Kamaaina Love These Classic Korean Flavors

Head waitress Sophia Choi treats customers Oun Soon Jin and Yung Hwa Kim like family at New Shilawon.

With traditional menu items, scintillating specials and engaging tabletop cooking options, New Shilawon Korean Restaurant offers everything from a la carte dishes to allyou-can-eat feasts that are fit for the entire family.

Situated in Honolulu’s bustling culinary hotbed just north of Ala Moana Center, New Shilawon Korean Restaurant features a bright, clean and inviting atmosphere that resembles a cozy family dining room.

The restaurant also offers ample ventilation that comes in handy when preparing yakiniku favorites on tabletop grills. In that department, patrons have fallen in love with all-you-can eat lunch Course C ($23.95 per person) with spicy pork, pork belly and barbecue chicken; and all-you-can-eat dinner Course A ($34.95 per person) with seasoned ribeye, beef brisket, beef tongue, seasoned cubed beef frank, sliced pork belly, seasoned kalbi, bulgogi (barbecue beef), spicy pork and seasoned chicken.

Soybean Cold Noodles ($12.95)

General manager Jandy Lee helps run the family business with her parents, owners and chefs Young Sun and Jae Keun Lee.

“If you miss your mom’s cooking, I definitely recommend you come and eat here,” says Jandy Lee.

That homemade flavor makes its way into New Shilawon’s menu items, including its popular lunch specials available daily from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. As a special inside scoop for Dining Out readers, the restaurant has introduced its new Soybean Cold Noodles ($12.95; or make it a combo for $19.99 with a meat selection) to the array of lunch specials. The dish is crafted with a flour-noodle base, cold broth, soybeans, tofu and sesame seeds before it is seasoned with salt and garnished with fresh cucumber.

Acorn Jelly ($12.95)

Acorn Jelly ($12.95) represents a traditional, home-style Korean soup dish “like something you would eat when you visit your grandparents’ house, and it’s very low in calories but still fills you up,” Lee says. “Even our side dishes are prepared by my mom in small batches; if we’re busy, we won’t sacrifice quality for convenience.”

Cold Noodle Set with Kalbi ($19.99) is another hearty lunch option, and the combo selection can be paired with one’s choice of bulgogi, barbecue chicken or spicy pork.

Lee notes that the cuisine at New Shilawon is prepared without MSG because “my mom cooks as if she’s preparing a meal for her family. Nothing is pre-made, even our soups and stews. Customers recognize and appreciate that.”

Cold Noodle Set with Kalbi ($19.99)

Party Time

With graduation season comes time to enjoy the company of friends and family at graduation parties. New Shilawon Korean Restaurant is the perfect spot to host a grad party or other special events, as multiple private rooms are available in addition to the dining room that can seat parties of up to 110 guests. (Please provide at least a week’s notice for parties larger than 50.)

Superb Value

New Shilawon Korean Restaurant offers plenty of dining options for the entire ohana available at reasonable prices. Additionally, the restaurant serves up extraordinary value via multiple discounts, including a senior discount every Tuesday (10 percent off) and a military discount (10 percent off) available daily with valid identification.

New Shilawon Korean Restaurant

747 Amana St., Honolulu
944-8700
Open daily from 11 A.M. to midnight (including holidays)