Woomiok (Soft Opening)

At the end of February Eater announced the business that would replace Red Cate had opened. I was quite happy to learn that it was a Seolleongtong shop. This year; the weather has been perfect for Seolleongtang, so of course I headed right on over first chance I had.

The shop is nicely put together; clean lines, and of course the inevitable wood paneling.

While the place is still in Soft opening mode and the folks seem to be rushing around a bit; I gotta say, the service was quite good.

Of course I had to order the Seolleontang. Out first was the panchan; which were nice and spicy, not too salty, and decent by San Diego standards. In other words, I'd love for someone to have really good fermented panchan. Still, this wasn't bad.

I laughed when the next items came out...….

The container of scallions totally reminded me of Seoul.

Soon enough, my bone soup arrived.

I forgot to take a photo of the rice; which for some reason, I thought was excellent. The broth, while not overly thick, nicely coated my tongue, and with a dose of salt, had a nice beefiness. When I mentioned his place to one of the folks at work; he mentioned that he had read (I found out on the four lettered site) that the soup was really bland. I had to explain to him that you needed to add salt to your taste to it...aiyah…. The brisket was nice and beefy; I was surprised that the tendon, which looked tough was nice and tender. Though there's not a large amount of meat in the broth, what there is was quite good.

This was quite a satisfying meal; so I soon returned.

I ordered the Galbitang; but after placing my order, the nice woman informed me that Galbitang wasn't available, so I had to order something else.

So, I decided to try the Donkkaseu (aka "Tonkatsu"). The panchan on this day was even better, especially the kkakdugi (radish kimchi); which had a nice spice, sourness, and was fairly refreshing.

Whoa; check out the pork cutlet.

Even though it was pounded thin like schnitzel; it was quite large; I could finish just a bit over half of it. It was by the book, fairly moist and tender, but nothing special. I'm not a big fan of the runny and fairly bland sauce that typically accompanies the donkkaseu. In fact when I order this from Bann, I bring my own Japanese Katsu sauce. The rice was once again excellent. Cabbage drizzled with ketchup and mustard and a routine macaroni salad completed things.

You couldn't complain about the portion size; that's for sure. But I sure wished they had what I originally wanted. Oh well, the hazards of visiting during soft openings.

I mentioned trying this place out to the Missus; who enjoyed Seollongtang and She asked me; "Is it as good as Imun is Seoul?" Geeez… My response? "Well, Imun has been around for 115 years, and Woomiok for like 2 weeks, give them a try." Which is what seemed to be happening as most of the customers on my two visits were older Korean folks trying out the new kid in town. I'm hoping they do well (and last longer than Great Wow and Red Cate) and hope they have the galbitang when I return.

I guess everyone thinks it's perfect weather for this; check out Kirbie's post here.

Woomiok
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours:
Tues - Sun 11am - 9pm

Comments

[RedDevil]

Sounds promising. Nice that it is not another KFC place!
I’m sure you already know but Great wow is still around
And still pretty good.

[kat]

hope they’ll have what you want next time!

[jack]

That sounds like a successful visit! I've been wanting try this place out

[Kirk]

Hi RD - Yes; don't know if you remember this post:

https://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2017/02/great-wow-reopens-in-hillcrest-and-whats-happening-with-the-convoy-location.html

Of course, now it's called Dumplings n' More

I do too Kat....this place has great potential.

It was Jack.

[Jason]

Looks pretty good, my wife loves Seolleongtang and we usually get it at Grandmas Tofu. Need to try this place soon!

[Kirk]

Check them out Jason and let me know what you think.

[Junichi]

Looks like a good hangover spot. That pork cutlet is massive.

[Kirk]

Or when you're a bit under the weather Junichi!

[Derek R]

Wow! I had never heard of Seolleongtang, definitely need to try this place out. That pork cutlet also looks awful tasty...

[Brian]

I went there last Friday. I had galbitang because they did not serve seafood combo broth yet. I enjoyed it well.

[Kirk]

Hi Derek - Check them out; you might enjoy the soup.

Hi Brian - Well; now I gotta try it out! It's been a while; thanks for stopping by!

[Jessica]

Looks like a nice place. I'm into soups a lot, so I might try the bone soup. :)

[Kirk]

Hope you enjoy it Jessica!

[Kirbie]

Thanks for the link. I was a few days behind on my reading and hadn't seen your post yet. So glad you liked it too. Ugh, when people were complaining it was bland...

[Kirk]

I thought that was so weird....coming from a self proclaimed "foodie" Kirbie. I mean c'mon.... Anyway Woomiak is a nice stop during the kind of weather we've been having.