Midtown Lunch » Shilla

Lunch’er “Olivia” Reports: Shilla is Great When It’s Free

Zach Brooks — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 14:30:18 +0000

Back in May we were offered a free “blogger” tasting dinner at Shilla, to try out their new dinner menu. Instead of keeping for ourselves (which would be wrong), we gave it away to you guys in a contest. The lucky winner was Lunch’er “Olivia”, and today she sent us a report. It’s dinner, not lunch, and obviously the food was free (free always tastes better, right?) But we figured we’d post it anyway. First, because she took the time to do it. And second, to show that it really does pay to read Midtown Lunch!

Thanks to Midtownlunch’s May 18th contest, I am able to bring to you my first ever food review. Shilla Korean Barbecue House is located in the middle of K-Town, otherwise known as 32nd Street. The restaurant has three floors, and we were invited to eat on the third floor. We started off with the complimentary side dishes typically served in a Korean BBQ Restaurant – Kim Chee, Potato Salad, Egg food omelette, etc.

Our first appetizer was a seafood scallion pancake or HaeMool PaJon ((S) $10.95). The seafood scallion pancake here was one of the better pancakes I’ve eaten at a Korean restaurant and especially enjoyed its chewy texture.

We were also served vegetable dumplings, which were good but nothing memorable.

Our first entrée was Soon Tofu Jjigae (Spicy soft tofu stew with seafood) – solid, but again nothing special.

Next came the Bi Bim Bap (Mixed vegetables over rice w/ beef & egg). I would probably pass on this particular dish if I were to eat here again. It was not terrible, but it tasted as if it was lacking a key flavor or ingredient.

The entrée that was most memorable was the Kalbi (Marinated Short Ribs). The well seasoned short ribs were cooked on the table in front of you and served with Korean bbq sauce, rice and lettuce upon request. You can either eat the tender and flavorful Kalbi by itself or wrapped with rice in lettuce.

We were not offered any dessert, though to be honest, I’ve never had dessert at a Korean restaurant before. Maybe Korean restaurants do not serve dessert ? All in all, Shilla is a solid place. The service was excellent (though we were invited by Shilla thru midtownlunch.com, so …) and dinner prices seemed quite standard. Most of the food was good, but nothing memorable. If I were to return to Shilla, I would definitely stick to ordering the seafood scallion pancake and the Kalbi.

Shilla Korean Barbecue House, 37 West 32nd Street. (btw. B’way+5th)

Win a Tasting Menu For Two at Shilla

Zach Brooks — Tue, 18 May 2010 14:45:30 +0000

Shilla, the Korean restaurant on 32nd btw. B’way+5th that has been known to offer $5 and $6 take out lunch specials, has been doing a little PR lately… inviting bloggers to come sample food for free so they’ll write about it. Their sit down lunch specials are $9.95-$14.95 and include kimchi jjigae, gop dol (a dolsot bi bim bap sounding kind of thing shown on the left), plus a galbi box for $11.95. As good as it looks- we here at ML don’t accept special free meals from the places we write about, but we’ll gladly give the free food to you! Shilla has agreed to let us give away the free tasting menu to one lucky Midtown Lunch’er and a guest. Just comment below and let us know why you should be the one, and you’re entered to win. Contest ends on Friday at 5pm. Good luck!

Photo courtesy of Ultraclay

Your First Look at Shilla’s $6 Lunch Special

Zach Brooks — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:15:59 +0000

Photo courtesy of Food in Mouth

Danny from Food in Mouth hit up Shilla (on 32nd btw. 5+B’way) last week, and was nice enough to report back. They are still running their lunch special, where $6 gets you a different soup or stew each day- plus a ton of banchan (the little dishes you get at the beginning of a Korean meal.) For take out they charge you $1 more. Here’s the daily lineup:

Mon – Kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew)
Tues – Sul lu Tang (beef knuckle soup)
Wed – Dwenjang jjigae (Korean bean paste stew)
Thur – Soon doo boo jjigae (spicy soft tofu soup)
Fri – Haejang guk (tradition Korean beef soup)

Danny went on Thursday, and got the Soon doo boo. You can check out his report here>>

Shilla Offers $5 May Lunch Special… If You Can Read Korean

Zach Brooks — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:00:42 +0000

Photos uploaded to the Midtown Lunch Flickr Pool by Pabo76

I guess TGI Friday’s isn’t the only one following Subway into the $5 lunch game. Midtown Lunch flickr friend Pabo76 just posted about the new $5 lunch special being offered through the end of May at Shilla (on 32nd btw. B’way+5th). Unfortunately, the special menu is only in Korean- so you may want to check out his post, which translates the whole thing (and includes photos.) The stews and soups being offered don’t look gigantic, but banchan is included for your $5- so it sounds like a good amount of food for the price (and looks pretty damn tasty.) [The Pabo Page]