At Global Kitchen, Come for the Bibimbap and Stay for the Miso Soup

Global Kitchen exterior

If there was a guide to opening a generic deli in midtown, it would prescribe DIY salads, mediocre pizzas, predictable sandwiches, wan udon noodle soups, unnerving sushi, perhaps a by-the-lb buffet. The name should riff on variations of café, kitchen, market, fresh this and global that. It might also advise serving Korean food that’s practically decent, like Café Duke (on 51st btw. 6+7th), or a middling bowl of bibimbap, like the version found at Global Kitchen.

Global Kitchen bibimbap

To be fair, the bibimbap ($8.50) at Global Kitchen was no less fresh, crunchy, and spicy than the version found a few blocks over at Café Duke. But the application of crumbled beef was stingier, the rice a bit drier, and the overall portion size a bit more frugal. But Global Kitchen also includes a generous bowl of borderline fantastic miso soup, which as lunch’er Ceh pointed out, uses fresh, non-dehydrated chunks of tofu, briny seaweed, and crunchy chopped scallions. I’ll probably stick with Café Duke or Pro Hot Korean for my bibimbap fix, but if an endorsement by Ed Koch is any indication, there’s probably something else worth trying at Global Kitchen.

Global Kitchen, 1290 Avenue of the Americas (on 51st btw. 6+7th), 212-581-3200

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