Sometimes a

is more than a noodle

CARRY A dish across a border and it changes. True Mexican food, for example, is nothing like Taco Bell. But Americans are not alone in this modification of other people's cuisines. Happens everywhere there are borders to cross.

Take for example, the border way up in northern China, where the country butts up against the upper edge of Korea. In the late 1800s, a few Chinese from the northern Shandong province began settling in Korea, largely in the port city of Inchon. With them came many traditional home-style dishes.

The first Chinese restaurants catered to those immigrants, but by the 1950s they were attracting more and more Koreans and the food was evolving to suit their tastes. In the process something legendary was created: chajiangmyun.

"These noodles are the most popular Chinese food in Korea," says Steve Lee, owner of Eastern Paradise, a Chinese restaurant on South King Street. "I think everybody knows that dish. When they first start going to restaurants -- they start feeding the baby chajiangmyun."

In Korean soap operas, this dish is a common onscreen meal -- usually referred to as Chinese noodles, or sometimes "black noodles." Lee says he's noticed more local people coming into his restaurant and ordering the dish because they've seen it on TV.

Thing is, it isn't really Chinese. It's a Korean interpretation of a Chinese dish. In both cases it consists of noodles covered in a sauce of fermented soy beans and pork, but the Korean version is darker and sweeter to the point of little comparison.

Still, chajiangmyun is what Korean diners expect to find in their Chinese restaurants, just as Americans expect fortune cookies at the end of their Chinese meals.

In Hawaii, Chinese restaurants that cater to Koreans form a subculture within the Chinese restaurant mainstream -- a half-dozen or so places where Korean expatriates can find their chajiangmyun, with kim chee on the side.

There are other dishes in the Korean-Chinese repertoire, as well: lahjogi, or hot pepper chicken; tangsooyook, or sweet-sour pork. Sea cucumber is another favorite. (I should tell you now that there are many accepted spellings for these dishes, with Js and Cs especially interchangeable, so you may be familiar with slightly different names.)

MY JOURNEY into this new and alphabetically challenging world began with a request from Linda Huff, a faithful patron of Eastern Paradise, now living in Las Vegas. She was after recipes for chajiangmyun and hot pepper chicken.

"There are no restaurants here in Vegas that make these same dishes," she wrote. "If I could get ahold of these two recipes to make at home, I would be the happiest person alive. Really."

The chance to grant someone eternal happiness should never be passed up, so I called on Walter Rhee of the University of Hawaii-Manoa Food Science Department. Rhee is Korean, has an extensive background in Chinese cooking and leads regular tours of Chinatown.

He made it his mission when he moved to Hawaii four years ago to seek out the best Korean-Chinese restaurants, and recommends Eastern Paradise as No. 1. So together we went to visit Lee, who with his brother Chih Kuo "Chico" Lee run Eastern Paradise, the restaurant started by their parents in 1978.

The Lee family was among many Chinese who moved to Korea during World War II. "The school I went to had 2,000 students from China," Steve Lee says.

His uncle was the first to move to Hawaii and opened the Mandarin restaurant, emphasizing Korean-style Chinese food. Lee's father, Chi Hsing Lee, who had a restaurant in Korea, started out at Mandarin, then opened his own place.

In the beginning, Lee says, 99 percent of the clientele was Korean, but the mix has grown to include locals and Japanese tourists.

Two menus are available at Eastern Paradise: One in Chinese, English and Japanese; the other in Korean. Lee speaks all the languages.

To get back to chajiangmyun: It is difficult to overstate the status of this dish in Korea. Last summer, the Korea Journal published a paper on how the humble noodles represent the evolution of Chinese restaurants in Korean society.

Writer Yang Young-Kyun said the dish shows up in popular culture from comic books to poetry, songs to film themes. Yang referred to chajiangmyun as "a Korean dish closely related with Korean identity" -- right up there with kim chee.

Understanding chajiangmyun The name: Pronounce it chah-zhang-myun. In Korean, "cha" means to fry, "jiang" is sauce, "myun" means noodles. In Mandarin Chinese it's called zhajiangmian, which means "crackling sauce noodles." Chinese versus Korean: Both versions are made with a gravy made of fermented soy beans -- similar to Japanese miso -- and pork. The Korean version incorporates caramel in the sauce, which makes it dark brown, almost black, compared to the original Chinese, which is yellowish. Economic impact: In 1999, a Korean government survey determined that 7.2 million bowls of chajiangmyun are consumed every day -- equivalent to 2 billion bowls a year. The amount spent on the dish equals $180,000 U.S. dollars a day; $65 million a year. How to eat it: Koreans usually order lahjogi (spicy chicken) to balance the slight sweetness of chajiangmyun, or tangsooyook (sweet and sour pork or beef) to accentuate the sweetness. The meat is dipped in a soy-vinegar sauce to boost the flavor. Variations: Chajiangmyun may be made with added pork or seafood (shrimp, squid and sea cucumbers). The gravy may be served on top or on the side. Either way, it is mixed with chopsticks at the table. On the side: Korean-Chinese restaurants will serve kim chee, raw onions and/or takuan (pickled daikon). Pour white vinegar over the onions and takuan. DINING OUT Where to find Korean-style Chinese food: Eastern Paradise Restaurant: 1403 S. King St., 941-5858 Jin-Mi: 99 Ranch Market food court, Mapunapuna, 839-3099 Mandarin: 725 Kapiolani Blvd., 593-1188 On Dong Chinese Restaurant: 1499 S. King St., 947-9444 Peking Restaurant: 915 Keeaumoku St., 941-9112 Wang's Garden Restaurant: 98-199 Kamehameha Highway, Aiea, 486-9999 Wang's Waiakamilo Restaurant: 1414 Dillingham Blvd., 843-8884 Walter Rhee, Special to the Star-Bulletin

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