Korea: Dinner at Shilla via Midtown, Manhattan

Shilla Korean restaurant near Herald Square, Midtown Manhattan 

Subway: Herald Square, 34th St. 

Location: 37 W 32nd St., NYC 10001 (212) 967-1880

As Short is Korean, you knew we couldn’t go much longer without visiting Koreatown. Koreatown in New York is concentrated around Herald Square in midtown Manhattan. Restaurant row can be found on 32nd St. between Fifth Ave. and Broadway. This block was even recently named, “Korea Way”.

As a rule, Short can’t go without Korean food for much more than a few days. After that, she starts to foam at the mouth and wander the streets late at night, howling, “Kimchi…” at the moon.

Once, while visiting Bald’s hometown in Australia, Short went for two weeks without kimchi. On the last night, Bald found her in his mother’s vegetable patch, sleeping on a small pile of radish. We raced her to a Korean restaurant in Sydney just in time…!

In contrast, despite being Australian, Bald is quite capable of going for several weeks without eating grilled koala, and he can even last several hours without guzzling a six-pack of Fosters and screaming “Aussie, Aussie! Oy! Oy! Oy!” to “every bloody drongo who passes by.” (”Aussie, Aussie, Oy! Oy! Oy!” is the Australian national anthem. It was written by some other bloody drongo.)

New York’s first Koreatown developed in midtown Manhattan. With its narrow canyon of neon signs and Korean lettering, this block actually looks a lot like some streets in Seoul. The largest Korean center in New York is now found in Flushing, Queens, so the Manhattan Koreatown has become mainly a retail, restaurant area with only a small residential population.  

On this street, you can find a lot of restaurants (some 24 hours), a bookstore, hair and nail salons, spas, a grocery store, internet cafes, hotels, banks and plenty of bars and karaoke joints. This block rocks day and night and is especially fun during the World Cup if Korea is playing well. 

BALD: “Be the Reds! I even bought the T-shirt! “

Shilla is one of our favorite Korean restaurants on 32nd street because they have great barbeque and their whole menu is consistently of a high standard. 

Shilla has three main seating areas on two floors. We came early this day, so we had this area to ourselves. The decor is simple and clean and as you can see, they have heavy-duty exhaust fans above each table to suck up the smoke when you’re having barbeque. 

SHORT: “In some restaurants, the exhaust fans don’t work so well and you walk out smelling like a burnt pig.”

BALD: “Mmm. I’m wearing ‘Burnt Pig Number 7.’ In other restaurants, the exhaust fans work too well and they suck the hair right off your head. Trust me, I’m speaking from experience!”

As soon as you finish ordering, most Korean restaurants bring you an assortment of free side dishes. It’s called “Banchan.”  The number and type of banchan varies greatly from restaurant to restaurant, but you can bet your bottom dollar they will always bring you at least one variety of Kimchi (kimchee). As you can see at Shilla, we got 9 dishes, with 2 types of kimchi!

Down right  is Cabbage Kimchi (spicy, sour), on the left is Radish Pickle (sweet and sour) and right of that is Radish Kimchi (spicy, sour and a bit sweet and crunchy) which is called Kaktugi (Kkakdooki or Ggakdugi). 

Down right is a dark bean cooked in soy sauce and sweet syrup with sesame (chewy with nutty flavor). Above that is apple / potato salad in mayonnaise. To the right of that are mini-Kimchi pancakes (mildly spicy and served cold.)

Down right is Kketnip. This green tangy leaf, from the mint family, is often served fresh as an accompaniment to barbequed meat, as you’ll see below. In this banchan version, the kketnip was marinated in vinegar, red pepper and onion. Up left are dried sardines lightly pan fried (you eat the whole fish - it’s crunchy and delicious!) Up right are lightly steamed flowers of broccoli served with a spicy, vinegar sauce, and top center, is the soy, vinegar, sesame dipping sauce for the dish below.

Haemul Pajeon is a classic Korean pancake. It is not a sweet, fluffy dessert but a tasty and savory light snack or first course, made with: batter (flour and eggs), scallions, squid, clams, shrimp, and sometimes even oysters. It always comes with a soy and vinegar dipping sauce. Outside, the pancake is cooked golden crisp, but inside, it’s surprisingly moist. ($10.95) 

SHORT: “When the server brings it to your table, it’s cut into several slices like a pizza, making it a great dish to share with the whole table.”

BALD: “Since when did you ever share food?“

On the left are loose leaves of Mignonette lettuce and on the right is the fresh Kketnip we mentioned above. You use both leaves to wrap up the barbequed pork dish below.

Spicy, marinated Black pork barbeque (Daeji Bulgogi - $21.95). If you order 2 or more servings of any barbeque dish at Shilla, they cook it for you on a small gas grill at your table. 

The pork is thinly sliced loin, marinated in a red-pepper paste (Kochujang or Gochujang) mixed with garlic, rice wine, ground ginger, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil and sometimes pureed pear. 

The dish was served on a hot iron plate and it had a smoky, savory flavor with a gentle sweet, spicy after taste. The meat was very tender and moist.

BALD: “This is one of my favorite Korean dishes. I’ve even learned how to  order it in Korean, “Daeji Bulgogi, ju-se-yo.” Although, at one restaurant, after a couple of sakes, I ordered this and the waiter brought me an umbrella…” 

This is how you eat Daeji Bulgogi (or if you’re drunk, an umbrella.) Take a lettuce (or Kketnip) leaf, add rice, pork and a dollop of the red pepper and bean paste sauce. Chew and swallow!

BALD: “Quickly, before Short steals it out of your mouth!”

This dish is called Bi Bim Naeng Myun ($11.95). Naeng Myun means ”cold noodles” in Korean, and this usually refers to these dark noodles made from arrowroot or buckwheat flour. There are two kinds of Naeng Myun: Mul Naeng Myung, which is an ice-cold, tangy broth loaded with diced cucumber, sliced beef, Asian pear, sesame seed, chopped scallions and topped with half a boiled egg. 

Then there’s this other Naeng Myun, Bi Bim Naeng Myun. It’s also chilled but comes without the icy broth. As both versions are served cold, they are considered to be light, refreshing summer dishes, although they are still many people’s favorite all year round – especially after a big barbeque meal. Bi Bim Naeng Myun has the same additives listed above for Mul Naeng Myun, but instead of the chilled broth, it’s served with a spicy paste made of vinegar, red pepper flakes, garlic, sugar, onion or pear puree, sesame seed and oil. 

SHORT: “Here’s a good quiz for you, Bald. What do you eat first - the noodles or the egg?”

BALD: “Everyone knows the chicken comes first. But to answer your question, you eat the noodles first then have the egg to calm your mouth after all that spicy sauce.”

SHORT: “Good guess, but you’re wrong. You eat the egg whenever you want, silly.”

BALD: “But can you have your egg AND eat it?”

SHORT: “No. But you can have your cake if you go a few doors down.”

Our overall opinion of Shilla: 

1. Great food. We’ve been eating here for a few years and haven’t had a bad meal yet.

2. The barbeque is top-notch, and they have some of the best, most generous servings of banchan around. 

3. Shilla is a bit more expensive than some of the restaurants on 32nd St., but you get what you pay for. 

3. The decor is simple and clean, but, for a romantic occasion, the place can feel a bit loud and communal, especially during the lunch and dinner rush.

For dessert and a cup of tea, we stopped by Koryodang, 31W 32nd St. NYC 10001

As you can see, it’s a stylish, comfortable bakery and cafe with a good variety of Western and Korean pastries and baked goods. With the smart use of glass, white pebbles and indoor “trees”, this is a great place to sit and chat with friends. 

Bald had date tea ($4.99), Short had ginseng tea ($4.99) and we shared an assortment of Mochi ($5.50)

Mochi is a Japanese rice cake made of rice flour and sweet, sticky fillings. The red bean paste you see in this picture, is the most popular. The glutinous rice covering is extremely soft to the touch and has a very delicate chewiness. The different colors you see are made by adding coloring to the rice mix.

BALD: “I’m full. Wanna walk home across the Brooklyn Bridge?”

SHORT: “Let’s go sing some karaoke first.”

BALD: “Are you sure that’s a good idea? You know what happened last time…”

SHORT: “That’s right. We can’t afford to replace all those windows again. Let’s go home.”

BALD: “Got any good ideas of where you wanna go next?”

SHORT: “Yeah, I do. But it’s a secret!”

Got your metrocard passport?