New to Korean food, need NYC recs

[pigbob]

Recently visited L.A. and tried Korean food at Beverly Soon Tofu Rest.. Everthing was great, especially Stone Pot Bimbimbap and Galbi. Can anyone suggest similar type Korean rest. in Manhattan or any of the outer boroughs; and, suggestions for other dishes to try?

[coasts]

you'll definitely find better korean food in flushing, but there's enough on 32nd to keep you off the 7 train. we regularly go to several of the places mentioned already. one more i'd add to the list is Shilla for jayook kimchi bokum (or Kimchi Tofu Pork). it's my favorite korean dish and there's is pretty good. we also order their kimchi jigae and dukbokgi.

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Shilla
37 W 32nd St, New York, NY 10001

[changy]

If you dont want to travel to flushing, you can go to kun jip and try their Kam Ja Tang. It's a spicy pork bone soup served with rice

[MVNYC]

Gahm Mi Oak on 32nd is great for their Ox Tail Soup. They also have good bibimbap. Great kimchi too.

[Pan]

Do a search/post on the Outer Boroughs board. There are lots of places in Flushing and further out on and around Northern Blvd.

[daffyduck]

hey pan, im a noob with korean food. do u think the places in flushing are better than manhattan?

[Pan]

I haven't tried too many of them because when I go to Flushing, I usually stay closer to the Main St. subway stop and go for any of various types of Chinese cuisines. But it's a general consensus that they are better.

Also, my favorite Korean restaurants in Manhattan are both more or less barbecue specialists - Madangsui and Don's Bogam (others have mentioned that Don's Bogam is less of a barbecue specialist and does some other things very well). So if you want delicious barbecue - especially marinated items - those two places are excellent choices, but in terms of what pigbob asked for, I'm less sure about recommending soondubu or dolsot bibimbap at either place (I simply haven't ordered either there). Han Bat has good hyaemul (=mixed seafood) dolsot bibimbap and is a good value, so it's a good choice for a beginner, but I figured pigbob would compare it to a great Korean restaurant in LA, a city I know has great Korean food, and Han Bat is not known by really knowledgeable people to be excellent, overall, though if you ask me, I consider it pleasant and quite serviceable (but I'm not nearly the expert on Korean food that some people on this board are). One good thing to remember, though, is that in Han Bat and various other Korean restaurants, there are Korean-language specials posted on the wall, and particularly if you have a group of people with you (since the specials can be humongous), it is a good idea to ask a waiter or even a Korean-speaking customer what they are.

The places that I first went to to explore Korean food in New York were Woo Chon in Flushing (which also has a branch on W. 36 St.) and Han Bat, although the very first place I had Korean food was in Seoul in 1975, and I've liked kimchi ever since!

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Madangsui
35 W 35th St, New York, NY 10001

Han Bat
53 W 35th St, New York, NY 10001

Woo Chon
8 W 36th St, New York, NY 10018

Don's Bogam
17 E 32nd St, New York, NY 10016

[poutinelover]

I'm curious as to what you think about BCD tofu house? I'm a newbie to Korean food and my friends chose to eat there. I really liked their assortment of ban chan...

[Pan]

I've been there once and liked it OK but ordered wrong. I need to go back there some other time and order dishes that feature tofu.

[squid kun]

>do u think the places in flushing are better than manhattan?

I'm not Pan, but I'll give it a shot. Yes, definitely, if you're looking for authenticity and more choices.

[gutsofsteel]

I really like Han Bat, love their bimbimbap. But my favorite thing there is the knee cartiledge dish. All about the texture.

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Han Bat
53 W 35th St, New York, NY 10001

[Deb Van D]

I like Han Bat, too, but I've never had the knee cartilage dish. Hm. Something to put on the list. I used to like Cho Dang Gol but haven't enjoyed it much the last couple of times I was there.

Knee cartilage.

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Cho Dang Gol
55 W 35th St, New York, NY 10001

Han Bat
53 W 35th St, New York, NY 10001