Gang Nam Tofu

I started writing a review after going to Gang Nam Tofu for the second time, intent on giving it 5 stars. However, as I do with too many things, I delayed and delayed… and it closed :(
I’m not arrogant enough to think my review could’ve saved it, but damn. Damn, damn, damn.
…damn :(

***no longer open
Its closed! No memo or letter or relocation, or anything explained? I MISS this place! I LOVED this place! Please open back up ! Of not here… somewhere else!

CLOSED.
Absolutely heartbroken. Was in town to watch a play and the highlight of the trip was the prospect of having an early dinner here. Thrown for a loop when lo and behold the place is empty. SAY IT AIN’t SO. This was the highlight of Soon for me, and now I have to search again!
Why didn’t they tell the regulars they were closing? I’d have come here twice as often to help them stay open!
This was a gem of a place, great food, people, and location.

I was a bit disappointed. I thought this place was very highly rated for a reason. They didn’t have chicken tofu soup, so I opted for mushroom. I had the spicy hot flavor, but the tofu was not flavorful at all. The tofu was more on the firmer side, which was hard to absorb the flavor. The portion of the tofu was great, but just lack in flavor of the tofu.
This is not a traditional place, so everything was in English and they ddi not offer fish roe tofu soup.
Each tofu soup comes with 12 side dishes. The kimchi had a super strong vinegar taste, and was not good at all. All the other side dishes were not memorable either, and I was disappointed. The side dishes were one of the reasons why I wanted to come here in the first place.
Service was alright, not super busy or anything. The location was on Melrose, and only had street parking.

One of my favorite spots in the neighborhood! The only place to get soon tofu in the area and it does not disappoint.
The interior of the restaurant is very modern and classy with a mixture of tables/​chairs and tables with long benches.
The side dishes are probably the best I’ve had at soon tofu places – you get 12 and of course they refill anything you want more of.
The soup is so awesome. My favorite is the beef mandu (dumpling) – their dumplings are on point. The kim chi and mushroom are close seconds.
Park a block north in residential streets and walk over to save time and money. Just check the signs as some blocks are restricted.

As Korean food becomes more popular, I hope to see the day when BCD becomes a stalwart at any food court. Until that day, you either need to make it over to K-​Town or if you don’t want to deal with the drive, hit Gang Nam Tofu.
I know it’s tempting when the waitress asks you how you want your soon doo boo, to respond «oppa gangnam style,» but i suggest you resist the urge. The soon doo boo is actually pretty good. I ordered the spicy kimchee pork soon doo boo and it had a nice kick with good balance of tofu and soup. Unless you like super spicy food, spicy level heat is probably good for most people. There’s a nice selection of about a dozen banchan. The food came out quickly and service was friendly and efficient. Parking can be a bit of a pain around here, but if you want a healthy Korean alternative without the drive into K-​Town, give Gang Nam a shot.

This is a cute little place that’s kind of hidden on Melrose. The sign is very small so drive slowly and be cautious! There isn’t a parking lot so park on the residential streets behind the restaurant.
The tofu soup was amazing. I ordered the spicy regular beef soondubu and I decided that I finally found a satisfying tofu place. Mm mm mmmm.
Note: the spicier you order, the saltier it gets. Mine was very salty compared to my friend’s, who ordered medium spicy. (Not complaining though, I love my good a little salty!)
The meal came with 12 side dishes that were all delicious and beautifully plated. I loved that the server kept checking up on us and asked if we wanted more of a side dish (rare in a Korean restaurant!!).
Overall, food was amazing and the great service complimented it well. Definitely coming back! :)

I don’t think this place can handle a huge crowd at once. I had that unfortunate experience last Friday when I came for lunch. There were probably 5 other tables that also just came for lunch. Just for us to get our water took like 20 mins. our banchan came out after that and our order came out about an hour later.
While the taste wasn’t jeopardized we weren’t expecting lunch to be a 2 hours ordeal. Just keep that in mind if you go in and see a lot of people that just arrived.

This place is a bit of a drive from where I live so I thought it better be good… As soon as you walk in, it doesn’t seem like a regular korean soondubu (tofu soup) restaurant. It has a modern feel to it unlike the hole in the walls I frequent in Koreatown. On to the food.
Most korean restaurants give only 5 banchan (side dishes) as service to be eaten with your meal. This place gives 10 to 12 side dishes. Their banchan (side dishes) are extremely fresh and wonderfully seasoned. The side dishes include japanese style marinated seaweed, fried squash, soft marinated tofu, spicy cucumber kimchi, and more. I barely eat side dishes (banchan) at other restaurants but I asked for seconds and thirds on all 10 side dishes at GangNam Tofu. We were raving about how GOOD it was.
For our entrees, we ordered the spicy tofu soup with the stone pot mixed rice with vegetables. Our entrees were pretty solid and standard in taste. Nothing was amiss however, the portions were noticeably smaller and skimpier than Beverly Tofu which was disappointing but I guess all their side dishes make up for it

It kind of blows my mind that my favorite tofu soup place in LA is NOT in K-​Town.
After being spoiled with the amazingness that is Young Dong in Rowland, my sister and I were on the hunt for an alternative since she lives in LA now. We’ve tried a few places in K-​Town, but nothing came close to Young Dong. Finally, we stumbled upon Gang Nam and we had to try it after reading a review COMPARING it to Young Dong! We knew this place had to be it.
This place is luckily walking distance from my sister’s place, but there’s street parking for those who are driving. This place is pretty small, but was seated immediately the two times we’ve been here. Service isn’t bad, the first time we had a guy as our server who gave us typical Asian service — attentive, but not warm/​friendly. The last time we came here, the lady was nice and very attentive. Either way, I don’t care because this place makes some pretty damn good tofu soup.
We both ordered the Kimchi Beef Tofu Soup — I’ve had both spicy and medium spice levels. I would recommend medium because it has a nice kick to it without you having to drink water after every spoonful. Spicy is still doable, but it’s definitely gonna burn a little. The soup is definitely on the thin side like BCD’s (bleh) but the flavor is up to par with Young Dong — not sure how they do that, haha. The flavors are ON POINT and they are pretty generous with the amount of meat they put in it. You also get 12 side dishes and all of them are pretty tasty. Some of my favorites are the spicy radish, spicy cucumbers, tofu, and potato salad. I love the variety they give you and I like their kimchi better than Young Dong’s because it’s more sour and fermented (which I prefer, but I know some like their kimchi on the fresher side).
So is it better than Young Dong? I wouldn’t go that far. The flavors are delicious, but I still prefer my tofu soup to have a thick consistency like Young Dong’s. I would say Gang Nam has to be my favorite tofu soup in LA so far, though. Great flavors, solid service, normal prices, and side dish variety.

Amazing 12 banchan (side dishes),
Good korean food:)
I would recommend this place to my friends in Hollywood.

I love that Gang Nam gives you so many different little bowls of banchan. Hooray for banchan. I particularly like the fish cake and fried zucchini appetizers. Kimchi is always good too.
The two times I’ve been here, I’ve only gotten the tofu so I can’t really comment on the barbecue offerings. They seem popular as every other table seems to get the combination tofu and barbecue.
The tofu is good. They don’t use whole shrimp for their seafood, but I can do with pre-​shelled shrimp. The soup base is good and the tofu is not as silky soft as other places but the flavor is there.
The woman running the restaurant is sweet and handling all of the front of the house responsibilities so you might have to wait an extra minute for your order while she settles the bill of another customer. Would and have gone back.

Good spot with very hot korean food
Service is good and complain only for one thing that ribs was a little too fatty than i expected. Very spicy if u ordering Medium spicy food
Will come back

We came on a weekday at 2pm and there were plenty of tables. Service was fast and the food was good! Refills of the side dishes means it’s really yummy! :)
We ordered the Mandu Pork tofu soup which was good but the dumplings were not very nice.
The medium spicy level for the soup was too mild for us… More like «not spicy».
The pork buglogi was good! Smells and tastes really nice!
Parking:
We parked at the on site parking just 50m away for another restaurant as the street parking was full.

The cute Korean lady totally knows me by now since I’ve brought so many friends to this restaurant. Everyone is always in awe of the amount of delicious banchan AND agree that the soondooboo is amazeballs.
Gang Nam Tofu is totally worth a try. I’m sure you will be hooked in no time and you can be friendsies with the cute Korean lady too.

Delicious! The only downside was that parking was a bit of a pain in this area at night.
I was pretty impressed with my dinner here, side dishes were great, soup was delicious. I had spicy and it was pretty spicy actually. If say this is ktown quality outside of ktown. Wish it were closer to Santa Monica!

Hidden by the trees on the street this was a surprising find in my hood. K-​Town is creeping further west! Because of that this place is getting the locals excited. 4.5 stars was the rating that made us come here vs. Taeem or our other faves. This is pretty good and it’s family run (3 motherly ladies run this place,) but the food’s a 3-stars…may be a 3.5-stars because you don’t have to travel east to K-​Town. Also, the 10 small banchan dishes are good… a better selection than most K-​restaurants.
These things may mean you think this place deserves a higher score. I’ll keep my score at 3.5 stars because of the just-​ok food. We ordered the seafood pancake — ok, too much cabbage… had better in Irvine, CA. The chicken combo comes with soon tofu. The chicken was disappointing — more like a Chinese sesame chicken dish. I’ve had better in Burbank! The soon tofu mushroom is an unusual variety and a welcome change — best thing this evening. The white rice was crunchy… odd.
We may come back because we’re lazy, but more likely to drive a few miles east. This place will do just fine judging by the 20-​customer party that slowed the kitchen and staff up. :(

I came on a Monday night. It was pretty empty. Maybe because it was Labor Day. The décor inside is nice and modern and I like their music!
The Service —
Service is great. There’s a super nice lady who works there and she’s very sweet. She kept coming to make sure we were okay and had everything we needed.
The Food —
They definitely have the most banchan of any soondubu places I’ve been to. I liked the potato salad and cucumbers the best. The bean sprouts had a ridiculously strong flavor. I put a bunch into my soondubu and it made the whole soup taste very strongly of bean sprouts =(. Before I dumped the bean sprouts in, the soup was good. Had a good flavor. I got medium and it wasn’t spicy enough. Should have gotten spicy! I wasn’t a fan of the rice. It was hard, unlike most other places where the rice is a little mushy. We also got the Spicy Pork which I really liked! Great flavor.
The Prices —
For one soondubu and one soondubu/​Spicy Pork combo, it was about $ 28.
Great service! Food was hit and miss. Try the Spicy Pork!

ER. MAH. GERD. Gang nam tofu is a MUST-​TRY.
The soon tofu is rich and flavorful, with delicious tofu. Go with seafood! The stew has much more depth than BCDs, and definitely on par with Beverly. At 8.99, it’s a steal. Careful with the combos though, you get a smaller portion of the stew (and you’ll definitely want more). Also, when they say spicy, they mean it.
The Banchan deserves equal praise. There was a large variety of dishes, and by their taste and uniqueness seem to be made in-​house instead of purchased in bulk. The silken tofu in a light soy sauce, radish kimchi, zucchini (?) fried in pajun batter were just a few highlights. Free refills as well, as per usual.
If that’s not enough, you also get a fried mackerel too!
Our party also ordered dolsot bibimbop and kalbi. The bites I tried were also delicious, but I was already riding high at this point. More on that when I go back…
Banchan, soon tofu, korean bbq… quality, taste, price… gang nam gets it right. 5 stars, all the way. I wanna go back already =P

Come on. Soon Tofu. Gang Nam style?
(Horse ride dancing into the distance)