Reviewing Seoul Jangteo: Delectable Korean cuisine in Boston’s Allston neighborhood.

Looking for Korean food in Boston? You’ll find some of the city’s best in Boston’s Allston neighborhood. Allston is Boston’s unofficial Koreatown, with plenty of authentic Korean restaurants within blocks of each other. Seoul Jangteo on Harvard Avenue is one of the only restaurants specializing in Korean-Chinese cuisine.  

My friend and I visited Seoul Jangteo at 6 pm on a Tuesday. It was easily accessible by train and car. There was plenty of empty street parking, and it was a five-minute walk from Harvard Ave Station.  

Once inside Seoul Jangteo, I noticed that the atmosphere was casual and lively. Its large interior had little decor and many tables. Since it was dinnertime, the restaurant was quickly filling up with patrons. Loud pop music overlapped the chatter of the other customers. We were immediately seated and looked over the menu. The menu included stews, noodle dishes, and Korean street foods. There were also a lot of Korean-Chinese foods not found at other Boston restaurants, like Jjajangmyeon and fried pork loin.   

We ordered two of their most popular dishes — Beef Soondubu and a small order of Gganpung Chicken. While we were waiting for our food, our server brought us banchan. Banchan are free Korean side plates, a common practice in Korean restaurants. They brought over small portions of pickled daikon, radish, and kimchi.  

It took around twenty minutes to receive our food. The Soondubu came out first. This is a soft tofu stew. The soup came sizzling in a black stone pot to maintain its heat. Its contents were soft tofu, vegetables, onions, and an egg. I first tried the soup on its own. It was perfectly spicy and salty. I then tried it with the tofu, which quickly became my favorite element of the stew. It had a velvety texture that absorbed the spicy soup base well. Altogether, it was a warm and comforting dish.

The Gganpung Chicken arrived shortly after. It consisted of boneless, deep-fried chicken bites in a spicy garlic sauce. It was served on a bed of lettuce and topped with scallions and sesame seeds. I was surprised at how large the portion was since I had ordered the “small” – there were around fifteen chicken bites. The chicken was chewy both inside and out. The texture reminded me of General Tso’s Chicken usually found at Chinese restaurants. My only gripe about the chicken was its sauce. The restaurant advertised the sauce as spicy garlic, but I barely tasted any heat. It was simply sweet and sour to me. It was still good, nonetheless. 

Service was friendly but slow at times. We were quickly seated but felt somewhat neglected after that. It took a while to get water refills, and I had to flag the waiter down from across the restaurant for the bill. I understand this may be because they were busy during the dinner rush. And it is a small criticism considering the overall quality of the experience. 

I recommend Seoul Jangteo to anyone craving Korean and Korean-Chinese comfort food. My top recommendation is the Soondubu. The stew would be the perfect meal on a cold or rainy day. While eating, I noticed many people were also ordering the Jjajangmyeon. These are Korean-Chinese black bean noodles. I’ll try that next time I dine at Seoul Jangteo!