Ko Hyang, Chantilly

[Soup]

The place is called Go Yang Jip (I think it translates into something like home town or home town house: wish my korean was better) in Chantilly, va. on Brookfield Corporate drive right behind the dullas expo center.

The place is in a strip mall next to a sandwich place and it's pretty easy to miss. Inside, there is absolutely no atmosphere. The menu is very limited (printed on a placemat). They have maybe 15 to 20 dishes. They are mostly the usual of the hardcore korean stuff (e.g., kimchi chigae, do bu chigae, sol lung tang, jungol, soondae). They range from about $8 to about $25 for jongol (which is shared amonst multiple people).

First the banchan. They are really good. They put about 6 dishes on the table, including 3 types of kimchi (including water kimchi). I would have been perfectly happy with making a meal just out of the banchan. The water kimchi is really really good.

I've had soon dae gook (korean black sausage soup). Seoul soondae has the best version. This one came with no seasoning(salt or the red pepper sauce). It was provide on the side and you added to your liking. The soup was very good but not as good as Seoul soondae. I've had soon dubu chigae (soft tofu stew). Really good (not better than Viet gol but pretty darn good).

However, the real star of this place is the GamJa Tang (potato stew). It is a hot spicy stew with dinasour size peices of pigs neck and spine. All made slightly thick with addition of potatos. This is by far the best GamJa Tang I've had (even compared to the stuff I've had in NY and Seoul). I go this place about 2x per month and I don't bother with anything else anymore. I would give this dish a huge thumbs up.

Soup

[jparrott]

Lunch here today with mdt. Both gam ja tang and kimchi-jigae had broths of excellent depth, but both seemed like they had been de-chile-ed for our "protection." Both were barely threshold spicy and way less spicy than we'd had at other places. The gam ja tang also didn't have any of the yummy, slightly bitter, mustard-green-ish type greens of the fiery version at Sopoong (which is next to the new Lotte). The menu does include a few rarities for area Korean joints, though, including a goat stew and soon dae stew (in addition to plates of soon dae), but I'm wondering if what we were served was in fact dumbed down, and/or how to request otherwise.