{"id":206465,"date":"2026-04-22T21:04:52","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T21:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/206465\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T21:04:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T21:04:52","slug":"korean-flavors-reimagined-in-manhattan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/206465\/","title":{"rendered":"Korean flavors reimagined in Manhattan"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Moon Jung-hoon
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\nThe author is a professor of agricultural economics and rural development at Seoul National University and director of the Food Business Lab.
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I recently visited a Korean restaurant in the East Village, an artsy district in Manhattan, New York. It was just past 5:30 p.m., yet the restaurant was already full. Without a reservation, we would have had to wait outside in the biting winter wind. As we settled into a table, it became clear that we were the only customers who appeared to be Korean.
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\"Korean-style <\/p>\n

Korean-style fried chicken served at a restaurant in Manhattan, New York [MOON JUNG-HOON]<\/p>\n

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On the table were chopsticks, and water was served in a plastic bottle featuring the familiar toad logo often used in Korea as a promotional mascot by soju companies. Curious to observe how the staff would respond, we ordered beer along with soju. Soon, a New York craft beer arrived with the soju, and the server explained Korea\u2019s \u201csomaek\u201d drinking culture, a mixture of beer and soju commonly consumed in Korea. Following the instructions, we mixed the craft beer with soju just as he described. Drinking somaek in New York, guided by a server who did not appear to be Korean, felt novel. Korean dining culture, and even drinking culture, is now shaping trends in the middle of Manhattan.
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We ordered Korean fried chicken and
\ntteokbokki (spicy rice cakes). The chicken served in this New York restaurant resembled
\ndakgangjeong, Korea\u2019s sweet and savory fried chicken, more than the crispy style typically expected. On closer inspection, its form was unusual. In Korea, fried chicken is usually coated in sauce at the end but maintains a crisp exterior. Here, however, the chicken was stir-fried longer in a wok, allowing the sauce to soak fully into the batter, resulting in a moist texture similar to General Tso\u2019s Chicken, a well-known American Chinese dish. Aside from the sauce, which had a
\ngochujang (chili paste) base, the dish could easily be mistaken for American Chinese cuisine.
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\n Yet a distinct Korean touch appeared in an unexpected way. Cubes of white, tangy pickled radish, commonly served alongside fried chicken in Korea, were placed on top of the chicken rather than on the side. The combination was striking: cold, crisp radish layered over warm chicken. In Korea, chicken and radish are typically served separately, but in this context, the pairing created a new contrast. The radish, rather than the batter, provided the crunch. Without preconceived rules, the idea simply worked.
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The tteokbokki offered another reinterpretation. The rice cakes were stir-fried in oil and topped generously with panko breadcrumbs to add crispness. The oil allowed the panko to adhere, giving the impression of a fried exterior while remaining soft inside. The sauce was even more notable. Cooked with minced meat, it resembled a ragu used in Italian pasta. Grated Parmesan cheese on top conveyed a message: Tteokbokki can be understood as a kind of Korean pasta. What looked like black olives turned out to be soy sauce\u2013pickled jalape\u00f1os, adding a sharp accent to the dish. The combination of tteokbokki and pickles posed a simple question: Why not?
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\"Tteokbokki <\/p>\n

Tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) served at a restaurant in Manhattan, New York [MOON JUNG-HOON]<\/p>\n

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In Italy, the birthplace of pizza, toppings such as potatoes or sweet potatoes are almost impermissible. Yet in Korea, where fewer rigid conventions exist, such variations have become popular menu items. When culinary practices become deeply institutionalized, it becomes harder to imagine breaking them. In places without such constraints, reinterpretation happens more freely and often leads to new forms of creativity.
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Are these altered versions of Korean chicken and tteokbokki in New York incorrect? The more relevant question may be different. Rather than insisting on fixed forms, Korea\u2019s role could be to provide high-quality ingredients that allow others to experiment more freely. Through such reinterpretations, Korean cuisine can evolve beyond its original boundaries, becoming more diverse and dynamic in the global market. <\/p>\n

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moon Jung-hoon \u00a0 The author is a professor of agricultural economics and rural development at Seoul National University…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-206465","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manhattan","8":"tag-manhattan","9":"tag-manhattan-headlines","10":"tag-manhattan-news","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}