When it comes to Korean cuisine, Hawaii diners are a spoiled lot, accustomed to a range of grilled meats, broiled fish, spicy soups and stews and mandoo. So the Budnamujip experience may come as a shock to the system.

The South Korea import has done nothing to placate locals’ penchant for diversity or stray from its 36-year roots as a specialist in prime beef cooked over charcoal. But if you surrender to the Korean way, you will be rewarded with some of the best yakiniku in town.

The new restaurant is ensconced in the long-vacant Flamingo building on Kapiolani Boulevard. According to manager Chris Lee, the rapid response to the restaurant has been a surprise, but no one in the area could have missed the huge sign that’s been heralding its arrival for months. The valet parking lot is already full day and night. The restaurant is so well known that it’s spawned a fake in Los Angeles, but the Hawaii branch is the chain’s first in the U.S.

The restaurant’s name means "willow tree house" or, more evocatively, "the house under the shade of the willow tree." Its interior is huge, painted in Pepto-Bismol pink and trimmed in green, which itself is a shock to the system: We tend to be more relaxed in an environment of familiar warm woods and clean white.

There are six private rooms that each seat four and are separated by partitions that can open to accommodate up to 30. The private rooms go quickly in the evening.

At one end of the restaurant is a display area that highlights the butchers at work, slicing the premium wagyu, short ribs, ribeye and tongue that are the menu’s stars. Budnamujip has served 1,000 pounds a week so far, and it’s just getting started.

It’s ironic that just a few weeks ago I talked about the high cost of dining at The Signature Prime Steak & Seafood. Now that may seem like a bargain. At Budnamujip, portions are petite, closer to 8 ounces, so you may need three orders for two — that’s just for women, not a hungry man — to begin to feel sated, at an average of $35 a pop.

Start with the classic yang nyeom galbi ($33.95), served on the bone and marinated with salt and a fruit puree that leaves it exceptionally tender. After trying it, I wanted a second helping.

Our second favorite was the unmarinated, well-marbled boneless short rib ($39.95). Servers cooked everything for us over a kiawe charcoal flame, the rationale being that because of the high quality of the beef, they don’t want inexperienced or inattentive patrons burning the meat. Custom hoods that suck out the vapors from the top of the table create a remarkably smoke-free environment.

They were pushing the ju mul luck, chuck flap marinated in the restaurant’s signature sauce ($32.95), but this paled when compared with the short rib. There is also rib-eye steak ($35.95), skirt steak ($35.95) and top-of-the-line wagyu boneless short rib ($69.95).

Our dinner banchan comprised steamed cabbage, steamed kabocha, tossed green salad, kim chee and water kim chee. Accompanying the meat were individual portions of sea salt and bean paste. I never got to use the paste; the meat needed little more than a small pinch of salt, if that.

Now this will be a deal-breaker for some: White rice is $1.95 per bowl and arrives late in the meal because Budnamujip wants to present an authentic experience, which means savoring the meat instead of filling up on rice. For patrons who appeared like addicts going through withdrawal, servers kept reminding them, "Eat meat first, rice after." This was no problem for me. But the restaurant doesn’t offer lettuce for wraps, either, so I improvised, using the plain cabbage and small pieces of lettuce from the salad.

Crisp watermelon slices closed our dinner.

By local standards the menu is limited, and because the restaurant just opened, a handful of dishes pictured on the menu are unavailable, such as modum jeon, or pan-fried veggies with egg coating ($24.95), blue crab with roe ($29.95), braised black cod ($29.95) and raw marinated stingray with vegetables ($24.95).

Starters that were available included a dense sizzling scallion pancake ($19.95) and crispy seasoned burdock ($19.95). The latter arrived looking like eel, with a crisped rice bottom, mochilike center and top coating of kochujang sauce.

Lunch is an even simpler affair, with a short roster of soup and buckwheat noodle dishes, and a beautiful bi bim bap ($12.95) that was modest in size compared with local versions. Although yakiniku is available during the day, there were no orders last week when the restaurant was packed. Lunch dishes are unavailable at night.

One of the lunch highlights is the galbi tang ($14.95), soup comprising about five large, meaty kalbi bones in a wonderful beef broth.

Some dishes were a mystery. Bo ssam kim chee ($8.95) was supposed to be kim chee wrapped around octopus, chestnuts, jujube and pear, but I found no chestnuts or octopus. With kim chee already a part of the banchan, it wasn’t different enough for me to order again.

This is another restaurant worth checking out with an open mind.

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Nadine Kam‘s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.