Hanok Tofu House Korean Restaurant has replaced Maru on Route 18 in East Brunswick. The inside is the same (no remodeling or anything), but the menu is different and the prices are somewhat higher. I got Soon DuBu Jigae (my standard) and found it not as spicy as Maru made it, and definitely not as flavorful. In fact, I thought the broth had very little flavor at all. Mark got the oyster variation, and also thought it flavorless. They brought only four banchan (Maru used to bring six), but they did bring a raw egg for the jigae.
Another complaint I have is that they have the Korean alphabet version on the menu, and the English translation, but not the transliteration, so I have no idea which of their items was Soon DuBu Jigae. (I don’t think they had Doenjang Jigae, my other favorite.)
Oh, one other difference: stainless steel chopsticks instead of the wooden ones Maru had.
Lots of people on Yelp seem to love this place, but given the higher prices (jigae is $10, and a lunch combo is $15 more or less) and bland taste, I suspect we will not be going back very often.
Looks like they got rid of the BBQ portion and went with other items.