Okdongsik Reviews

Lunch at Okdongsik has only two dishes: Dweji Gomtang and Kimchi Mandoo. The first is a pork bone rice soup with pieces of pork inside. This soup is from Southern Korea. Kimchi Mandoo is a dumpling filled with kimchi. Both dishes were new to me although I have eaten kimchi. The restaurant is long and compact. Bar stools are facing a counter with hooks underneath for bags. Behind the stools are hooks and hangers for coats and larger bags. Beck and Jay, the two line cooks, were serving. Each place setting has a tiny plate with kimchi and another of the sharp pepper paste. When the soup was put in front of me I was told not to add the paste into it but to pick up the meat and smear some paste onto it and then eat it. The broth was full of flavor and the meat tender and silky. The mandoo was plump and had lots of kimchi in it and in my case a tendency to break apart. The spacious well stocked restroom is in the back in what is George Bang Bang, a speakeasy starting at 6 pm. Reservations are a must in Resy as walk-ins cannot just get a table. Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

The pros: efficient dinner; the soup has a nice flavor (robust without being overpowering); the kimchi is good. The mid: the mandoo is fine and didn’t make a particularly strong impression The pause: two soups and one order of mandoo cost $61

For a place to only serve one dish and one appetizer means it better be good. And yes, it was. The appetizer is the kimchi mandoo which is full of flavors and highly recommended. The dweji-gomtang is a soup with savory pork and rice. While I liked it, others may see it as a bit bland as the flavors are very subtle. I also liked how the chef would first poach the pork in hot water to warm it, then add the broth which was at a cooler temperature to make the soup ready for immediate consumption. Overall, worth a visit, if just for the mandoo!