Korean Noodle House won’t play games with you. It won’t hold your hand, pretend to love you, and then leave you high and dry. It’s pretty upfront about who it is and what you can expect—it’s in the name, after all: a house. A house that serves handmade Korean noodles. In fact, “homey” doesn’t begin to describe the atmosphere at this Spring Branch-area bungalow. What so many modern restaurants attempt to capture in their décor—the feeling that you’re over to a friend’s house for dinner—is almost uncomfortably authentic here, at first. You may want to apologize, for intruding, to the fatherly figure reading a newspaper near the kitchen, but once you sit down to an earthenware pot of zingy, funky kimchi—the best in the city—you’ll feel right at home.

You may flirt around the menu of Korean classics, but the reason you’re really here is to ravish the noodles. Each strand has its own personality. Some are rustic, but have a sensational bite, like the noodles in the jjam pong, a spicy seafood soup with a broth that sets your tongue and heart on fire. A loving beef kalguksu is down to earth, and full of nutty buckwheat noodles. And when it’s hot outside, cold noodles don’t give a cold shoulder—so go on, let go and love.