I’ve been hearing that this place is packed at night and celebrity chefs like Anthony Bourdain and David Chang eat here. But every time I walk by during lunch, it doesn’t look too crowded. And apparently, this place is a chain restaurant founded by a Korean TV personality …which doesn’t sound like it would be good, but apparently, they use really good ingredients.
It took about five minutes for me to get a table around 1:30pm on a weekday. Around 2pm, there were plenty of empty tables. The menu is the same as the dinner menu, including the prices.
The BBQ is supposedly what you go here for. But since it’s pretty expensive and I’m all by myself, I opted for the $11.99 Beef Brisket Soybean Paste Stew. It came out boiling and pretty tasty once I let it cool down. The Beef in it was just okay though.
My favorite part was the complimentary salad, tofu, pickled radishes and kimchi. That made for a good meal right there. And it came out pretty cheap for me.
There were two small Asian girls next to me that ordered so much food. Three BBQ Meats, a Kimchi Stew, a Lunch Box and I think a few other small things, along with their complimentary banchan. I don’t know how they ate it all. They even asked for more eggs and tofu. I think they must’ve spent around $200 for their meal. And they didn’t even take photos of their food! I don’t understand what was their point if they weren’t going to food blog it. I kept imagining that it was their last meal before they fly off to join ISIS.
Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong – 1 E 32nd St (b/t 5th Ave & Madison Ave) New York, NY 10016
