Midtown Lunch

Korean food kiosk Koki & Vegi has been going strong for a couple of years, serving office workers and tourists alike at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge.

 Apparently we haven’t visited Koki & Vegi since 2011, so I walked over on a nice day to see if they’d made any changes to the menu. It turns out they have – adding fruit juices and smoothies along with teriyaki chicken and a hot dog that appears to be topped with bulgogi.

Since I’d previously focused on the beefy items, I went for the spicy chicken on this visit and it did not disappoint.

In addition to the bulgogi-topped hot dog for $3.50, they’ve also added kimchi fried rice, chicken skewers and spicy ramen and did away with the seafood and kimchi pancakes.

The spicy chicken ($7.99) is cooked to order and comes atop a reasonable amount of white sticky rice and alongside some raw cabbage drizzled with a sauce that basically turns it into coleslaw. You also get two orange slices to make you feel healthy after you eat the pile of somewhat greasy chicken.

The chicken is reminiscent of what you’d get from a street meat cart – hacked pieces of dark meat chicken cooked on a flat top with Korean chili paste coating every inch of it. It’s interspersed with onion and carrot slices and packs some heat.

You may balk at paying $8 and some change for what is essentially chicken over rice, but I though it was of higher quality than you’d find at any street cart, had better rice, and comes with orange slices to boot.

Koki & Vegi Kiosk, south side of 1 Centre St.