Thursday Kitchen
| Cuisine | Korean |
|---|---|
| Price | $$$ (31-50) |
| Rating | 6/10 |
| Last Visit | June 2, 2019 |
| Location | New York: East Village |
General Notes
A unique and eclectic restaurant tucked away in East Village. Thursday Kitchen is nominally a Korean restaurant, but it draws influences from many other cuisines, especially Spanish and French cuisines. Kind of a "Korean tapas bar" - they offer a variety of small plates. The food is really unique and uses a lot of interesting flavor/texture combinations. This restaurant is extremely popular with lines frequently stretching out the door, but I would definitely recommend giving this place a try!
Positives
> The food is prepared with a lot of precision. I made the unfortunate mistake of ordering a few dishes that I most likely would not have liked (particularly the kimchi paella), but I could tell from the way the dishes were presented and the taste. Flavors are really on point.
> They have some of the more innovative food I've had. The texture and flavor combinations are very interesting and will likely not quite be like anything you've had in the past.
> On a somewhat related note (this is not really a positive or anything), I went here by myself, so I had the opportunity to sit at the bar, which had a direct view of the kitchen. It was a really cool experience to see how the kitchen operated. There was one chef at the front counter directing traffic, inspecting dishes, and calling servers over when dishes were ready.
> Like most tapas restaurants, food comes as they are prepared and ready. It feels like you're constantly sampling different things. Having looked into the kitchen, I know that the line cooks prepare one dish at a time individually, as many portions as are necessary.
> The food is actually pretty reasonably priced, usually hovering around $10-15 per dish.
Negatives
> The restaurant is extremely popular and can get very busy. Expect to wait for a seat, even if you come at off-peak hours. Thankfully, as a party of 1 it was very easy for me to get a seat at the bar. The fact that it is very busy also means that the service can be somewhat spotty at times.
> The servers will likely recommend that you get around two plates per person. This is probably reasonable advice if you're ordering mostly starchy or meat dishes, but if you're ordering a nontrivial number of vegetable or seafood dishes, I would recommend closer to three per person. The vegetable/seafood dishes are significantly smaller and less filling.
> Some of the flavor combinations are pretty strange. The kimchi paella in particular felt like a combination of a lot of incompatible components.
> They do not accept reservations, so you will need to wait for a spot in line.
Dishes Tasted
- ★☆☆☆ Kimchi Paella -- White tiger shrimp, mussel, saffron, caramelized kimchi, parmigiano. The composition of this dish is a little weird. The dish doesn't feel well-integrated. The flavor and texture resembled more of a risotto than a paella. Shrimp and mussels were a little bland and doesn't pair well with the heavy cheese. I inherently don't like kimchi that much, but this in this dish in particular, the kimchi felt especially inharmonious.
- ★★★☆ Lucky Noodle -- Hand-torn flat noodle, minced beef, lime-yogurt, cilantro, fennel. The texture of the noodle is excellent, and the flavor combination of the noodles, beef, chili oil, and lime-yogurt is incredible. Unfortunately, in my opinion it was a bit too heavy-handed on the cilantro and fennel, which overpowered the dish somewhat.
- ★★★★ Korean Popcorn Chicken -- Sweet & spicy sauce, black sesame crumble. The flavor of this chicken was incredible. It truly hit all the flavor notes - sweet, spicy, sour, savory. The chicken was nice and tender. My only (very minor) complaint is that the breading be slightly thinner.
Kimchi Paella
Lucky Noodle
