Amidst my search for some authentic Korean cuisine, I stumbled upon a collection of restaurants on the top floor of H-Plaza. H-Plaza is a component of H-Mart, a Korean supermarket located in Great Neck. It is composed of a diverse range of Korean-owned businesses that offer haircuts, plushies, cosmetics, and more. However, on the second floor of the building, there is a row of various food courts. You can get there by taking the Q44, Q20A, or Q20B, followed by the Q12 or LIRR, with a short walk afterward.
Among these are Song’s Family Food Court and Yeol Kitchen. Song’s Family Food Court has been in the building for a few years, however Yeol Kitchen is a brand new Korean-Chinese restaurant, replacing the CHEOGOD.ZIP fried chicken food court that was there before. The restaurants are mostly family-owned, with one location selling their daughter’s own crafts for a discount off your food. Since the majority of the restaurants are Korean, most people speak Korean, but they are perfectly capable of taking orders in English as well.
During my visit, it wasn’t very crowded; however, there were only about four tables available on each end of the floor, with most incoming customers stopping by for pick-up. I decided to order a dish from Song’s Family Food Court and three dishes from Yeol Kitchen, the new location, to see if there was anything to look forward to.
Samgyetang
$22.00
Critic Rating: 8/10
From Song’s Family Food Court, I ordered the samgyetang, a ginseng root chicken soup. On the first sip of the broth, it tasted extremely plain. I had to grab some salt from the mini condiments booth they offered and add a generous amount just to bring out some flavor. After adding the salt, I was able to taste the richness in the chicken, though certain parts of it were very dry, even while submerged in the broth.
Jjajangmyeon
$13.00
Critic Rating: 7/10
After the samgyetang, I went to Yeol Kitchen and ordered their jjajangmyeon for $13. Jjajangmyeon is a Korean-Chinese noodle dish made with black bean sauce, meat, and vegetables. If you’ve ever visited a Korean or Chinese restaurant, you’ve definitely seen this on the menu, as most jjajangmyeon dishes tend to taste the same. The overall flavor wasn’t different here, but with there being too much black bean sauce, the noodles had a more sour taste, most likely due to the sauce itself. The texture of the noodles themselves weren’t too chewy, but they were a little too long which required us to ask a worker to cut them again.
Jjampong
$16.00
Critic Rating: 6.5/10
Continuing to explore Yeol Kitchen’s menu, I tried the jjampong next. Jjampong is a spicy seafood noodle soup that blends Korean and Chinese cuisine. It can be found in most Korean restaurants or markets in easy-to-make packs, like ramen. Many restaurants allow you to choose a spice level, though jjampong, in general, isn’t extremely spicy. After taking a few sips of Yeol Kitchen’s jjampong, I wasn’t very impressed.
Like the store-bought noodles I previously mentioned, the broth and noodles tasted pretty cheap — something you could easily make yourself at home. The vegetables in the broth felt slightly too hard at certain points, despite the broth being extremely hot at first.
Tangsuyuk
$26.00
Critic Rating: 6.5/10
To have something to eat alongside my meal, I ordered some tangsuyuk, a fried beef dish coated with a sweet and sour sauce. For being the most expensive dish I ordered, it was very disappointing. Anyone who’s ever tasted tangsuyuk will judge it based on the sauce, crunchiness, and taste of the beef.
The plate was quite big, explaining its price, but the sauce was extremely sweet. I could barely taste a hint of the traditional savory flavor that accompanies the sweetness. While the meat was crunchy, I didn’t really taste much flavor.
All in all, though Song’s Family Food Court gave a pleasant meal for understandable prices, I wasn’t impressed by the food at Yeol Kitchen. Despite the large portions, the prices seemed awfully high, especially for the cheap quality provided. If you’re looking for a small dish for yourself, you could stop by one of the food courts, though you could honestly make your own version of these dishes by buying ingredients from the H-Mart next-door.
