Gyu-Kaku’s Sizzling Hot Bibimbap is Under $10
I’ve been on the hunt for a quality bulgogi-packed bowl of dolsot (read: sizzling hot) bibimbap in New York since I learned what it was five years ago by eating the Korean rice dish everyday in Australia. (It was cheap/delicious/so hot it hissed/came with bottomless banchan AKA Korean side dishes. I was a student. Cheap, unlimited anything was A+ in my book.) Zach came across a “pretty damn good” non-hot bibimbap at Cafe Amande deli last year, but I’ve been hoping to bump into its “pretty damn good” SIZZLING HOT cousin somewhere in Midtown East (aka outside of Koreatown). For five years, it’s been a fruitless search so imagine my surprise when I noticed a certain $9 lunch special at Gyu-Kaku (on 50th St. btw. 2+3rd) of all places…
More bibimbap after the jump.
Gyu-Kaku’s prices tend to live north of our $10 lunch limit, which is why I haven’t bothered to wander inside. But I was walking by last week and figured I’d confirm my Gyu-Kaku-is-overpriced suspicions by reviewing the menu posted out front. Saw only three lunch specials under $10 (lame!), but one of those looked like bibimbap served in…could it be?…a SIZZLING HOT stone bowl. I had to have it.
The $9 lunch set started off with a mid-size “Gyu-Kaku salad”, which had a more varied and vibrant assortment of shredded veggies than most starter salads served at Asian restaurants. (Why do they offer salad anyway?) I’d barely finished the salad before I heard the telltale hissing of a hot stone bowl headed my direction. It was barely five minutes since I ordered, but whatever. Superquickfast service is a plus.
I eyed my prey and noted the stone bowl was twice as big as the normal-size mound of rice in the middle. This is fine – desired, even – as it eases the mixing process.
I let everything sit in the scorching bowl for a few minutes so the rice on the sides could form a crust. After churning the rice, runny egg, bulgogi (Korean bbq’d beef), and sweet & spicy chili paste in the bowl, I was psyched to finally dig in. The barbecued beef was thinly sliced, but didn’t shrivel up and disappear into the rice, which was greatly appreciated! I want to see meat in the rice even after vigorous mixing, which, turns out is kind-of a tall order in other places I’ve tried in the city. The rice was more moist than expected, but this is an easy issue to remedy – just let the goods hiss and sizzle in the bowl longer to attain that perfect chewy, crunchy rice crust.
For an Asian meat-and-rice lunch, Gyu-Kaku’s bibimbap is pretty damn good. But in terms of delivering the real Korean bibimbap experience, this Japanese chain unsurprisingly falls a little short (aka I want my banchan!) I’ll go back because I’m a sucker for that sweet & spicy hot mixed rice combo, but I’m gonna keep looking for the real deal. I still need to try the version Zach wrote about at Pro Hot Korean (on 56th btw. 5+6th), but they’re closed for another few weeks. Anyone have another dolsot bibimbap with all the fixings recommendation outside of K-Town? Put it in the comments…
Gyu Kaku, 805 3rd Ave., 2nd fl., 212-702-8816
Posted by Amy Cao at 11:45 am, March 31st, 2010 under Gyu Kaku, Japanese, Korean.
18 Comments | RSS comments feed for this post
18 Comments
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Han Bat is technically not K-town since its on 35th and they have great dolsot bibimbap.
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Wrongo, Steve. K-Town is generally acknowledged to be between 31st and 36th Sts, between 5th/6th Aves. Hanbat falls right in there. As a yellow guy, you should know this!
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nope. just 32nd street
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May I be the first to say “who cares!” 35th… 32nd. She’s obviously talking about stuff for people who work in the 50s. Han Bat (while delicious) doesn’t apply.
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i consider k-town to be 32nd and 35th only. 33 & 34 just get in the way of it being adjacent
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I’m not too far from Gyu-Kaku. No banchan? Boo!!
$9 for bimbimbap is a good deal! but not a must-have for me. ;P -
It sounds like a good deal! I would totally go there to eat dolsot bibimbap.
However, can I just say how confused I am by this restaurant? They have “Japanese bbq” which is exactly like Korean bbq except that you have to pay for each ban chan separately, not to mention much more expensive. WACK.
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What? Pay for each banchan separately? Ok, I’m not going to this place willingly then when there are plenty of KOREAN places that will give it to you gratis. LOL.
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You know whats wack, u have to pay for your lettuce wrap at Gyu Kaku in NY.
Gyu Kaku in Japan(Not Tokyo) is totally different, its 20-30(depending on meat quality) dollars all you can eat meats, apps, non alcoholic drinks, and deserts.
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it is expensive, but i’ve been going here frequently since they started their $5 300ml sake bottle special (all freaking day). It is of the unfiltered variety, but still, it’s a good deal.
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woa. please tell me more about this $5 300ml sake bottle special. all day every day??
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Have you tried Korea Palace Barbeque on 54th between Lex and Park? It’s got banchan and all and the food is good, though the price point is a bit higher (Dolsot Bibimbap is $11.95).
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BTW, I propose a new ML Rule that Amy include a new picture of herself with each posting. Just because.
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Creeeeeeepy.
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There’s been a bunch of those since last week. I guess it’s the price to pay for being an attractive food blogger. It’s yall’s burden, it’s yall’s curse.
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Excellent find. Was it filling though?
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Also, was this at a counter or table? Either way, what was the tip situation?
needs more bukkake