Ondal 2 - Los Angeles

My name is Abby and I'm an Ondal 2 Spicy Crab Soup Addict. Don't laugh. I'm serious. Generally, if I revisit a restaurant, I never order the same thing twice because I like to explore the menu. During my second visit to Ondal 2, I didn't even see the menu. #2 has been embedded in my brain since my first visit, so #2 for the Spicy Crab Soup came to me and not soon enough. Why so much love? Well, before the soup arrives, our meal begins with a salad first and then a tasty assault of about 9 different panchan dishes that were all delicious and tasteful. Than out comes the raw Chili crab, the grilled pike fish and thin chalk Korean pancakes with Laeks and carrots. The nice family, the Ondal 2 definitely did not want their customers to leave hunger. While we enjoy our way through the plate above, a pot with beautiful red crabs, greens, bamboo shoots and oyster mushrooms comes in a spicy broth. It cooks for a while on our table burner and the aroma is quite tempting. Soon after that, the waiter arrives to break the crab and not only pour his insides into the pot, but also crack the claws for easier food. With a flowering spoon, he shoots rice, soup and bamboo into the empty crab shells, which serves as our actual bowls and also provides a beautiful food presentation. The soup itself is richly satisfying and also has a kick because of the owner's secret chili powder recipe. What is great about this soup is that while it can definitely pack warmth, that heat complicated the crab taste and does not overwhelm it. If you still have space, this soup can be served three different types. First, just by yourself. Second, for an additional $1 per person, you can ask that “dough paste” as mentioned in the menu be added. The "Tough Paste" is basically a kind of noodle that is quickly hand-woven by one of the waiters into the soup. So now you have a Spicy Crab Noodle Soup. The third way to enjoy this soup is the fried rice path. Again, it's a $1 extra per person, but more than it's worth. First, the pot is emptied and added as rice, oil, along with other ingredients, as well as some of the broth left by the soup and made in fried rice. Since the soup is boiled down all the time, the rice that is thrown into the pot absorbs in any case all the crabby-crustacean quality of the broth with which it is mixed. After the festival on a variety of tasteful dishes, my palate jumped up and down. To finish the meal, we had a delicious, cooling bowl of Sikhye, which is a sweet rice drink. It was the perfect end of a wonderful meal. During my visits the service was always friendly, especially during my second visit where I brought a large group of 18 with me. Even at this big party everything went smoothly from the beginning to the end. I am a true fan of Ondal 2 and perhaps, for my third visit, I will finally try something different than the Spicy Crab Soup, but then maybe not: