Bobae Banjum
A Korean-Chinese fusion chain from Seoul tries its luck in an Irvine H-Mart food court
Bobae Banjum is a Korean-Chinese fusion chain with a somewhat confusing “since 2003” corporate history. Following a 10-year period where its founders developed new recipes and began planning for the business, the first restaurant actually opened in 2013 under the name Bobae Jjamppong in South Korea, rebranding two years later as Bobae Banjum or Bobaebanjum, in some locations adding “Korean Noodle House” to the name. In May 2025, the first U.S. location opened in Las Vegas as Bobae Noodle House – then closed in December 2025 – followed by a Washington State store in January 2026, then an October 2026 debut in Irvine’s H Mart.
Replacing Kyodong Noodles in the H Market Eatery food court, Bobae shares communal seating with around eight other restaurants, and serves customers from a counter – typically with a 15-20-minute wait for dishes to be made fresh from its kitchen. Despite the change of brands, Bobae continues to serve many of the same dishes offered at Kyodong, including jjajangmyeon black bean noodles, jjamppong spicy noodle soup, shrimp fried rice, tangsuyuk crispy sweet and sour pork, and fried mandu dumplings. But it adds some intriguing new options, many leaning heavily into Chinese inspirations and spicy peppers for a broader and less commonly avaiable collection of Korean-Chinese fusion dishes.
New options include garlic kkanpunggi pork ($23), Chili yuringi fried chicken ($22), Sichuan tangsuyuk, Chinese-style bibimmyeon noodles, Chinese-style bibim rice, and a spicy shrimp fried rice with jjajang sauce. All of those unpriced options, as well as a beef bulgogi japchae rice rish, were listed as “coming soon” and unavailable to order on our visit soon after Bobae opened. As long-time fans of spicy, Korean, and Chinese foods separately and collectively, we can’t wait to try all of the new options whenever they become available.
The one spicy dish we were able to try was the garlic kkanpunggi, an ample bowl of large chunked pork, each piece lightly battered and soy dipped, then tossed with copious garlic slices, red chilis, and sesame seeds, all placed on a bed of plain lettuce. While this wasn’t a mindblowing dish, the flavors were all delicious – foundationally soy-salted and umami enhanced, heavily garlicky, and unignorably spicy – and the portion size was reasonable (by inflationary standards) for the $23 price.
Though we had wanted to try the spicy shrimp fried rice with jjajang sauce, we went for the available version – the same thing, not spicy ($16), which turned out to be a large bowl with a mound of egg fried rice, a handful of small but tasty shrimp, and a pool of thick black bean sauce loaded with vegetables. As with the garlic kkanpunggi, this was a fully competent and filling but not amazing dish, entirely mild with zero heat of its own, though served with a (nice) small side bowl of spicy seafood and vegetable soup and sweet pickled radishes.
We also ordered the beef jjamppong ($23), a lightly spicy bowl of soup with a large portion of medium thickness egg noodles, thin sheets of tender beef, wood ear mushrooms, and plenty of onions and scallions. As with the other items we tried, the portion was pretty substantial, though easily 80% noodles, vegetables, and red broth, all totally fine without standing out in any way. Of the dishes we’ve tried, we’d be least likely to order this one again.
In its early days here, Bobae Banjum is solidly in the “good” zone, with the potential to become a true local standout as its menu expands. Once it begins serving the additional Chinese-heavy dishes that were listed as “coming soon,” we’ll be back for sure, and will add additional thoughts and photos to this article.
Stats
Price: $-$$
Service: Counter
Open Since: 2013 (S. Korea), 2026 (OC)
Address
3825 Alton Pkwy.
Irvine, CA 92606
714.733.3704
Instagram: @bobaebanjum_kr