an inherently seafoody sweetness underneath. The texture was a little gummy and cold, which can be off-putting to some, but I loved it. My favorite part was scooping up some warm rice to mix in the shell together with the cold sauce and the roe-- it is simply delightful and a creamy bite. My only complaint is that the crabs were probably out of season as they were a little on the smaller side, with only a little bit of roe in each shell. Even the flesh was difficult to squeeze out because of how little there was present.

The banchan served was pretty decent, though we were not fans of the spicy cabbage muchim, which tasted like raw, unfermented kimchi. However, the spicy radish kkakdugi was so refreshing and perfectly seasoned that we decided to order a deli container to-go, which they sell for $10.

Overall, I did really enjoy my visit to Ahjae Gookbap and would like to return when I have the chance to try the rest of their gookbap. I will point out that someone in my party did call me up the next morning to tell me they got food poisoning (most likely from the crab) as they did not eat anything else after our meal but I personally was feeling fine. As with all raw foods, eat at...

The staff were incredibly friendly and welcoming, whereas the ambiance was on the casual side with not that many seatings. The best dish we got was the large raw crabs (ganjang gejang) for 36, which priced out around 9 per crab that was cut in half. The marinade was so incredibly delicious and the crab was filled with fresh meat! I know some diners say it's pricey, but honestly for its high quality and freshness, I think it's relatively reasonable. We also got the braised prime beef (ahjae ppyo jjim), which has an intense and rich flavor, but the amount of bone to meat ratio was overwhelmingly imbalanced, where each piece had about 20% meat versus 80% bone. I definitely liked the dish but hope they can choose more meaty cuts next time! Lastly, we got the buckwheat noodle in cold broth (mool naengmyun), which was refreshing and tasty, just be careful not to add too much vinegar!

Overall we had a really good time and we can't wait to come back, especially for more of the raw crabs! Thank you for reading and...

This is the most legit 국밥 (Gukbap) place I've been to in Palisades Park area! Been here twice now!

Unlike other places where they serve you generic glass noodle soondae gukbaps, this places focuses on using beef in their gukbaps and dishes.

I recommend getting the gukbap and a side order of the Suyuk Muchim. The combination of hot soup and the spicy tangy salad works very well.

Shrimp dumplings (almandu) were really good too as a side. They are more like a shrimp paste dumpling with a thin coat of dumpling.

The banchans (picked radish and kimchi) were perfectly generously seasoned for soup based dishes. Personally I like to put in the radish or kimchi in my soup when I'm half way done with it to change it up a bit.

Def going back next time to try...