Choon Chun Chicken BBQ

Must Order: Fried Mandoo
Went on recommendation from Vincent Q so we tried it out. It is a small place on King St so that means parking may be scarce.
We had a hard time deciding what to order based on mixed reviews on Unilocal so we went with kalbi-​our korean food staple order, fried mandoo & fried chicken (bone-​in).
The sides came out and my boyfriend really liked their cabbage kimchee. He even liked it better than the Angry Korean Lady’s fresh kimchee (shhh, just don’t tell her that!). They also gave us a dish of pickled cubed daikon a little later in the meal and it was good! I really liked it as it reminded me of the pickled daikon in Vietnamese food (specifically shredded in the banh mi).
The kalbi came out first and it was tasty and kind of reminded me of Million’s kalbi. But I would say it was O.K.
The fried mandoo was great! I loved the mix inside and the wrapper they used was perfect for the amount of crispiness & keeping most of the oil out. Probably my favorite dish at this meal.
The fried chicken w/​bone-​in was very moist & juicy and the breading was interesting almost what I’ve seen fried oysters breaded in. They served it with a dish of salt & pepper presumably to add flavor. It definitely needed flavor but salt & pepper wasn’t what I was going for (although that does occur quite a bit in Korean food).
All in all, worth a try and will go again to give it another shot.

I’ve been here twice and both times it’s been absolutely fantastic! Their chicken is absolutely the best I’ve had here in Hawaii! I wish I could suggest items from the menu, but every time I go I’m with my Korean friends (the ones FROM Korea [yes, that matters]), and they handle all the ordering =)
If you can find this place, it’s great but it’s small, gets crowded around the usual times and their parking lot is miniscule. Fortunately, King Street usually has a lot of parking so don’t worry!

As a Korean that has also lived in Korea, I definitely feel as though I have a keener eye (or should I say tongue) when it comes to Korean food.
While Koreans have a wide range of foods, from casual street food to more delicate formal dishes, one thing is certain: all Korean food typically goes along well with alcohol, particularly soju.
Choon Chun Chicken combines the best of Korean street food and casual drinking food for the ultimate Korean experience. Located on a small corner on King street, it’s easy to miss. However, once inside and tried, it’s hard to forget!
The interior is similar to that of a small pub, everything seems slightly cramped. It is definitely a place to go with a friend or a smaller group of friends. I’ve taken many friends there, who have not only enjoyed their experience, but have also become regulars there (with or without me!)
The happy hour is the prime time (4 to 8 pm daily) with great deals. Their kimchee pancake is the best I’ve had since I’ve lived in Korea and their boneless honey BBQ chicken is spot-​on in seasoning and flavors for the sweet and spicy kick Korean food is notorious for. Down it with a shot of soju and cheers, welcome to K-​town!

I would always go by this place, wondering what it was about. Thus, I jotted down the name and went to Unilocal.The reviews were actually better than I imagined, and believe me, there are some good Korean restaurants in the area. It is a bit small, so the seats get filled fast. We were lucky enough to get a table for four. And yes, we came during happy hour – 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Side Dishes– 4-​stars– Of course, the kim chi has to be good, but the one dish that we enjoyed the most was vinegar and daikon. Delicious! I also enjoyed the hot peppers, I kept eating them between my dishes. For the rest, we each had out favorites, hopefully you will, too. There was some salad, soy beans, and fishes.
Fried Mandoo– 4 ½-​stars– These were delicious and crunchy, one table-​mate noting how they liked the way it was battered to make it light, yet crispy. We actually ordered two trays of this.
Barbecue Chicken– 3 ½-​stars– A very good, sweet and tasty chicken dish, it just didn’t stand out like some of the other dishes. As everyone got full, this dish was one of the last to go.
Kalbi– 3 ½-​stars– Another staple in the Korean dinner game. Yet again, made delicious, but not outstanding. Plus, my friends were fans of chewing meat off the bone, so I left it for them.
Fried Squid– 3 ½-​stars– The texture was chewy, yet not as hard as year-​old gum. It breaks easily, which is the charm. Lightly flavored, this was a beautiful dish to eat. As some of them noted, the bed of shrimp-​chip stuff tasted a bit stale.
Fried Udon– 4 ½-​stars– Delicious, the flavor was right on – rich and layered, a bounty for the mouth. It is slightly spicy, but not overwhelmingly. It was hard, since one of us was allergic to spicy foods, though. The noodles were thick, holding just enough of the sauce to matter. I wanted to eat the entire plate, if not for the last dish.
Kim Chi Jun– 5-​stars– These were like little slices of heaven for me. I was sad I used up stomach space for kalbi and chicken. There was something wholesome and satisfying, eating kim chi fried like meat jun. The flavors, the textures, the experience. I’m definitely requesting this dish first the next time I go. Excellence.
Yogurt Soju– 3-​stars– I actually liked the sweet flavor, reminding me of childhood frozen yogurt drinks. My friend said they shouldn’t put ice in it. When the ice melts, the soju gets watered down. Still, we all shared, and got more of a buzz than we intended. Also, the key is to drink it down in a chug, not a sip, because the flavor is sweeter and smoother this way. Of course, I drink everything like a shot.
Atmosphere– As said, this place isn’t huge, you can see how big it is from the outside. Getting parking is quite hard, with other places nearby fighting for street space. Inside, you can get tables of roughly four people. The crowd was heavily Korean, obviously, where one man was yelling the entire time in the corner, and one of us asked, «Is that the television or a real person?» Yes, my dear, its television in real-​life!
Service– The servers here were guys, nice and clean. They brought the food as it was made. You can even see the food being prepared in the kitchen, since it’s pretty open. The small tables get filled pretty fast though, so we felt like gobbling down the food faster just to make table-​space.
Conclusion– None of the food was bad, all of the food was enjoyable, and some of the food blew me away. If only they opened earlier in the day, I’d want to stop by and get some take-​out. Just being in that neighborhood is harder after 4 p.m., partly because of traffic and because of parking. Still, if you can get a table, get there early, and order up some of your favorites – but also be different, and try some dishes you usually wouldn’t get. My final rule for any place you eat at, try to order some of the dishes where you know the ingredients cost more (you’ll probably get a smaller portion), but also order something you know costs less (usually, you get larger portions), this way you get a good spread of food!

I was a fan of this place 3 years ago, and I’m even more of a fan now. In my absence the restaurant has upped its game: it’s cleaner; the menu is more organized; the food is better.
Their speciality dish is the Choon Chun Chicken BBQ (duh!). I cannot comment on anything else because — although I’ve been tempted – I’ve never tried anything else on the menu. (I’m not sure I ever will.)
Not only is the food great, they’re open really late (2 am, I think), which is awesome.

THERE ARE THINGS YOU GET, AND THINGS YOU DON’T GET… I am your guinea pig, and I will tell you what I have tried and things I would never get again
You must get their spicy chicken stir fry… ask for extra hot sauce!!! yes, you have to cook it yourself, and yes you have to wait quite a while to eat it… But once you do, you’ll be craving for this deliciousness everyday!!!
DO NOT GET. honey chicken wings. let’s say it tasted like someone deep fried chicken wings for too long and added honey, like real honey on it… gross and freaking red! the color is red!!! wtf? red honey? or just for visual appeal? too bad it’s gross and inedible.
also, their cold noodles were blahhhhhhh tooo!!! so sad :(
but in their chicken stir fry, ask for extra of those flat noodles! man those are delicious in your stir fry!!! :) done and done. now go hawaii, enjoy!!!

So how long does it take for a group of girls to decide on a restaurant? 15 minutes? 30 minutes? 45 minutes? Try an hour… .yes, after searching through Unilocal and using the iPhone trick, we FINALLY decided to try Choon Chun.
The restaurant is on a smaller scale and really hard to accommodate a group of more than 8 people. But you have to come in with at least four people so you can order their specialty stir fried chicken. We had the Choon Chun Special Chicken Stir Fry for $ 28. It was a bit pot of veggie and chicken. The food was so so, but the attraction is the presentation of the food on a large skillet over a gas stove.
It’s worth a try, but not to my taste buds where I will repeat dining here.

Service was nice (a young Korean-​American fellow), food was ok (but not great) and the portions weren’t large for the price.
When you walk in (at 9:30 or 10 on a Sunday), every one of their 10 tables is full. I heard Japanese and English but no Korean. The specials on the wall are covered with menu items in Korean with limited English translations. The actual menu is full of laminated inserts with «Happy Menu» prices that are about 40% off regular price (regular price starts at 8 pm).
Let me preface with the fact that I was FREAKING STARVING by this point. All I had eaten all day were 3 Hokulani Bakeshop Cupcakes since my «breakfast» of a Ba-​Le vermicelli/​egg roll/​fried tofu/​salad plate at 10:00 a.m. Freaking starving, people!
Out of the Kalbi, Fried Mandoo, and Spicy BBQ Chicken, I think I liked them all equally. They were all pleasant. The mandoo wasn’t from a frozen package, the kalbi came with 8 individually cut ribs for $ 12. It was flame-​cooked and a bit tough to bite. My favorite kalbi is at Kiawe Grill (it’s also a lot cheaper, but sadly not open late at night). Spicy BBQ Chicken was one long pounded chicken breast slathered with really really red sauce I think it was based on bean curd or something. And it wasn’t too spicy at all. I left the restaurant with a mouth-​feeling of too much msg or salt. You know how the beginning of mouthsores feel? Yup.
Side dishes were just ok. We had bean sprouts, kim chee, broccoli with that same red bean curdy sauce that was on the chicken (didn’t like it), pickled hot peppers + garlic (not good too vinegary and spicy), iceberg lettuce with way too much thousand island
(«look honey! it’s your favorite salad dressing!» «
Yeah, but there’s way too much of it on the lettuce!»
«That’s why I said it’s your favorite DRESSING. It’s ALL dressing!») and we didn’t get refills.
So after 3 meat dishes and 1 order of rice and 6 sides, were we (2 people & $ 38) full? No. Oh, well.
We made a trip to Don Quijote after and got 3 gallons of Roselani ice cream!

This place was highly recommended by seriously real korean folk and so I did.
It was ok, the chicken was good but not fall of the chair good. I love the hole in the wall places though so I am sure I’ll go back and give them another shot.

Good place! I came here for late night eats and had the korean BBQ chicken and some wild boar (very chewy). I would come back for regular dinner service.

Remember how back in the day you were scared to let your friends know about some hot girl you saw because you didn’t want any of your homies to sweep in and steal her? (Hey, some of us were unattractive in high school, OKAY?!) Well, Choon Chun restaurant has me as conflicted as one of those «I’m vegetarian but I eat fish» weirdos, because I loff me some Choon Chun but the place is small so I don’t want any of you to go there, for fear of me not getting a table during happy hour!
I call this place the «Sorabol Killer» because Sorabol is now dead to me after eating at this place multiple times.
Happy hour is until 8 PM, with a pimp plethora of dishes from $ 6-​$ 8. Beers can range from $ 2 500cc bud lights to $ 8 pitchers of Hite.
We like to get the man doo, small size pork (or chicken) stir fry, odeng (fishcake) soup and soon dae during happy hour. Their tonggdak (whole fried chicken) is not bad but be forewarned that it is more like a hen, so if you want KFC (Korean fried chicken) you’re better off getting the $ 8 whole chicken during happy hour at Nolbunae.
Just to warn those of you not descended from the Chosun people (funny how Chosun sounds like chosen and Hyundai sounds like Honda, eh? sneaky Korean linguists!), their ginormous stir fry special is hot like Hyori Lee (who just happens to grace their table placemats… is there nothing this place has not thought of!!!) and can leave you with a venereal-​grade burn if you’re not prepared for it.
The pae jun is also powder mix-​based rather than egg-​based, which is actually the more traditional way of preparing it (apparently), which may or may not perturb some Korean food neophytes but I loff it.
Unlike most Korean restaurants, the service here is actually pretty good, as it is staffed by nice and younger people instead of the usual ajumma brigade.
For great food, good prices and Hyori Lee table mats, this place gets 5 stars!

This is a little hole in the wall located on King Street across of Tsunamis. Their specialty is fried chicken. They have it plain or one with a heavenly sauce that I believe is honey BBQ… or maybe spicy, I don’t fully remember because I drank some soju that night. Speaking of which, we ordered the lemon soju and it wasn’t diluted with too much sprite like some other places.
Their mandoo, dukboki (spicy rice cakes) and panchan is meh. Make sure they give you the daikon cubes if you order the plain fried chicken. You’re supposed to eat it together, but we had to ask for ours last time.
The place is really small and mostly filled with Koreans. I’d come for happy hour because the prices are better.

Since I was going through Korean food withdrawal again, I returned to Choon chun with a couple of friends. After finding yet more enjoyable entrees, it’s almost become a problem figuring out what to order when dining here. The latest winners were:
–unagi
–spicy fried chicken
–spicy black pig
While the kimchee jun was alright, it didn’t quite take care of my k.c. craving as well as the kimchee stir fry.
And unlike last time they had pitchers of Hite. Woot, woot!

«And I’m gonna keep on lovin’ you… Cause it’s the only thing I wanna dooo…»
And the love affair with Choon Chun’s continues! I went there with a group of friends for happy hour this time, and was not disappointed!
It seems like have a couple of new sides dishes — my fave was the vinegar daikon cubes.
Also, I DO recommend trying it for happy hour! We got the Seafood Pajun and Mixed Sausages for a pretty good deal. Also, try a bottle of the Hite beer on HH special for $ 7.99. A massive Lipton Iced Tea-​like bottleful of icy beer awaits you and your party! It was the perfect sidekick to the oh-​so spicy Choon Chun Chicken Stir Fry!

Holey Smokes! There fried chicken is like crack! Finger licking good!
Do you like that red and green Christmas popcorn? I love that stuff… I’ll eat it until I’m sick. The honey fried chicken reminds me of Christmas popcorn, but it is chicken. You can’t eat too much of it because it is pretty heavy, but the first 6 – 8 pieces will blow you away. The plain bbq chicken on a stick is pretty darned good too. The panchan is great! I love the pickled garlic! I never had that before for panchan before eating here. The chicken/​stew (big dish) is a great value too… bring a bunch of people to eat that one.
I’m a quarter Korean so I feel justified rolling up in this place, but don’t be surprised if you are the only person who isn’t Korean if you eat here. I guess that is a good thing though… I need to try more of the dishes here… so far I have only stuck to the few that I have tried and loved.
They don’t open until late in the day, but they stay open super late… good spot to eat once the kitchen closes at Tsunamis

Every winter i would go to Korea for a few weeks and eat all the good Korean foods. This year, due to the spread of the swine flu, i was stuck in hawaii… boo :(
I was introduce to this place by a friend of a friend and i was very pleased with their fried chicken.
The chicken tasted like i was eating it in Korea… awesome!
To some people it maybe to bland or sweet but it was perfect for me.
The plain fried chicken was fried to golden perfection and u dip it in salt n pepper to flavor it a little.
The seasoned fried chicken was sweet and tangy and had me licking my fingers: P
It was a good experience for me and i plan on returning real soon.

4.5 Stars
Their chicken dishes are great, but my wife and I come here specifically for their ultra spicy, scoville meter breaking Chang Ppong (Spicy Seafood Stew). My tongue goes into orgasmic spasms when I eat this mouth burning stew. Mmmmmmm… so delicious.
Another seriously awesome dish in their arsenal is their Spicy Shrimp Stir Fry.
I have to specifically thank Leon F. for pointing out this restaurant to me.

I still come here regularly and still love this place. Idk why everybody is saying good things but then giving 3 stars.

My local contact suggested that we meet here for dinner. Very small family run place with a 99.9% Korean clientele.
Tried the Choon Chun Chicken Stir Fry (their specialty) and the Seafood Pancake. The chicken was tender and not overly spicy, one order is enough for 4 people! The Seafood Pancake was more like an omelet compared to others I have had at other places. Maybe this is just the way this is prepared in that part of Korea since every Seafood Pancake I’ve had at different restaurants were different.
Service was a little spotty since our waiter was a one man show. He took our order, served the food, cleaned tables and washed dishes.
Other useful information, the place is large enough for one group of around 10. They also have 2 high chairs.

My friend was craving dak gal bi. There weren’t many places to choose from in HI compared to LA ktown. I never had it before so i said wth… my first time will be in HI! I found this place on Unilocal (obviously) and on someone’s random blog site.
The restaurant is located on a corner and it looked closed from the outside. The doors were closed and blinds were shut. It wasn’t crowded for a Saturday evening. Service was good. The owner and son were super nice and took good care of us.
We ordered the dak gal bi and kimchi jun. It was waaaaay too much food for two ppl but the leftovers made a good sunday breakfast.
I liked the spicy hot vegetables and dok. The chicken… not so much. The flavors didn’t infuse into the chicken so i pushed those to the side of the hot pan.
It took awhile to cook. Not good when you’re super hungry. Their ban chan selection was weak. They didn’t give a lot, maybe 5 varieties? But that’s ok, we had so much food to finish. The kimchi jun was really tasty and crunchy. I wasn’t sure if they pan or deep fried it. I’m guessing deep fried b/​c it was über crunchy and brown.
I want to try dak gal bi in ktown to compare but i’m scared of the amount of food i’ll have to consume. I’ll need at least 4 ppl to finish a plate that size.