Restaurant reviews 1: Hangawi
If you are vegetarian and like Korean food, you can do no better than to visit the Hangawi restaurant in New York's Little Korea. A calm, serene place - a veritable shrine to tea with wooden display cases full of teapots and tea cups. They ask you to take off your shoes so that you can sink into the sunken tables (made to look like you are sitting on the floor but really you are seated at the table). The waiting staff are all in neutral coloured Korean-style clothing and the candles at each table are inscribed with Buddhist texts in Chinese. (This was noticed by my friend - the only one in the party who can read Chinese). We were all mightily impressed that we were getting peace and serenity from the burning candle.
We ordered stuffed shitaki mushrooms, spicy tofu clay pot with ginger, avocado bilbimbap (a summer special) and a fragrant bamboo rice with mountain roots. The bamboo rice took a hour and was steamed inside a real bamboo stalk with peanuts, jujubes and pine nuts. The flavor was very subtle although I didn't detect any flavor the bamboo imparted on the rice. The avocado bilbimbap came with a sweet red miso paste dressing which was excellent. The claypot was fairly spicy but you could still taste the ginger. There was the requisite kimchi - spicy type and also a non-spicy type which was simply marinated in garlic and ginger. The only disappointment was the mushrooms. Although beautifully presented, there were only four mushrooms on the plate. You could not taste the onions or the other vegetables that was the stuffing and for US$10, it was not exactly value for money.
A beautiful place with tasty and delicious food presented ceremoniously - an oasis of calm in New York City. Total bill came to US$100 for 3 people. Visit their website at www.hangawirestaurant.com
We ordered stuffed shitaki mushrooms, spicy tofu clay pot with ginger, avocado bilbimbap (a summer special) and a fragrant bamboo rice with mountain roots. The bamboo rice took a hour and was steamed inside a real bamboo stalk with peanuts, jujubes and pine nuts. The flavor was very subtle although I didn't detect any flavor the bamboo imparted on the rice. The avocado bilbimbap came with a sweet red miso paste dressing which was excellent. The claypot was fairly spicy but you could still taste the ginger. There was the requisite kimchi - spicy type and also a non-spicy type which was simply marinated in garlic and ginger. The only disappointment was the mushrooms. Although beautifully presented, there were only four mushrooms on the plate. You could not taste the onions or the other vegetables that was the stuffing and for US$10, it was not exactly value for money.
A beautiful place with tasty and delicious food presented ceremoniously - an oasis of calm in New York City. Total bill came to US$100 for 3 people. Visit their website at www.hangawirestaurant.com
Comments