Perhaps the best approach to the new Hangang Korean BBQ restaurant is to start simply with lunch. To start with dinner would mean sticker shock, as the restaurant surpasses Budnamjip prices — which, prior to the restaurant’s closing during the pandemic, had been the highest for Korean barbecue on Oahu.

The restaurant recently opened its doors on Waimanu Street with an understated elegance that outstrips much of the neighborhood. I was entertained by the sight of waiters with K-pop idol haircuts, who are efficient and helpful if you request help mixing bibimbap or placing meat on the grill.

By night it is currently packed with Korean speakers, and one of my first thoughts was, “Koreans have a lot of money,” when each 200-gram (roughly 7 ounces) portion of meat is going for $43.95 (beef brisket) to $130 (wagyu fillet or wagyu sirloin).

But perhaps that comes from my meat lover’s perspective, in which the whole objective of going to a Korean barbecue restaurant is to fill up on the best beef and pork. In reality, the restaurant offers a full range of Korean stews, stir-fries, jeon, noodles and more.

While my view is the minimum spend for dinner here is $70 per person for a nine- course Prime beef set meal, I watched one elderly couple simply share a single bowl of cold noodles ($16.95), and call it a night.

It’s totally possible to make a meal of it, considering the beautiful array of banchan, or side dishes, that accompany each meal, with a variety that might include roast potatoes, seasoned daikon, spinach, bean sprouts, mashed beans, pickled onions, japchae, kimchi and more. There are no fewer than nine selections for lunch and dinner.

Let’s go back to lunch right now, where the most popular order is the generous $23.95 lunch special set. The set starts with nutritious, hot pot rice comprising Korean black rice studded with a variety of beans and kabocha. The set offers a choice of one meat from a roster of L.A. kalbi, barbecue chicken, beef bul gogi, grilled yellow corvina and grilled mackerel, as well as a choice of soft tofu soup, miso soup or kimchi soup. It makes an impressive spread.

On a hot day, you might opt for a cold arrowroot noodle soup combo that includes a choice of one of four meat selections: shortribs ($26.95), spicy pork bulgogi ($25.95), beef bulgogi ($25.95) or barbecue chicken ($25.95).

Elsewhere on the menu are more soup selections with a variety ranging from the summertime ginseng chicken soup ($22.95), mandoo soup ($17.95) and shortrib soup ($20.95).

The menu is rounded out by grilled fish dishes, and all-in-one rice bowls, with centerpieces of eel ($24.95), spicy squid ($18.95), barbecue chicken ($18.95) or bulgogi ($18.95). Stone pot ($19.95) and beef tartare bibimbap ($25.95) are always a joy.

The easiest approach to dinner is to also start with the set meal that starts at $70 per person. It begins with banchan and offers four meat selections of Prime beef brisket, Prime outskirt, Prime cube sirloin, and a choice of wagyu sirloin or wagyu beef fillet. These cuts would be, respectively, $43.95, $46.95, $44.95, $130 and $130 a la carte.

Accompanying dishes are cheese steamed egg, kimchi pancake and a choice of white rice, cold noodle or spicy cold noodle, kimchi stew, miso stew or soft tofu stew. It ends with a refreshing dessert of sweet pineapple on skewers.

Somehow, the meat roster always manages to exclude the selections you really want, whether it’s fatty pork jowl ($49.95), marinated kalbi ($46.95) or beef tongue ($46.95), so it can be more worthwhile to go the a la carte route.

Accompanying the meat is a full complement of side dish options comparable to the lunch menu, with dishes priced at about $3 more in the evening.

The dinner menu also includes jeon offerings missing from the lunch menu, including the popular kimchi pancake ($18.95), seafood pancake ($21.95) and the more rarefied egg-battered discs of zucchini jeon ($18.95).

Hangang Korean BBQ

1236 Waimanu St., Honolulu
Food: ***½
Service: ****
Ambiance: ****
Value: ***½
Call: 808-200-1114
Hours: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. and 5-11 p.m. daily
Prices: About $50 for two for lunch; $70 per person for dinner without alcohol

Nadine Kam’s restaurant visits are unannounced and paid for by Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Follow Nadine on Instagram (@nadinekam) or on YouTube (youtube.com/nadinekam).