Big bone kalbi, crisp tempura and no MSG
Friday - November 23, 2007
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No neighborhood is Hawaii is complete without a local Korean restaurant,but take 10 different people and ask them their favorite entre and you can guarantee answers as diverse as any of the side dishes on the buffet.
At Kum Chee Korean Buffet in Aiea, the show-stopping dish is big bone kalbi. Or maybe the soft tofu soup. Or possibly even the jap chae.
“We’re becoming known for lots of dishes,” says Diana Nacasa, daughter of co-owner Kum Arakawa.“Most people love our big bone kalbi,” she says of the long, tender strips of meat marinated in a combination of Korean spices, pears and fresh pineapple.“The fruit helps to tenderize the meat, and the result is something people really enjoy,” she adds. There are lots of positive comments too, about Kum’s Kimchee Soft Tofu Soup.“I guess we do it a little differently from other people,” says Nacasa, “and our customers seem to like it a lot.”
Kum and her business partner, Jennifer Kim C, opened Kum Chee earlier this year. They took over a spot in the Waimalu Shopping Center on Kaahumanu Street that has both front and back restaurant space.
At lunch there’s an appetizing buffet offering kalbi, barbecue chicken, fish jun, meat jun, zucchini jun, fried chicken, fried mandoo, chicken katsu, jap chae and a dozen or so vegetable and fruit dishes. The zucchini jun is excellent - the tempura batter light, clean and crisp. “We use a Korean tempura batter instead of the regular Japanese one, and that seems to make a difference,“says Nacasa.With more than 15 years of restaurant and cooking experience, it’s easy to see that Arakawa has a talent for Korean food, and for putting her own stamp of originality on the menu.
The fried chicken is well worth tryin with its crispy, crunchy mochiko breading as batter and soft, juicy morsels inside. The lunch buffet runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily and costs $10.95, with a range of discounts for seniors, kids and military.
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But if you want to eat all you can of that big bone kalbi, then go for dinner when it joins the buffet along with spicy pork, an excellent shrimp tempura (same clean, light batter), sweet potato tempura, ahi poke,shrimp cocktail,cuttlefish and chicken katsu. The all-you-can-eat dinner buffet is a steal at $15.95. A word to the wise for those whose eyes are bigger than their bellies, though. Don’t waste food - you’ll be charged for excessive amounts left on the plate.
Grilled fish options are healthy and tasty too - and not found in all Korean restaurants. I loved the grilled saba that comes with two large pieces, rice and veggies for $8.95. Sanma, yellow corvina and Atka mackerel are also on the menu.
Prices range from $5.95 for fried mandoo to $13.95 for a fairly luxurious seafood stew filled with crab, shrimp, clam, squid and butterfish. Daily lunch and dinner specials vary - when I went last week the lunch special was three large, piping-hot shrimp tempura,three pieces of kalbi or two pieces of barbecue chicken all for $7.95.
And more good news on this excellent stop for Korean food is that there’s no MSG used in anything. “For a lot of people, that’s really important,” says Nacasa, “We keep the food fresh and the sauces MSG-free.”
Kum Chee Korean Buffet
98-1247 Kaahumanu St. #101, #102.
488-0315
488-0316
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