When Jin Din Rou opened in February 2011, it was a dream come true for xiao long bao fans, the first restaurant in Hawaii to focus on all manner of the Shanghai-style soup dumplings.

Our joy was short-lived. Ten months later, the restaurant abruptly closed, a casualty, not of lack of interest in xiao long bao, but of business dealings gone sour. I still miss the restaurant, particularly because a stream of attempts to serve Japan-style Chinese fare at this site under the Chukaya Sea Dragon Table and Sea Dragon names fell short.

Earlier this year, the restaurant was reinvented as Sea Dragon BBQ Cold Noodle House, home of Korean fare, the first viable successor to Jin Din Rou.

What drew me to the space again was the allure of cold noodles on any one of our steamy summer days. I can feel my body temperature drop with just a couple of sips of the restaurant’s cold noodles with summer radish kim chee. Plain and spicy versions are $13.99 each, and one bowl is enough to feed two to four.

But that’s just the beginning of this restaurant’s many charms. These days, you can’t escape from Korean music in newer Korean restaurants, but at least Sea Dragon is grown up enough to do without screens of distracting music videos. Neither decor nor seating layout have changed much since Jin Din Rou’s owners envisioned it.

New Korean restaurants lately have been referring to the kalbi we know as L.A. galbi ($22.99), which is what it’s called in Korea when the ribs are cross-cut so that each slice includes a small, flat piece of bone. That differentiates it from the traditional Korea cut, wang galbi, or “king’s ribs,” a full length of rib filleted in layers to produce large flaps of meat, saving diners the trouble of nibbling around a bunch of bones.

The L.A. description may be unfamiliar, but the soy-sesame-garlic marinade that soaks into the grilled meat registers instantly as a longtime Hawaii favorite. We’ve grown up with the L.A., or English cut, all along, so I’d say many of us actually enjoy coaxing every last morsel of meat and gristle off the bone.

A little typo on the menu led me to wonder what “beef rip steam” ($27.99) and “spicy rip steam” ($27.99) could be, before I figured out the reference to a comfort-driven pot of tender shortrib stew with potatoes and carrots. Enjoy it with plain white rice, or splurge on one of the restaurant’s stone pot bibimbaps ($18.99), featuring rice layered with assorted vegetables, kim chee, sunny-side up egg and one choice of protein, whether beef bulgogi, spicy seafood, spicy pork or spicy squid. Mix it all up for a crisp-bottomed fried rice.

The rice can also be enjoyed with butterfish ($28.99) steamed in a spicy red sauce over layers of thin-sliced potatoes and juicy turnips.

An assortment of soups, hot pots and stews round out the menu, and I picked the goat stew ($39.99) because goat is not something we see often here outside of Filipino restaurants. It’s cooked in a spicy chili sauce with scallions, chives, water parsley and kkaenip, an herb related to mint. The goat meat is similar to lamb, and to cut the gamey quality, you’re offered a duo of red chili paste and sesame oil studded with toasted sesame seeds. I love sesame oil and the sauces made me long for yakiniku instead.

The one nod to Sea Dragon’s Chinese predecessor are veggie-filled, bao-style steamed mandoo ($9.99 for six pieces). It’s something I don’t need to eat again, carb-heavy without the flavor payoff of a Chinese bao. The flavor comes from dipping the bun in a chili-soy sauce that lacks nuance and dimension. All you taste is salt on bread. Get the fried mandoo instead ($10.99).

You can also get better seafood pancakes ($9.99) elsewhere; this one is doughy, heavier on flour than scallion and seafood. Well, I prefer more greens and less flour. Some might prefer Sea Dragon’s way.

The drink menu is short and simple, with Heineken for $5, Coors Light and Bud Light for $3, $10 soju, $13 rice wine and $3 sodas.

Despite the few minor disappointments, Sea Dragon BBQ Cold Noodle House is the best restaurant to appear on this corner in five years.

Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com. For more photos from this week’s restaurant go to takeabite.staradvertiserblogs.com.