Kunjip

9 West 32nd St, NY, NY 10001

Rating: 2 - Super Happy
Visits: Often
What we love about Korean dining is the anticipation of banchan at the start of the meal. We're like kids in a candy shop waiting to see what kind of little dishes make the table top array. M. tries something and points emphatically with her chopsticks if it merits trying. I pick another and shake my head don't bother. Today we split a duk mandoo soup and a soondubu jjigae stew and stumbled out into the mid October summer day stuffed to the brim and mindlessly happy.

Barn Joo, with friends

893 Broadway, NY, NY

Rating: 3 - Feeling Good
Visits: Regularly
Our book club friends, George and Bill, met us at Barn Joo for lunch, along with Nancy, for a fun lunch of bibimbap, summer plans and miscellany. We all ordered the bibimbap, per usual, but George went out on a limb and had the spicy momil, a cold soba noodle dish, topped with sashimi that looks divine, as you can see here. He said he could eat it every day, it was so nice. Something to try next time!

Gammeeok, with Christian

9 W. 32nd St, NY, NY

Rating: 3 - Feeling Good
Visits: Regularly
We were pleased to see more of a crowd at Gammeeok today though I was slightly disappointed with the food. There was something a little off with both the kimchi and soellongtang, not quite up to snuff. The company, however, was marvelous. We talked non-stop, not letting the food or haphazard service deter us in anyway.

KoFoo

67 W. 23rd St, NY, NY 10010 (at the back of the deli)

Rating: 3 - Feeling Good
Visits: Often
It was surprisingly calm and not at all hectic at KoFoo today. If you've not been, you should. A brisk team of Korean ladies dishes out an array of Korean food from the back of a generic deli right there on the north side of 23rd St. The seating is scant but the turnover fast and we always end up staying for the bibimbap. Not for those looking for ambiance. Yes for those looking for reasonably tasty Korean food in the Flatiron District.

New York Bakery

51 W. 29th St, NY, NY 10001

Rating: 4 - Just Fine
Visits: First visit
Don't let the incongruous name confuse you, New York Bakery is an amalgamation of Korean and Mexican dishes where you can order fish tacos and Korean bulgogi with kimchi tacos from the same smiling guy. It's an itty bitty space, run down and easily cramped, but the attitude is so overwhelmingly friendly that it's a pleasant place to perch on a stool and get a little messy with bulgogi tacos that ooze flavor.

Gammeeok

9 W. 32nd St, NY, NY

Rating: 2 - Super Happy
Visits: Often
I don't know why it makes me happy that the old Gahm Mi Oak moved and became Gammeeok except that they added more things to their menu so that M. can go and have her favorite summer soup, mul naengmyun, and I can have my usual soellongtang. Today we were the only non-Korean speaking lunchers in their new second floor space.

Shilla

37 W. 32nd St, NY, NY 10001

Rating: 4 - Just Fine
Visits: Once in a awhile
It's hard not to want cold noodles in our city's current state of heat and humidity. Shilla is a strange sort of place, rather empty with a worn down decor. Their menu is extensive though, Junkip style extensive. Which means M. could satisfy a naengmyun craving and I could have whatever the hell else I could have possibly desired.

Barn Joo

893 Broadway, NY, NY 10010

Rating: 3 - Feeling Good
Visit #: 4
In brief: The hot stone bibimbap is still our preferred lunch at Barn Joo. 
We went to Barn Joo last Friday for lunch and were told it would be a 20 minute wait without a reservation, nuttiness! I'm glad we got a table yesterday though. It's probably not the most authentic bibimbap but we like it here.

Izakaya Nomad

13 W. 26th St, NY, NY 10010

Rating: 5 - Disappointed
Visit #: 2
In brief: The food itself is fine, pretty good even, a welcome lunch spot in the neighborhood. But the service was still pretty frustrating, despite it not suffering from last time's catastrophe.

Last time, aside from the spotty service, they ran out of rice. We knew that couldn't happen twice and we were happy to have an asian eatery in the area so off we went. Luckily they were not out of rice this time, but still they were understaffed, and the servers that were there, well they just don't seem that experienced. We got apologized to, practically with each time they came to serve us, and I don't think that's a good thing. When I, Miss Patience with a capital P had to go to the server station myself to go ask for tonkatsu sauce (which I knew came with the dish) so that I could start eating my food while it was warm, you know it's pretty bad. Unless they improve their staff, it will remain to be the kind of place that you will have to just prepare yourself to be frustrated when you go.

Croissant Donut from Paris Baguette

6 West 32nd Street, New York, NY 10001

Rating: C - Average
In brief: It is amazing how many imposter versions of the Cronut can be found in this world! They sell it in the 7Eleven in Taiwan! Since the basic concept of this pastry is so tasty, I'm sure there are some good ones out there. This one could have been pretty good, but it was soo greasy, like I don't know how you could make a fried pastry so greasy (no draining?) greasy. So on that front, it failed.

Kunjip

32 West 32nd Street, New York, NY 10001

Rating: 4 - Just Fine
Visit #: 6
In brief: Welcome back Kunjip! We were super happy to find the new location open and bustling with customers.

But as for the food, I think we were underwhelmed. The banchan selection is always pretty spot on and plentiful but never too much. The hot stone bibimbap which disappointed us last visit, continued to, so we won't be ordering that again. Last time we thought it was a fluke but this time too it was bland in the exact same way, so it's the way it is. The gochujang certainly adds depth to the dish, but it doesn't add flavor in it of itself. The seafood pajeong was also just okay, the one at BCD was far superior. It's not like we are going to stop going there though - we will just have to adjust our ordering. Personally, I can't wait until it gets warmer so I can order the nang myun.

KoFoo

67 W. 23rd St, NY, NY 10010

Rating: 3 - Feeling Good
Visit #: 5
In brief: The bibimbap is consistently good at this little cramped joint in the back of a deli.

With Koreatown nearby, but not quite nearby enough, and the lack of Asian food options (at least compared to our last office near Chinatown) this place is one of our saviors. It's really unfortunate that it's not a proper restaurant, the atmosphere is less than desirable and lends itself to takeout.
I can't say for everything on their menu, but their bibimbap is way above average and keeps us happy.

BCD Tofu

17 W. 32nd St, NY, NY 10001

Rating: 3 - Feeling Good
Visit #: 3
In brief: Don't even try and go to BCD Tofu unless you are willing to eat alot of food. 
We really have no idea how the Koreans do it. The table was sagging with the weight of the ban chan, not to mention the lunch special of a plate of bulgogi and tofu stew and the extra seafood pajeon we ordered because we felt too cheap sharing one lunch special. Is it possible Koreans eat like this at every meal? The seafood pajeon is very nice but the kimchi a little too sweet and the pieces are big. Which is ok if you like big pieces of kimchi but we find it less pleasurable than the more mouth size pieces. On related news, but not really, the ever bustling Kunjip was closed. They are relocating, apparently, down the block.

Han Bat Delivery

53 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10016

Rating: 3 - Feeling Good
Visit #: 3
In brief: We were in a time crunch today, and with Seamless delivery, we realized thar being close-ish to Koreatown is a real advantage!

With the sudden and tragic closing of one of our favorite Korean restaurants, we weren't sure where to satisfy our craving for sul long tang. I saw someone post on Facebook that Han Bat was the place, and they weren't wrong! It's very very similar to Gahm Mi Oak's, similar enough that we won't really have to miss it, though their kimchi was as much the draw for me. I will forever miss that. RIP

Hanjan

36 W 26th St, NY, NY 10010

Rating: 3 - Feeling Good
Visit #: 2
In brief: M. craves noodle soups of all sorts these days, must be the wintery snowy days. 
The first time we went to newly opened Hanjan, it was pretty packed and we were turned away for lack of reservations. The second time we just squeezed into the one available table. This time it was the afternoon of the pending snow storm that turned bust. The city was already quieting down though. M. ordered herself a hot bowl of chicken duk mandu guk and I had an equally hot, and tasty, bimbimbap.

Barn Joo

893 Broadway, NY, NY 10010

Rating: 3 - Feeling Good
Visit #: 3
In brief: Barn Joo moves up in our happiness scale because today we finally figured out that the hot stone bi bim bap is the dish to order. 
It's a nice lunch size portion stuffed with lots of bulgogi, a sunny side up egg and tons of veggies. There was a satisfying crunch today to the rice and I like the little ban chan of kimchi and minature salted anchovies. Paired with a yuzu lemonade that we shared, I have a feeling we'll be going back to Barn Joo for this dish again.

Barn Joo

893 Broadway, NY, NY 10010

Rating: 4 - Just Fine
Visit #: 2
In brief: A better experience at Barn Joo than our first try. It helps that the lunch menu is priced a little more reasonably. 
We split chicken wings and tacos. They were fine. Not good enough to satisfy a true Korean craving, but certainly a nice, and different, option to have in the neighborhood. Next time we might try the sliders, as noted from an initial visit, or the bi bim bap as everyone seemed to be eating today. Oh and the yuzu lemonade that came with our taco lunch special was suuuuper good. Definitely ordering that again.

KoFoo

67 W. 23rd St, NY, NY 10010

Rating: 4 - Just Fine
Visit #: 4
In brief: The normal hectic of KoFoo was compounded by some bad timing on our part. An enormous takeout order was going out as we arrive so it took forever for the food and they forgot the tofu on M's dish.

On the other hand, the bibimbap was really good today. But not enough to like dining in-house there. There is too much jostling and crowdedness to properly enjoy a meal. We're going to have to resort to take out like everyone else.

Gahm Mi Oak

43 W. 32nd St, NY, NY 10001

Rating: 2 - Super Happy
Visit #: 15
In brief: Yes to Gahm Mi Oak.

We'd been trying to go have a happiness lunch of sul loeng tang and kimchi at Gahm Mi Oak for a couple weeks now and kept getting thwarted. The soup was saltier than normal, which is to say it's normally never salty. Which means when we both self served the same amount of salt we always put in, the broth ended up on the too salty side. Still left in a happier mood than when we started though.

Madison Sq Eats

24th St and 5th Ave, NY, NY 10010

Rating: 4 - Just Fine
Visit #: 1
In brief: I got the beef bulgogi bibimbap, which was perfectly fine but I should have listened to my instinctual craving for chicken wings.

I'll say it's because it was late and I had been cranking away on all morning so when I finally looked up, it was already 2pm and I was hungry. It was actually the rice that ruined this dish for me. It just wasn't correctly cooked and I could taste that in every bite.