In the search for authentic, homestyle Korean food in Portland, OR, Sokongdong Tofu & BBQ is not to be missed. Specializing in soondubu (tofu soup), the restaurant is also set up for grilling with ample ventilation hoods, but that wasn’t the purpose of this visit. The menu boasts a nice offering of off-the-beaten-path Korean dishes, as well as Korean classics. The featured image is of the kimchi/pork soondubu, which had all the right flavors and spice levels, complete with a crack-your-own-egg. Sokondong’s featured dish hit the perfect notes of rich red gochugaru broth and silken tofu, and was served with a quite generous portion of rice. They also offer beef, pork, seafood, squid, dumpling, vegetable, soy bean, curry, and assorted soondubu. In addition, they pair their BBQ beef ribs, beef bulgogi, pork bulgogi, and chicken bulgogi, and bibimbap with soondubu for lunch or dinner combination. They’re also available solo. It’s a pretty good value, and when a restaurant specializes in tofu soup, it’s usually worth trying!
But that’s for entrees. The starter game is quite wonderful. The banchan set we received had bean sprouts, a delicious and salty kimchi, fish cakes, wood ear mushrooms (prepared delicately with a bit of carrot), braised potatoes (gamjamorim), and lightly salted cucumber. We opted for a (beef) japchae appetizer, but it was a bit lacking in sesame oil and more overpowered with beef bulgogi flavors. Sokongdong also features mandu (dumplings), egg rolls (not entirely Korean), seafood pajeon (pancake), shrimp tempura (again, not really Korean), and tteokbokki (rice cakes in a hot and spicy sauce).
Our less adventurous, vegetarian companion opted for a stone pot (dolsot) bibimbap. Fresh, well-prepared vegetables really stood out in this dish. Otherwise, the bibimbap is served with beef, pork, chicken, or seafood. There appeared to be more than an ample bit of rice on the bottom, which is nice for some, overwhelming for others. The egg on top was beautifully fried, and the yolk ready to break open over the veggies. The paired gochujang sauce was not too sweet, or spicy.
The soup game is really where Sokongdong shines. It’s hard to find an oxtail soup in the US, given that the broth takes usually overnight cooking to really break down the oxtail, and give a creamy, rich broth like you see above. Otherwise, they offer the standard soups: kimchi jigae, doenjang (soybean paste) jigae, mandu (dumpling) jigae. Add to that the noodle soups: a cold buckwheat noodle soup (mul naengmeyon), spicy chilled buckwheat soup (bibim naengmyeon), jumbo spicy buckwheat noodles (jangban naengmyeon), andseafood soup with noodles haemul kalguksu). The soups round out with a mild chicken ginseng soup (samgyetang), cabbage soup with beef, beef bulgogi with mushrooms hotpot, and gamjatang (pork backbone stew), which is one of our favorites.
The dish worth trying, for those who are a bit more adventurous and meat-eating, would be yukhoe, or Korean beef tartare. It’s offered stand alone, or as a bibimbap. Usually served with Korean pear, in a sweet-and-balanced sauce, a cracked quail egg rounds out the dish.
A few other dishes complete the menu: grilled mackerel, fried rice, donkassu (bread pork cutlet), tofu and kimchi stir-fried pork and spicy stir-fried squid, sliced pork belly,
Sokongdong has a liquor license, and gives a few Korean offerings. For beers, Terra, OB, and Kass. A few fruity sojus (Korean rice spirits), and some Japanses sake. One makgeoli (Korean rice wine). Bekseju, an herbal rice wine. Bokbunja, a raspberry wine. So a few things off the beaten path in the US.
We can’t vouch for the BBQ part of Sokongdong, but the tofu soup (soondubu) was on point, and the variety of dishes, along with careful preparation, make this restaurant worth driving out to when in the greater Portland OR area.
