Dozens of mom-and-pop restaurants were swept away by the razing of the block of low-rise commercial buildings to make way for The Park on Keeaumoku going up between Rycroft and Liona streets.

A few weeks ago, I wrote that the best menu items from Don e Don were folded into the menu of sister restaurant New Hyung Je. I am trying to find out if the beloved bingsoo café En Hakkore will find a new home. The first of the restaurants to make a full comeback is Ireh, which moved a few blocks down into the new Azure Ala Moana residential building.

It’s a joy for longtime fans to be able to sit down and enjoy a meal again, because the restaurant transformed itself into a mostly grab-and-go togo spot from the start of the pandemic.

As a bunsikjip, or noodle restaurant, Ireh specializes in a variety of noodle soups and jook, though they’ve added more meat dishes to satisfy those who can’t make sense of a Korean meal without chicken or kalbi.

It’s a great spot to fortify oneself with chicken jook ($16.95) or other comfort dishes when flu seasons hit. Those who try to steer clear of wheat flour will find a more healthful buckwheat flour option ($15.95). It would take quite a while to go through the menu of 19 noodle dishes and 15 jook bowls because there’s only so much soup one can handle in a single meal.

My preference is for the thick and satisfying rice soups that are so much more flavorful than the plain Chinese version I grew up with.

Looking at the pine nut jook ($17.95), I wondered how much flavor it could possibly have, imagining a small smattering of pine nuts stirred into the congee. Ask the servers if a particular dish is good, and they’ll pretty much say everything is good. So I took a chance.

I was wowed by the thick, milky white soup with strong pine nut flavor throughout. The creaminess is not from milk or cream, but the blending of house ground pine nuts with the rice. It’s become one of my favorite dishes.

There is also the more familiar mandoo soup ($17.95) filled with giant dumplings stuffed with pork, vegetables and clear dangmyeon, or sweet potato noodles.

The minute you sit down, you’re presented with corn-brown rice tea and minimalist banchan of kimchi and pickled white onions.

Most locals tend to cobble a meal together from non-soup items such as pan-fried mandoo ($16.95), a delicious and almost all-green seafood-chive pancake ($17.95) or kimchi pancake ($18.95).

Meat lovers will welcome dishes of jeon ($17.95), stir-fried bulgogi ($18.95), spicy pork accented with carrots and zucchini ($18.95) and LA kalbi ($24.95) with a sweet-soy marinade.

What was fun was the shrimp fried rice ($15.95). It wasn’t as savory as local-style fried rice, but was an unexpected day brightener. It reminded me of Japanese omurice, a childhood classic that they finished here with a cap of omelet and smiley face drawn in ketchup, which gives the dish most of its flavor.

A lot of regulars can’t wait for the end of a meal and finale of dessert of red bean shave ice ($8.95). It’s a simple affair of soft ice drenched in condensed milk, topped with red beans, with another hidden dollop of red bean paste at its core. Delicious. And, I couldn’t help but notice that some people were coming in solely for the shave ice, or pat bingsoo.

Ireh

Azure Ala Moana
629 Keeaumoku St., Honolulu
Food: ***½
Service: ****
Ambiance: ***½
Value: ****
Call: 808-943-6000
Hours: 10 A.M.-10 P.M. daily
Prices: About $55-$65 for two