Kimchi Kitchen Returns to East Cambridge Today

Just before the start of summer, Kimchi Kitchen closed down for what was initially supposed to be just a few weeks of repairs caused by unspecified damage to the little East Cambridge restaurant. But as the season went on, so did the closure. Today, September 12, Kimchi Kitchen makes its triumphant return, according to its website and Facebook page. (Its online ordering system has not yet come back online.)

The cozy 16-seat restaurant — which does plenty of takeout and delivery — opened just before Thanksgiving in 2015, serving up homestyle Korean food, from chewy and spicy dduk-bokki to hearty kimchi jigae. Other options include gim-bap, bibimbap, and Korean-style popcorn chicken. It’s owned by mother-and-daughter team Helen and Jeannette Park; Helen is an alum of Meju, Koreana, and the Burlington and Cambridge locations of H-Mart. (Update: It reopened under new ownership.)

In the seven months between opening and temporarily closing, the restaurant built up a legion of fans who have been anxiously awaiting the reopening. Find out why in this January review from The Boston Globe’s Ellen Bhang, who found that the bibimbap "hits all the right notes," the spicy pork bulgogi is "excellent," and the overall menu is what "you might eat at your grandmother’s house if your grandmother made bulgogi and fermented her own kimchi" — "simple, homey fare."

Here on Eater Boston, we included Kimchi Kitchen on our Heatmap for the restaurant’s first several months; we particularly recommended the daeng-jang jigae, pan-fried dumplings, and dduk-bokki. It also appeared on our year-end list of top restaurant standbys for 2015.

Kimchi Kitchen is open from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

• Kimchi Kitchen Coverage on Eater Boston [EBOS]