Kaju Soft Tofu

“Have you been to Kaju Soft Tofu in Irvine?”

This shouldn’t be a difficult question to answer, but as it turns out, Irvine is home to two identically named Korean restaurants, connected by Walnut Avenue and located only five minutes away from one another. The first opened around 2005 at Jeffrey Road’s Orange Tree Square, now neighboring Menya Hanabi and YinTang Spicy Hot Pot, and the second opened in 2023 at Culver Drive’s Heritage Plaza, next to Sup Noodle House and Cold Stone. As it turns out, only the Culver location is part of an over 30-year-old chain that was founded in Garden Grove before expanding to Buena Park (near The Source), then Irvine. Located in the heart of Garden Grove’s Koreatown, the original restaurant dates back to a time when Korean foods weren’t anywhere near as popular or widely available as they are today, even predating larger LA-based chain BCD Tofu House by two years.

Much like BCD, the “tofu” in Kaju’s name refers to soondubu, physically hot and typically spicy bowls of soup partially filled with large blocks of soft tofu. At Kaju, one column of the menu is devoted to these soups: For a set price of $18, you can choose from 14 different proteins or vegetables ranging from galbi to mushrooms, pork to small intestines, the seven levels of broth spice ranging from “white” to “triple spicy.”

But Kaju’s prime menu positions focus attention on a la carte sizzling meat plates ($23 to $30.50), bibimbaps ($22 to $24), and combo meals pairing one meat plate with one soup ($25 to $32.50). An additional two-sided menu card labeled “only in Irvine” adds four additional soups, two fish, a katsu-style deep fried pork cutlet, and a whole stuffed chicken, plus cold buckwheat naengmyun noodles, and seafood pancakes. Here, guests can pick additional combo meals pairing meat with cold noodles ($23 to $30). Pork or vegetable fried dumplings ($10) or coconut breaded fried shrimp ($10.50) are the only appetizers; basic, inexpensive drinks round out the choices.

We were initially a little concerned when we sat down at the Irvine location for our first Kaju meal in many years. Guests order through tablets mounted on tables, and our banchan were delivered by a stone-faced server who didn’t acknowledge our appreciation – signs that the experience might be tense. But as items from our order began arriving, multiple kind servers demonstrated much higher levels of hospitality, refilling banchan bowls and water glasses without being asked, and rapidly clearing dishes as they were finished. The overall experience wound up easily surpassing comparably sized Korean places such as Yigah, with service as only part of the reason.

Those banchan were another reason: Kaju’s dishes were atypically compelling, including japchae-style glass noodles, crispy baby anchovies, and really excellent fishcake alongside cucumber and cabbage kimchis, and lightly sesame oiled bean sprouts. At a time when many places offer only three or four banchan, and don’t always do them well, Kaju’s six were each well-executed, and our group was glad to see them replenished. Kaju also brings small vinegar and mustard containers over to the table for self-service flavor adjustments, and delivers iced tea drinks (such as the $3.50 passion one shown here) with simple syrup in a separate container, enabling guests to entirely avoid or add extra sugar to their preference – a very much welcome alternative.