Korean Restaurants in New York City

Korean food has a great balance of salty, hot, sweet, sour and bitter flavors. If you are in New York City, you will find some really great restaurants that serve Korean dishes. Cho Dang Gol is an affordable Korean restaurant around Koreatown NYC that offers several homemade dishes like tofu and seafood pancakes. Dok Suni’s is a smart Korean restaurant available in the downtown area serving spicy, traditional, home-style Korean foods – not to mention their pork ribs.

Apart from all these famous restaurants, there are also Don’s Bogam BBQ & Wine Bar which includes a lounge, a sleek bar and a stylish dining room where compact menu from Korea is served. Han Bat, situated in the Fashion District, is a Midtown NYC Korean restaurant which specializes in traditional South Korean dishes. Hangawi is a vegetarian restaurant which serves exotic dishes from Korea in a great meditative atmosphere.

Kori is a small but stylish Korean restaurant which serves an excellent menu of grills and bibimbap at quite affordable prices. Mandoo Bar serves Korean Mandoo dumplings in a serene but upbeat atmosphere. She Ja Meh is a contemporary and clean Korean restaurant serving the Wall Street area. Won Jo is an authentic Korean restaurant in the Garment District serving delicious Korean food, giving its guests an option to cook their own Korean dishes.

So, if you are a Korean food lover in New York City, then you will have plenty of options to try out.

Finding The Best Korean Restaurants in the United States Made Easy

Korea is famous for its barbecue, and one of the most popular varieties is samgyeopsal, or fresh sliced pork belly, cooked at your table on a hot griddle. Whether cooking at home or dining out, good Korean food is delicious. The trick is to find the best Korean restaurants in your local area without having to dine at a dozen that are average or below average. BestDining.com recently enhanced their website to include a best dining directory of Korean restaurants throughout the top cities nationwide. Included are restaurant reviews, rating, maps, photos and more. Click below to find the best Korean restaurants in the top cities nationwide:

Korean Food in Los Angeles
Korean Food in Boston
Korean Food in Chicago
Korean Food in New York City
Korean Food in San Francisco
Korean Food in San Diego
Korean Food in Miami
Korean Food in Philadelphia
Korean Food in Phoenix
Korean Food in San Antonio
Korean Food in Dallas
Korean Food in Houston
Korean Food in Austin
Korean Food in San Jose
Korean Food in Detroit
Korean Food in Indianapolis
Korean Food in Jacksonville
Korean Food in Baltimore
Korean Food in Seattle
Korean Food in Honolulu

Kimcheebap

Kimchee bap is a lesser known Korean dish than dolsot bibimbap but it has much in common with the dish that is now considered representative of Korean food.

I had never heard of dolsotbibimbap from my Korean mother. I learned of its existence when I ordered the dish in a Korean restaurant in my 20’s. When I dined out with my family in Korean restaurants, no one ever ordered dolsot bibimbap. I suspect it was because dolsotbibimbap was considered by my family as a home-made dish, and while we were out we might as well order Korean food that couldn’t be easily had at home. Dolsotbibimbap originated as a way to make use of leftovers and kimchee bap serves the same type of purpose.

Dolsotbibimbap is an artful layering of sesame oil, rice, assorted marinated, cooked and raw vegetables, egg and beef. Kimchee bap includes many of these ingredients but they are stir-fried together, kind of a kimchee fried rice.

Kimchee bap was always referred to as “hot rice” by my mother and she made it with sour kimchee.  When kimchee becomes sour, it hasn’t gone bad but it has become a bit soft and a bit too sour to serve on its own. There are other delicious Korean recipes for sour kimchee that are worth checking out if, like me, you can’t keep up with the gifts of your mother’s constant kimchee production. At times, my mother would rinse this kimchee and others she didn’t. Both versions are delicious and the very different flavors are worth experimenting with.

Many Korean recipes for kimchee bap call for egg and beef. We mostly had a vegetarian version but at times my mother would add leftover beef, pork or tofu. The additions that I most enjoyed were those that included many different vegetable dishes such as bean sprouts, fern, shredded and seasoned fresh sea weed and sautéed spinach. As is common in many Korean dishes, texture is very important and the different vegetable combinations my mother tossed in provided just that.

Online recipes for kimchee bap differ than what I grew up with. In many of these recipes, the rice is sautéed in sesame oil on its own. Shredded beef is marinated in soy sauce, garlic, scallions, sesame seeds, and sesame oil, and then added to the dish. The kimchee is steamed in a rice cooker and the whole shebang is topped with shredded egg.

My mother’s version was easier and I think, tastier: she sautéed the rice in sesame oil. As the rice got crispy she would add soy sauce, garlic, scallion, kimchee, veggies, and most importantly, gochujang, the hot red pepper paste found in many Korean dishes. That’s what made it “hot rice.” And if she did add beef or pork it was shredded bulgoki or pork ribs that had already been marinated and cooked, making use of leftovers in the true tradition of this Korean dish.