Seoul Garden

With BCD on hiatus (I hear they are re-opening by the end of this year yay!), this little piggy still needs to get her tofu fix.  What better place than taking this opportunity to revisit Seoul Garden, the KTown fav spot from my early NYU days!

Seoul Garden is on the South side of 32nd street (closer to Broadway) but since it's on the 2nd floor there is no storefront.  I can never seem to remember which entrance is theirs so your best bet is to keep your eyes peeled for their sign and look for the nearest door leading up.  

Look for their sign and head on up to the 2nd floor! (pic from yelp)

After being seated, I'm not sure why I even bother with a menu.  I'm here for one thing only - their soondubu and kalbi combo (listed on their menu as the "tofu soup + beef short rib")!  I'm pretty sure Seoul Garden is the only restaurant in KTown to offer this combo for dinner and yes, after all these years, it's still available!  And it looks like I'm not the only one to favor this option as there is a big "HIT" sticker highlighting this on their menu...

How can you not go with the "Hit"...

After ordering, the banchan (side dishes that come complementary with your meal) are quickly brought to the table and even more quickly cleared by yours truly.  Nothing special about these items (no potato item?  no steamed egg?  ehhh I'll take what I can get) but it didn't stop me from going to town on them.

Simple banchan

Very soon after, our tofu and kalbi arrived!  I was so excited to be reliving an old college favorite and quickly dug in!  But sadly, it just wasn't as good as I remembered.  The tofu was slightly watery and the quality of the kalbi meat was meh.  Definitely greasy and the onions which are suppose to continue to cook on the plate were pretty much raw. 

My tofu and kalbi combo

Although this meal didn't exactly hit the spot that it used to, my recent desperation for soondubu and the lack of decent options obviously didn't stop me from clearing everything in front of me.  The nostalgia for my college days also managed to conjure up my freshman year appetite ha

For now, we make due with what we have.  Until BCD makes it's return, Seoul Garden will just have to suffice.

Piggys says eh...

Seoul Garden
34 w 32nd St - 2nd fl (btwn 5th Ave and Broadway) 
212-736-9002

Thanks for reading - Piggy KK