Food Gallery 32
Robert Sietsema ate about thirty dishes here across three visits for The Village Voice. He put a bubbling stone pot of kimchee, pork and fresh tofu first.3
Why go
Time Out counted two hundred seats and seven stalls when the hall opened in 2011. The cooking ran Korean, teppanyaki, Taiwanese and Chinese.4 Every counter in here is its own restaurant, and KTM Group runs the building.1
Sietsema's five picks are from 2012, and I have not been able to confirm which of his counters are still in the building.3
Order this / avoid
- Order: the tofu chigae, if a counter here is still making it. Sietsema ranked it first of everything he ate in the building.3
- Order: the jja jang myun, hand-pulled noodles under black bean sauce with pork. Caramelized onions do the sweetening, and it comes as a set with pan chan and miso soup.3
- Avoid: committing to the first counter you see. Walk all three floors first.1
What locals & experts say
- Robert Sietsema, in The Village Voice, on what this building is:
a Korean food court on 32nd Street where there's plenty of dramatic seating - and dramatically cheap prices to match.
3 - KTM Group NYC, on the point of running a hall at all:
Grab some Korean noodles, Chinese bubble tea, and Spanish churros all in the same place!
1
Good to know
- Getting in: you order at the counters and carry it to a table. Nothing here books.3
- Where: 11 West 32nd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, in Koreatown.4
Verdict
could-visit — This is a lunch building and it rewards indecision. Eat at two counters and call it one meal.