Corea K-Food Opens in Old Mokdong Gimbap Space in Portland

The front of Corea K-Food on SE Hawthorne.

There’s a new Korean restaurant in the old Mokdong Gimbap space on SE Hawthorne: Corea K-Food. They’ve been open a few weeks now, according to the staff I spoke with, and it appears to be a different owner.

Mokdong Gimbap

We reported on the opening of this Korean restaurant, named after what is colloquially called “Korean sushi,” back in November 2023. They gained a strong fan base and offered all sorts of kimbap, each starting with a base of seaweed, rice, and egg, and you could get additions of SPAM, fish cake, bacon, and more. They also offered dishes like tteokbokki, gyoza, and katsu.

In late November they closed their doors with very little outward communication about why they closed, if they would open in the future, and basically nobody had any idea of what was going on there. Sources tell me that there may have been financial issues involved, so much so that they could not sustain running the business.

Corea K-Food: Some Background

I stopped by over the weekend after a tip I got that a new Korean restaurant had opened at this location. They do not have much of an online presence—just an Instagram and a DoorDash page. At the writing of this article the Instagram page is empty; nobody has tagged them, either.

ORSOS records indicate that Jongsoo Chang is the name of the person behind the restaurant. Over on Reddit, there was a brief discussion started last month about the new restaurant going into this space, with one user keeping their eye on the name “Hanul Korean Restaurant” in their online research/monitoring. It looks like Chang registered HANUL LLC last September, so that could account for the thinking that this would be the name of the restaurant, too.

Also in the HANUL LLC file there’s one document from October 2025 that indicates their primary place of business was 2735 SE Orient Drive in Gresham for a short time, which is currently the location of K-Food Grill, another Korean restaurant. It gets pretty good reviews on Yelp. There seems to be some sort of past connection there, but bottom line: Corea K-Food is now open on SE Hawthorne.

Corea vs. Korea

Corea on the map. — Detail of a map of the world on Mercator’s projection, published Emanuel Bowen in London, 1744.

“Corea” and “Korea” are, of course, transliterations of the name of the country in the Korean language and Hangul writing system. “Corea” is the spelling seen in old maps—in the 1594 world map created by Petrus Plancius, a Dutch-Flemish astronomer and cartographer, the peninsula is labeled “Corea.”

You can see in the image above that the “Corea” spelling was being used in the 18th century. The adoption of the “Korea” spelling happened in the last part of the 19th century (this stamp from 1885 uses a K) and into the 20th. Some assert that Japanese imperialism on the peninsula had something to do with it, but that is still a topic of debate.

Interestingly enough, there are many countries today that use a “C” over a “K”—Romance languages in particular like French, Spanish, Italian and Galician. This article in the LA Times from 2003 was an interesting read on the topic and dropped this tidbit of cooperation between the North and the South for spelling’s sake. From the article:

“Twenty-two South Korean legislators last month introduced a resolution in their parliament calling for the government to adopt the Corea spelling—the first time such a proposal has been made in official quarters in South Korea.

“North and South Korean scholars, who rarely agree on much, also held an unusual joint conference last month in Pyongyang, the North’s capital, and resolved to work together for a spelling change. They hope it can be accomplished in time for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, when the estranged countries intend to field a joint team.”

Food and Drink at Corea K-Food

It’s a relatively moderatly-sized menu with a number of familiar dishes: Korean fried chicken, Tteokbokki, Japchae, Bulgogi, Kalbi, Bu Dae Jeongal, Sundubu, dumplings/mandu, and kimchi stew, among others, including a sign for Korean ramen outside. I’m intrigued this grilled hairtail fish dish.

I didn’t see much in the way of drinks, but I would guess that tea at the very least is available.

Here is the full menu, snapped at the restaurant (click to enlarge).

They are closed on Tuesdays, but open the rest of the week from 11am to 3pm, then 4pm to 8pm.

Have you been yet? We’d love to hear from you in the comments or via our socials. Glad to see a new restaurant take over this space, and all the best to the Corea K-Food team!

Corea K-Food [opened early January 2026]
3553 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland
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