Sobahn Express

my type of comfort food – variety of vegetables, not too heavy on the meat, and not overly flavored or salted. even popular on a weekday evening. also super fast service. Lots of variety for stews, rice, and noodle dishes all served in a hot clay pot. I got my food under 3 min! great way to compliment grocery shopping in that area! holding back on a 5 because it’s slightly pricey, but it’s ok for the convenience.

Very tasty, not very cheap Korean food. You will find me there twice a week! Streets of korea are just around the corner I10 and Blalock!

I’m usually skeptical when it comes to buying food from a food court… but today at lunch I was blown away…
Okay, let’s not exaggerate. It wasn’t the best bulgogi stone pot ever, but the quality over price ratio was definitely bigger than 1 (which means satisfying in my book). The dish was NOT smothered with hot sauce, quite a contrary from many other fast food type restaurants that serve stone pots. I could adjust the spicyness to my liking since the hot sauce was on the side. And I was able to actually taste the ingredients (for once) because they were not masked with hot sauce. The hint of bulgogi marinate was what I savored the most from the beef.
I can’t complain about the soup since it was free, but no MSG added to the soup was a big plus! The kimchi though, was a bit too dry for my taste.
All in all, I shall return next time when I’m in the area.

This might be above a 4-​star, but I’m hesitant to give it 5… I reserve the right to upgrade it the next time I eat there.
It’s located in the food court of Super H Mart, in the heart of Spring Branch’s Korean neighborhood. I ordered the spicy bulgogi noodle soup (~$ 8 – 9) which came out in an extremely hot (temperature… decently spicy, too) stone bowl. The meat was delicious, the broth was perfect for a cold and wet winter day, and the noodles had a great texture and were quite filling.
Everything else I saw looked great as well. Their bibimbap in particular looked amazing; that will be my next conquest.
While the details belong in a separate review, Super H Mart is pretty ballin’ as well. I used to live closer, and was a big fan of their various prepared appetizers.

My mother is going to hate me if she ever finds out I wrote this review. Why? Because she is a waitress at a Korean restaurant accross the street who makes her money in tips and I love this place partially because I don’t have to bum over an extra couple of bucks for a tip I really don’t want to pay.
The not so fantastic thing about this restaurant is it is a food court retaurant in the middle of a Korean grocery store. Because it is a food court, you don’t get the typical banchan (korean side dish) service. But dare I say it… WHO CARES?!! These entrees are marked down a ridiculous amount in comparison to your typical Korean .
The most expensive thing on the menu is Kalbi Jim which is selling for $ 11.99. Not bad considering I decided I wanted to make some kalbi jim one day, and because the meat has to be high quality and a specific cut (english short ribs… fantastic!) it is a very expensive cut. When trying to make it on my own, I found out that you’d have to spend about $ 30 on enough ribs to feed 4 people. That doesn’t include all the other ingredients that go into this dish. If you also consider the fact that your normal Kalbi Jim dish normally goes for $ 20-​ish at other Korean restaurants, I assume it is safe to say that ordering this sweet, fork tender and slow cooked dish here should be considered a steal. The best part is, the food is actually yummier here then at the several local dine-​in/​table service restaurants.
The bibimbop dishes (fried rice) are another fantastic dish that everyone should try in their life time. Trust me, you haven’t had fried rice until you’ve had KOREAN fried rice!
My favorite is the dweji-​bul go gi dol sot bi bim bap. For those of you who are confused, its the #3. The fried rice is served in a hot stone bowl (still sizzling when the serve it to you). They layer all the ingredients in the hot bowl. Rice goes at the bottom, mushrooms and veggies top the rice and marinaded meat is on top! They crack an egg over the top so that the yolk can moisten the dish like a dressing (instead of using oil/​butter… mmmm! Cholesterol!). When you get the dish, you mix the ingredients together (remember, the dish is still cooking in the hot bowl when they serve it to you) and you add the condiment they give you (red pepper paste) to flavor it to your taste.
And again, my mother will hate me for saying this, but it tastes better than what you’d get at the local restaurants.
(This restaurant has been renamed BiBimJi Express!)

Spicy bulgogi noodle soup… comes out boiling from the HOT ROCK bowl!
I usually wouldn’t eat in a grocery store but I walked by and saw something boiling in a small, wooden box and customer’s eyes lighting up, anxious to eat. I glimpsed at the hot soup. mmmMm. it looked so tasty! I had to try it out. My mom and I shared. We really like hot soup. it hit the spot. Good deal for $ 6.99.
I took the rest to go and the lady surprised me with a little treat! They added more meat and vegetables to my leftovers! That was really nice of them to do so. I brought it home for my sister to try and she was just replied, «This is sooooo goooddd, where did you get this??»

There’s better tasting korean places to eat other than here. It seems their dishes are either too bland or dulled down.

Good place for quick and tasty traditional food — part of the Super H Mart Food court, this place offers a diverse array of bowl dishes… both soupy and not so soupy.
We’ve had the spicy seafood soup here (very spicy) and the stone grilled noodles and beef (that’s a sizzling bowl!). Both great options and both pretty tasty.

Well I found me another good place to eat lunch for Korean food. This restaurant is actually in H-Mart’s food court. It seems to be the only restaurant that is always busy. I have eaten here 3 times and each time it was great.
Each meal you get free Kim Chi and another pickled radish dish. You also get complimentary soup and water.
This Hot Stone bowl concept is very unique. The meat is served raw and cooks in just minutes from the sizzling hot bowl along with every thing else such as the vegetables. The rice or noodles come out all crispy from the bowl. They also have soup dishes too.
This is what I have tried so far (all yummy):
#2 HotStone w/​Octopus $ 6.99.
#18 HotStone Bulgolgi $ 7.99.