LAReview
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Spoon By H
This spot is Permanently Closed.
Included In
Even by LA strip-mall standards, Spoon By H doesn’t make much sense. You aren’t supposed to find a perfect bowl of pork belly dumpling soup at a dessert shop sandwiched between a Papa John’s and a GameStop. Order-at-the counter places that advertise shaved ice and waffles on their windows don’t typically have a secret rotating menu of Korean specialty dishes that are so good you’ll drive back the next day in rush hour to eat them.
But it takes only a few bites at Spoon By H to realize that a meal here isn’t about making sense of anything. It’s about being part of one of the most unique and exciting dining experiences in Los Angeles.
At its core, Spoon By H is a Korean dessert shop. The tiny space has about nine tables inside, and a design scheme that lands somewhere between a 4th grade art room and a paint-your-own-pottery class. There are plastic snowflakes on the windows, lights that look like hanging dandelion puffs, and a wall full of headshots of people you’ve definitely never heard of. It’s kind of adorable, actually - like you’ve entered a candy-colored parallel world, full of desserts like shaved snow and strawberry banana waffles. But at dinner, once the hot food starts coming out of the kitchen, this place turns into one of the best Korean restaurants in the city.
photo credit: Jakob Layman
The desserts at Spoon By H are good (and should definitely be part of your meal) - but your focus should be on the tiny section of the menu titled “Food.” It’s there, along with the rotating daily specials they’ll tell you about at the cash register, where the real magic of Spoon By H lies.
Whether it’s the kimchi bibim guksu (spicy cold noodles) with pork belly, a salty Spam fried rice, or a spicy garae-tteok special (cylindrical rice cakes), the menu is full of rich, complex dishes. Spoon By H isn’t a particularly loud space, but we’ve never been in a restaurant where more people were talking about the food they were eating. From furiously pointing at the spicy udon noodles and exclaiming “What?!?” to loudly making plans to return for more dumpling soup, when the food tastes like it does at Spoon By H, we suppose it’s natural to want to shout. It’s the only way to make sense of it, really.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Pork Belly Dumpling Soup
Spam Fried Rice
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Kimchi Cold Noodle With Pork Belly
Chicken And Vegetable Udon Noodle Soup
Spicy Rice Cake
photo credit: Jakob Layman