Northeast Portland’s year-old Han Oak feels less like a restaurant and more like a hip dinner party, the kind you always hoped you’d get invited to. There’s Chance the Rapper on the stereo, a kitchen crew sometimes having a better time than you are and a casually fun menu served only two nights a week. The restaurant, run by Peter Cho and Sun Young Park (who, full disclosure, are good friends of mine), shares a space with their home and is usually open only two nights a week, serving their updated take on Korean barbecue. But on Jan. 22, the restaurant added a dumpling- and noodle-heavy menu, available from 5 to 10 p.m., rounded out with a trio of drinking snacks. Just show up and settle in for the night. And if you’re traveling light, grab a couple of stools around the kitchen counter to get a bird’s eye view of the action.
The dish: Start with a round of the snacks: the tender soondae ($7), a midnight-hued blood sausage stuffed in-house with rice and cellophane noodles; the chewy, tubular ddukboki ($7), which here sheds its usual fire-engine red clothes for a beefier take, simmered with bulgogi, the Korean marinated beef, peppers and onions before it’s dusted in toasted brown rice; and the crisp Korean fried chicken, daubed with a spicy gochujang and tamarind glaze. For dumplings, stick with the pork and chive (5 for $9), which arrive like mini purses in a small pool of black vinegar and ginger broth, and the kimchi, rolled into cigars and filled with pork, pickled jalapeno and garlic (5 for $9). On a recent visit, the braised oxtail dumplings (4 for $9) hidden beneath a crisp, golden parmesan lace were more exciting on paper than reality, their flavors muddy and subdued. Make sure to save room for the handmade noodles, too. Our favorites were the spicy kalgooksu ($11), hand-cut, kinky wheat noodles dressed with gochujang, the Korean red pepper paste, quick-chi and chicken, and the sujaebi ($11), a deep bowl of hand-torn wheat noodles floating in a fishy beef and anchovy broth with sliced potatoes, poached in beef marrow. Pair with lots of light beer.
The takeaway: You’ll wish every night was dumpling and noodle night at Han Oak.
Sample menu: Korean fried chicken ($7), blood sausage ($7), kimchi dumplings (5 for $9), spicy kalgooksu ($11), budae jigae, a Spam-filled military stew ($13).
Drinks: Sweet-savory cocktails ($5-$9), light beer ($5-$20), European wines ($6-$12), soju ($7/shot), fizzy nonalcoholic sodas ($3).
Details: Dinner Friday and Saturday, dumpling and noodle nights Sunday and Monday nights; disabled access; 511 N.E. 24th Ave.; 971-255-0032; hanoakpdx.com
— Samantha Bakall
sbakall@oregonian.com
Follow @sambakall
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