St. Louis, MOKorean

Order doenjang soybean soup with tofu, zucchini and onion in a broth with a pungent miso-like flavor. It arrives boiling in a hot clay bowl. In warmer months, try the cold buckwheat noodle soup, with chewy homemade noodles in a spicy broth under slivers of sweet Asian pear.

This modern dining room has diner chairs and a chalkboard-style barbecue mural. Fresh cuts cook at the table. The small beef-and-pork combination comes with four cuts, steamed eggs and jjigae; bring friends to share it.

This family-run room has private karaoke rooms in back and framed fan art honoring Korean Cardinals pitcher Seung Hwan Oh. Owner Sang Yim has watched baseball from the front desk. Order kori gom tang, a savory bone-marrow soup, then book a karaoke room.

Founder Yu Duck Lee started K-Bop as a food truck in 2017, serving events in Tower Grove Park before opening a Delmar Loop shop in 2020. He added this roughly 400-square-foot, six-table Cherokee Street room in 2023. The menu includes CupBop bowls, chicken katsu, bulgogi beef, bibimbop and bottled Korean drinks.

Order Korean fried chicken with the spicy original sauce, a sweet, savory and sticky coating over crisp skin and juicy meat. It comes with vinegary white-radish kimchi and a side. The counter is on Laclede's Landing near the Arch grounds.