Category: Korean

Reviews of Korean Restaurants in New York City

Momofuku Ssam Bar

207 2nd Avenue corner of 13th Street
212/254.3500
$9 for one, with a drink, without tip
♥ ♥ ♥

Remember when the Lambs were all over 5th Street opening up to five restaurants in the area? Two of them, a Korean grill, now Degustation, and Makimono, now occupied by Jack Oyster Bar that was around the corner, have since closed. So can the east Village only be conquered by one person–or one couple–at a time? And is it David Chang’s turn this year?

Every time I walk by Momofuku, it’s packed. I like my Berkshire pork as much as everyone else, but spending $13 on a bowl of somen is hard to swallow at times. Besides, when I am in the mood to spend that much for a bowl of noodle soup, any one of my white guy friends are not available to eat with me–a white guy is the accessory-du-jour at Momofuku if you’re an Asian girl. (Look up from your sticky steamed buns when you go.)

I wish Chef David Chang all the luck now that his second restaurant has opened. From bowls of noodles made fancy by adding Berkshire pork and seasonal ingredients come Korean burritos called ssam made fancy by adding, well, Berkshire pork and other seasonal ingredients. To me, though, a burrito is a burrito: a whole mess of rice, beans and meat wrapped in soft tortilla even if there are Asian touches to it. At Momofuku Ssam Bar, edamame, shiitake mushrooms and kimchi are the culprits. I was ready to surrender towards the end of my heavy lunch but I was with three other boys who thought another half would have made the $9 worth it.

Momofuku Ssam is so much better for dinner. After an hour wait in a pub down the street, we returned to be seated at the bar. The warm veal head terrine reminded me of Babbo that I almost forgot David Chang became famous because of his noodle bowls. The sweetbreads were grilled, complete with burnt stripes, and were excellent beer food with pickles. I loved the roasted mushroom salad with crosne, or Chinese artichoke, in a pistachio-based sauce. The grilled lemongrass pork sausage was much better and lighter than its soft tortilla counterpart. The lettuce is fresh and crunchy, and like Korean kalbi, is used to pick up the soft sausages. David Chang just can’t help but go back to his Asian roots and I commend him for that.

Related post/s:
Momofuku Noodle Bar, David Chang’s first restaurant
Degustation, from the Lambs

Village Yokocho

8 Stuyvesant Street off Third Avenue
212/598.3041
about $60 for a lot of food for two, with drinks, without tip
♥ ♥

Kimchi fried rice, ramen bowls, yakitori, cold noodles and duk bo kki…

What more could you ask for after a night of drinking?

Gyu-Kaku

34 Cooper Square off 6th Street and Lafayette
212/475.2989
about $60 for two, with two drinks, without tip
♥

I’ll group Gyu-Kaku under my Korean and Japanese restaurants list because they had both Korean-style barbecues and Japanese yakitoris. They had several kinds of soups served in clay pots that tasted like Korean chigaes, but udon or ramen noodles were added. They also offered a nice-sized bowl of bibimbap but they had ahi tuna and shrimps we grilled on the tabletop stove ourselves.

It’s a spacious restaurant off the hubbub of St. Mark’s Place. The attentive service is perfect for bigger groups, plus the happy hour price of drinks ($2.50 for Kirin beer on tap) and meat specials (50% off on filet mignon meat to grill) are hard to say no to.

Li Hua

171 Grand Street on Baxter
212/343.0090
about $25 for two, without drinks, without tip
♥ ♥

Perhaps the only Korean restaurant near Chinatown, Li Hua attracts a lunch crowd willing to pay $9 for a lunch box of bulgogi, fried zucchini, salad and rice. For us coming from an office in SoHo, $9 isn’t bad; it’s even better when food under $10 is not Chinese.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but now that we’re situated in Chinatown, we’ve pretty much exhausted our Chinese food options. Li Hua impressed me with their yuk gae jang and chap jae noodles. Their special ramen bowl is also comforting at less than $7. When I’m feeling hungry, their hot stone bibimbap is worth it.

Momofuku Noodle Bar

163 1st Avenue between 10th and 11th Streets
212/475-7899
about $80 for two, with two drinks, with tip
♥ ♥

Updated, 2007: Momofuku has moved two stores down to make room for the third restaurant in their family, Momofuku Ko

Momofuku, which means “lucky peach,” is a nicely-designed noodlebar with mostly Japanese and Korean-influenced dishes plus a touch of Chinese. It reminded me of London’s Wagamama, which means “naughty child” in Nihongo, famous for their inexpensive and quick fast food as for their interior’s design.

We shared a plate of baby bok choy, flash-fried in hot oil, garlic and chilis–a good start to whet the appetite. Since it was almost a hundred degrees out, I picked the Momofuku somen with chilled noodles and dipping broth. My bowl came with mushrooms and very yummy shredded Berkshire pork which reminded me of leftover Filipino lechon, or roast pork. It’s a huge serving and more than enough for my hungry self. My companion opted for the pork neck ramen with neck meat and poached egg. It was also delicious. Both were served with scallions and menma, or bamboo shoots.

Even if it looks like a ramenya, a place that sells ramen in Japan, any new visitor would be glad to know that it just isn’t that. Dishes change seasonally, just like David Chang, owner and chef, learned at Craft. The noodles are not soggy and they have the right firmness and tenderness. There are buns, kimchi chigae, or fermented vegetables in soybean paste soup, and Sichuan-spiced crawfish in the menu.

I normally cook the baby bok choy at home when they are in season, so I thought the $8 price was pretty steep. Our tall Hefeweizens were also $10 apiece. In fact, everything is priced twice as much as its counterparts along St. Marks. Alas, this is New York City and this is the lower east side.