Profile: Han Bat

Before you even ask: Yes, it’s Food Friday.

The Review:

Blah blah blah Han Bat sullongtang soup Jonathan Gold recommendation Korean version of Pho simmered with bones served without them and largely fat-free, Kim Deal Soccer Mom Kurt Cobain influence. Scallions. “A” rating!

You have one option when dining at Han Bat, and that option is sullongtang. If you don’t like sullongtang, don’t come here. If you don’t know what sullongtang is, I’ll tell you now and then you can decide whether or not you should come here. Ready?

It’s soup.

Sullongtang is basically a steamy milky-white broth with a few glass noodles and whatever you choose as your main ingredient. In your soup you can have brisket, beef flank, tongue, or an intestine/tripe/spleen combo. Or the final choice: All of the above. Why anyone would order anything but the “all of the above” combo is beyond me, but there are undoubtedly tongue purists out there.

The soup’s unsalted. You salt it and add some chile paste and soon the milky color goes away and then it basically looks like a bowl of ramen.

I love scallions. It’s true. Fortunately, Han Bat delivers them in spades. You get your own bowlful right there on the table, so after you slurp the first round off the top of the broth, you can load up again. And again. They must chop the things for weeks on end. Han Bat may quite literally have more scallions than you can shake a stick at [photo], provided you bring a stick into the establishment.

For what it’s worth, I can’t stop thinking about the taste of the broth. In a good way.

More scallions with your beef spleen?

Han Bat
4163 W. Fifth
213.383.9499

Dessert idea: Run across Western and grab a pancake from Koo’s Grill outside the California Market. Delish.