K’OOK

Great find (actually recommended by a friend of a friend) in the East Village. We had actually passed by this restaurant many times before we met up here with a group of friends (five of us total). This is a modern looking, casual Korean spot…
What’s great here is you can order a bunch of apps and a bunch of entrees when you’re with a group (not to mention a bunch of soju) and you’ll be super-​full and super-​happy but the cost will be a fraction of what you would’ve paid if you went out alone.
We had the seafood pancakes (good), fried chicken wings (wonderful), stuffed peppers (good), bulgogi (ehhh), scotch egg (good), BUDAE JJIGAE («Army base stew» absolutely wonderful), and Galbi jjim (absolutely wonderful).
Lots of different kinds of soju and we still only paid like $ 25/​person. Can’t beat it…

This is definitely a cute restaurant. We came here for dinner because of the Unilocal reviews. We ordered the crispy rice egg, wings, and some entrees. Maybe we went on a bad day? Everything we tried was nothing spectacular. The presentation of the crispy rice egg was definitely unique but the taste was just okay, definitely nothing to write home about.
Food: 2 stars /​Service: 4 stars

I’ve been here three to four times and there’s obviously a reason why I keep going back: It’s good and I can never have enough of Korean food. I’ve eaten here for lunch and dinner. For lunch, they have a lunch special menu, where a lot of the usually commonly ordered appetizers are for a bit cheaper (I think).
I always go with a Crispy Rice Egg (Korean scotch egg $ 4 for one). Other things I usually get quite often are the seafood scallion pancakes (Pa Jeon $ 9), Ddukboki (Spicy Rice Cakes $ 9), and Snowky (White Ddukboki $ 8). The Ddukboki is quite spicy for me so usually I like to get the Snowky, the white Ddukboki and it’s not spicy. Just very cheesy and creamy. The crispy rice egg and seafood scallion pancakes are quite cheap for what you’re getting! The egg is basically a deep fried boiled egg ball coated with pork, rice and kimchi served with spicy mayo over some vegetable leaves. Definitely a filling and money’s worth appetizer, and can’t forget the presentation! Looks nice when served with the spicy mayo drizzled on top, but even better when the egg is open and the yolk is a bit runny. The seafood pancakes comes with six pretty big and thick triangle slices and some spicy sauce. Perfectly made and crunchy upon taking first bite and you can chew and see all the seafood in it.
I’ve also tried the Corn Corny Corn (Corn and cheese $ 5), GukBap (beef stew with bean sprouts, beef and clear noodles and it comes with a bowl of rice for $ 12). These are okay. For me the beef stew was a bit lacking in the taste aspect. It came looking all red and spicy, however, it was nothing close to how it looked. I wanted some spiciness to the stew so I took the spicy sauce from the Ddukboki and mixed it with my stew and rice. Perfect! I like their Dak Twigam with fries (K’ook’s own KFC wings 6 pieces $ 10). Their KFC stands for Korean fried chicken. I got the soy garlic today and it was not bad. Not too salty nor oily. They were big pieces too served with a lot of fries and some salad with some preserved radish and ketchup on a big sled/​shovel/​wagon like pan. I couldn’t really settle on what it reminded me of. I’ve had their drinks before, some of which are really strong and makes it hard to drink personally.
Everything is relatively big for its average price. The staff are friendly, attentive and polite. The whole place is filled with silly, witty and funny signs. Their checks/​bills come in a nice treasure chest/​box, which is kind of cute. Would definitely keep coming back.

Been here twice, one for the second time I met my (not yet) boyfriend, and second time last Friday for our 6 month.
The servers are so polite, ambience is calm. I love when they slightly dim the lights at night and light up cute little candles.
Food wise — the crispy egg never disappoints. The first time I came here I had their cold noodles. Maybe I was too full to finish it, but I felt like the more I ate, the more there was on my plate. But the second time I got rice with stuff on top on a skillet, and that was pretty amazing. I love how Koreans always have good appetizers set up in front of you. Their kimchi has a slightly different taste than most places (which I like better actually).
Bathroom is downstairs, but it’s nice and clean so that’s always a plus !

This place is not bad at all! my server was very nice and personable. We were seated right away. the food is OK. Not bad but not the most amazing. I’d return if I were in the area.
The egg that everyone instagrams is pretty good!
The porkbelly was really good
The galbi was OK
The beef dumplings were OK
The best tasting soju is lychee by far. It was the sweetest one!

Went for quick lunch and had glass noodles.
Good variety of vegetables and beef. I found noodles little bit undercooked, but overall tasty.
Decent food but little bit pricey. You could get ar better price in Korea town

Solid 4 stars.
K’OOK is a korean restaurant quietly tucked away below street level in the lower east side between the restaurants of St. Marks Place and Alphabet City.
K’OOK is best known for their scotch eggs, also known as their ‘crispy rice egg’. But their dishes duk boki rice cakes and sweet potato noodles are great as well. Appetizers range typically from $ 4-​$ 9 whereas entrees range around the $ 12-​$ 16 mark. There’s also a large variety of soju offered. You can try the soju sampler for $ 12 and it comes with four different flavors!
It’s important to note that their portions are large enough to be shared between two (if you are on a casual date). You also get side dishes with your entrees like most traditional Korean restaurants do.
They do accept reservations and are typically busy around 6−830pm.

Food is 4 stars but the service is what puts it over. Our server was absolutely fantastic. She accommodated our huge birthday cake and even gave us plates and forks. Theses days is hard enough to bring in a cake into a restaurant in Manhattan but kook didn’t even charge us for it and our server went above and beyond what was required of her to accommodate us.
For the food, the fried egg is great. Stuffed pepper is hot but good. The hot wings were also tasty. All of us got the dynamic bowl and it was pretty good.
I highly recommend coming to this place. Oh, just to note, they no longer have a trading sampler for the tea soju. They only have it for the fruit ones now. I recommend the green apple soju (it reminds me of green apple jelly).

We ordered three appetizers and that was more than enough for the two of us
The crispy rice egg was awesome as well as the snowky. The corny corn corn didn’t fascinate me it tasted like bland corn nothing special
The service was good, atmosphere was cool and cozy. I would defiantly go back to try more food

Been to this place with my friend and I do have to say that they do have many Korean dishes to choose from.
We came around last Friday afternoon and there weren’t a lot of customers so it wasn’t noisy at all.
My friend and I got the Budae Jigae, Corn Corny Corn, Fried chicken (teriyaki sauce), Pa jeon (seafood), and the famous Scotch egg.
Service could’ve been more attentive since it wasn’t that busy. I even had to ask her to refill my water.
Food was just ok. For the Budae Jigae we asked for mild since my friend couldn’t take spicy food. When we tried it it was wayyyyyy to salty. I guess the mount of ham they out in there made it really salty. They only gave one bowl of rice cus of that. I wouldn’t recommend getting it and I rate it 2.5÷5 stars.
Seafood Pa jeon was alright. Only (6 slices) The ones in korean town are a lot bigger and more crispier. It also came with purple sour radishes. ³⁄₅
Chicken wings: we got the Teriyaki sauce and it wasn’t really flavorful. I have read reviews in the past Unilocalers that the chicken wings were immensely bigger than normal. They were right! Next time I would definitely try the soy garlic wings! Although the wings weren’t flavorful, it still made me full and I didn’t want to eat anything else.
The Corny corn corn which everyone says it was good turned out to be alright. 3.5÷5 stars. It just had butter, onions, pepper, and of course itself corn. Taste wise was ok. Don’t really recommend it when you can make it yourself.
We were way to full and we couldn’t finish the scotch egg so we brought it home. My friend said the scotch egg was alright. I bet it wasn’t as crispy as before.
Price came out reasonable, considering the service: it was alright. Like I said the waitress could’ve been more attentive.
I would come back again just to try the other dishes.
Overall: 4.5÷5 for everything. No wifi but, check out their bathroom cus it is really funny xD!

I would probably only come here for their appetizers and drinks. The crispy egg and pork belly was amazing. The main courses weren’t that special. Will definitely come again but just for their appetizers.

I always like to try new things so I thought hey korean food with a modern twist, why not! The food was decent, everything you want on 32^nd street in one restaurant. The crispy egg was pretty good, loved the concept of a scotch egg with rice. I really enjoyed it, perfectly cooked egg with yolk still orange and creamy.
We ordered the chicken wings and the stew with hot dogs and spam. The chicken wings were amazing, crispy on the outside and moist on the inside with the perfect the amount of sweet and spicy sauce coating it. The stew was just OK nothing to rave about.
Overall decent food but not worth the $$.

After getting told the wait was going to be 1.5 hours at Upstate at 8pm, my friend and I quickly scrambled to find a new dinner place so we wouldn’t be starving. Luckily, after a quick look around we found K’ook which was down the street and down some stairs.
Atmosphere & Service (4 stars): At 8:15pm, the restaurant wasn’t too full, and we only had to wait for a bit while the staff cleared a table. By 9pm, the restaurant was packed– even tables that were suppose to sit 2, some were fitting 3 people at them. The duo tables are very, very close together (not like you’re sitting at the same table as the people next to you), but closer than I prefer… conversations can definitely be overheard like it or not. The service is good, you’ll see them once in awhile to fill up your drinks after you get your food.
Tip: Almost every table I saw had the Banchan dishes ($ 3) which are 4 house-​mini korean dishes. My friend doesn’t like spicy stuff, so we chose not to get it.
***Fruit Soju Sampler ($ 12) (5++ stars): Lemon, Green Apple, Lychee, and Yuzu. GET THIS. Oh, if it is one thing that you should try is to get the fruit soju sampler. Yuzu is my ABSOLUTE favorite. I didn’t think these drinks were too strong, and it was a perfect set to split between 2. The lemon tasted like soju and lemonade (and I’m a BIG fan of citrus drinks), the green apple tasted like green jolly rancher, lychee tasted like lychee, but the yuzu (which I now know) was incredibly light, fruity, slightly citrus tasting and perfect.
Fried Scotch Egg ($ 5) (3 stars) Ground beef wrapped around an egg and deep fried: Harsh, I know, especially since every seems to go for this egg (including me). Is it worth the $ 5? Maybe to try once, but would I get it again? Nahhh. The meat was a too bland… if I had some siracha sauce to dip it in or something to kick it up a notch, it probably would have made the dish better, imho. They do drizzle some spicy mayo, but all in all, it was just really «meh».
Dak Twigim ($ 7) (4 – 5 stars) Korean fried chicken wings– Soy & Garlic: This is what drew my friend in. Overall, he loved it so much he would have paid 2x for it. The wings are BIG. Like genetically modified BIG. This aint no buffalo wild wings, you’re in K’ook now. The wings came out piping hot, a huge plus. The skin was cripsy, but not overwhelming covered in batter. Also, the sauce was really good too– overall a popular dish at all tables. I personally loved the pickled dicon in the small flower pot.
Dynamic Stone Bowl ($ 13) (4 stars) Hot Stone Bowl w/​Stir-​fried Homemade Kimchi rice, egg & greens covered in mozzarella– (1) when I got this dish, it was literally ½ spinach. Now, I LOVE spinach so this was a HUGE plus (and surprise) for me. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea. For example, if my friend would have gotten this dish, he would have been miserable. (2) I have never heard of cheese in my bim bim bop… not sure if this flavor combo is quite right. (3) These portions are huge. I don’t know if it was the 2 apps & soju, but I took home half of my dish and some leftover apps.
Overall: 4.5 stars, maybe 5 stars since we left with our stomachs completely stuffed. So. Much. FOOD. All for around $ 55 (not including tip). Completely different atmosphere from another restaurant we ate the prior night where we spent much more and still craving food/​dessert. If you’re in the area, I would highly suggest this place– and get the fruit soju sampler!

While I had missed out on many opportunities to visit K’ook including a Unilocal event, to visit, I found the location to be somewhat out of sight out of mind, in the context of St. Marks. While that in itself wasn’t the only thing keeping me from making the trip over, it nonetheless happened. We happened upon it this time after looking specifically for Korean eats in East Village and made a beeline over and boy we were elated. We give it a 4.9÷5.0!
I’ve read time and time again how fantastic it was, and seen enough pictures to make sure it would be amongst the many places I’d visit. We jumped in less than 45 mins before closing and quickly ordered the scotch egg, ddukbokki, wings, and Hite (beer). Notably, they have the requisite Korean beer and soju choices, if you so choose.
The food came out piping hot, and we just as quickly downed the scotch egg first. The best word I can describe this is «heavenly»… meaty and juicy with a crisp outer edge. A Korean variation of course, with the kimchi, but yummy. (and I don’t normally even like eggs!) The wings, double, if not triple fried were also to-​die-​for. Expectedly crisp yet juicy… it instantly is amongst my favorites for Korean Fried Chicken in the city. Lastly, was the ddukbokki, rice cakes stir fried in veggies, meat and requisite hot sauces, was flavorful though not as memorable as the other small plates. (my advice to them is to add more rice cakes b/​c I love carbs!)
Service is stellar, prompt, yet courteous. They give you space and will stop by when called upon. The pricing is fair, so worthwhile coming back again and again. The location, as I remember it was below grade (ground), and so can easily be missed. It might be why I missed it the last several times. Perhaps better signage at night might help? The seats although sparse, is accommodating for groups of 4 – 6 (not much more), and I’ll bet it’s packed on weeknights through to the weekends.
Either way, this is a place I look forward to returning to check out the dishes I know I missed. Make this one of your stops after a big night out!

A bit disappointed that we didn’t get to try the famous scotch egg when we came there just for it. The waitress explained that the through the one made yesterday out so they don’t have any available. Well, don’t have it on your lunch menu then…
The pork belly wasn’t bad but the soup was just like everywhere else. One thing I liked was the corn cheese as the appetizer. Maybe a bit on the oily side but it was delicious– the corn is sweet and the cheese is completely melted.
We also tried the tea sampler soju. They are in mason jar shots (20%). If you are not a fan of soju, you may not like it, it’s strong and tasted more like cough syrup.

The pictures of the Crispy Rice Egg was what ultimately made me want to come here.
Came here with a couple of friends. You have to walk down the stairs, as it is in the basement area to access this restaurant. When we went inside, there was a big bathroom smell. Not sure if it’s because the space is small and there’s not a lot of circulation of air? However, the décor is very cutesy and sleek looking. They also have these amusing signs on their walls.
For drinks, my friends ordered The Black Dragon and The Little Giant (Not sure why these drinks aren’t on the menu online, but you can find it on the menu at the restaurant). They came in these cute bottles with the name of the drink on tags. They also came with mini mason mugs. I thought it would be good. I mean the décor made it look great. WRONG. They tasted so bad! It’s comparable to cherry cough medicine! My friends had a hard time finishing it. DO NOT GET THESE DRINKS. I mean you’re not even sick, so why would you want to torture yourself with cough medicine?! SAVE YOURSELF.
The banchan that they gave us consists of: Potato Salad, Kimchi (of course), Bean Sprouts and Broccoli. I enjoyed the Potato Salad the most out of all of them.
For appetizers, we ordered the Crisy Rice Egg to share and the Tteokbokki. The Crispy Rice Egg was BOMBBBBB! So good! It was crunchy and everything you ever wanted! (This is what ultimately made this review 3 stars, other than the cutesy décor and service.) As a person that can’t handle spicy food, I cannot comment on the Tteokbokki. My friends said it was pretty spicy.
As a person that could not tolerate spicy options, my options were very limited of course. I opted for the Beef Manduguk ($ 11), which is Dumpling Soup with Scallion, Egg, Seaweed, Sesame Seed and Glass Noodles. It came with a bowl of rice. It was just okay, nothing outstanding. I wish I got a better dish. I would pass on this.
I believe my friend got the Bulgogi Wrap and it was $ 13/​$ 14? It’s not on the menu online. Their menu is a little messed up online right now. It came with lettuce, so you can put the bulgogi there. Also, a cute miniature tea cup with the sauce inside. However, my friend said that they did not give enough lettuce. There was not a good lettuce to bulgogi ratio. However, they gave a lot and I took some to go with my rice! (They give you complimentary rice for soup dishes I think.) I mean my manduguk was pretty sad. Great for those that love spicy food! My friend says that «she REALLY liked it.» So I would recommend that on her account.
My other friend got the Sundubu Jjigae ($ 11), which is Spicy Soft Tofu Soup with Zucchini, Onion and Mushroom. My friend seemed to enjoy it.
Overall, I will only come back here for the Crispy Rice Egg. Personally for me, I would pass on the other things as I cannot tolerate spicy food. However if you can, give this place a try! (Definitely get the Crispy Rice Egg!) You’ll probably like it more than me!

Been here a couple of time for their lunch specials on separate days. The place is located on a lower level with funny puns. I was delighted to see certain quotes and their decorations. It’s cute and has a humorous side to it. I was seated immediately with a smiling staff. She was very attentive and helpful with the menu. All the food was either in a stone pot or a wooden paddle board like dish.
I had the Crispy Rice Egg (scotch eggs), Seafood Pa Jeon (seafood pancake), Dynamite Stone Bowl, Dak Twigim in soy & garlic flavor (fried chicken), Budae Jjigae, and Apple Soju. Everything was tasty and flavorful.
The Cripsy Rice Egg is cooked perfectly. The exterior is so crispy that when I used a fork to grate across or lightly knock on it, you could actually hear how crispy it is. The inside of the egg is still running and the sauce drizzling on top is just perfect.
The Seafood Pa Jeon is crispy, well combined, and fresh. It comes with their own unique sauce to accompany the pancake. It was just delicious.
The Dynamite Stone Bowl was a great hit. It was a layers of flavor that worked really well together. This is by far one of the best stone pots. Every layer gave you a different texture and a different taste. The transition was smooth and it was fun experiencing the taste of every layer.
The Dak Twigim, is another great dish to order. It comes in 6 pieces. I went with the Soy and Garlic flavor and my goodness every chicken wing had a nice glazed and crunchy skin. The chicken meat was super juicy and flavorful. The size of the wings were on the larger side. This is a great dish to share. It came with cubed pink pickled radish on the side. For this dish, you get the sourness from the pickled radish, the soy & garlic from the wings, and some leafy greens to accommodate the chicken.
The Budae Jjigae, aka the army base stone pot, wasn’t as spicy as i was hoping it to be. This dish was alright to me. However, it did come with a lot of sausage and spam.
Highly recommend the Crispy Rice egg, the Pa Jeon, Dynamite Stone Pot, and Dak Twigim.

Finally have the chance to try this place out! This place is a little overhyped. It is not AMAZING, but it is good. They take reservations. My friend and I arrived five to ten minutes after the time we reserved, but our table was still available for us. Cool beans. They do not have that many tables; definitely not meant for big group of people. A group of four is decent.
My friend and I mainly focused on the appetizers and wanted to order everything because they all sounded so good. We ordered the Soft Dwarji (pork belly), Crispy Rice Egg, Pa Jean (seafood pancake), Dak Twigim (fried chicken wings), DolSot (bibimbap), and Soollongtang.
I liked the pork belly and that’s a plus because I usually do not eat pork belly because of all the fat. However, this was not so bad. I ate two pieces and the were very tasty and good :) Must try!
Their crispy rice egg was a disappointment. This was definitely overhyped because it was not that great. I was so excited to try this, but I was definitely let down. I could not finish it so my friend had to take it home.
The seafood pancake was nothing special, but good. I much prefer this over the crispy rice egg. It was small and cut into a nice size. The pancakes were not thick and had a decent amount of seafood.
I would say their fried chicken wings were the best part of my meal. Haha, my friend and I were going to put in another order (one order has six wings), but we were already so full from everything else. It is not the BEST chicken wings, but they were DELICIOUS! Nicely fried and meaty: D
DolSot was typical bibimbap. Soollongtang did not taste good whatsoever. We ordered it because my boyfriend ended up coming and we thought there would not be enough food. The hot sauce for the bibimbap was super spicy, so my friend did not want to put it in. Though, it still tasted pretty good. The soollongtang, some oxtail soup. was. tasteless. Barely even touched it because it was not good.
Overall, the experience was great. The workers were really kind and the service was great :) OH yeah! This place is like in the basement, so if you walk too fast, you might walk right pass it. Therefore, look out for it !

Came here tonight and really liked the ambience and service here. It wasn’t busy at all at 6:30 p.m. and service was fast. I ordered the army stew without reading that it was really spicy, so eating it was a really sweaty experience haha. However, the stew was great and the fish cake was flavorful. There was also a lot of kimchi in it along with some ramen and sausage.
Also tried the crispy rice egg which was very big; we ordered two for a table of 3 and had leftovers. There’s nothing too special in the appetizer aside from rice, pork, and of course, an egg. Very crunchy and filling overall.
We were really full afterward and the waitress came by to check on us after apologizing for not having shown up after taking the order. That was fine for us and we weren’t concerned at all.
Overall: 4/​5, not a ⁵⁄₅ just because I have Korean food all the time so this wasn’t anything too spectacular, but definitely
worth the taste, price, and kind staff.

Saw pictures of the scotch egg all over social media and knew i had to try it!!! I had a friend who came here a week before and was told to not order the entrees as they’re pretty basic and nothing special so I mainly focussed on just getting appetizers!
Crispy scotch egg– yummyyy! I honestly didnt know what to expect but it was good! It wasnt overly crispy and the egg was still a little runny, my fav!
Pork belly– MUSTTT GET. this was probably my fav dish. it was full of flavor and even though salad that came with it was delicious!
soy garlic wings– yum! you get 6 per order. They werent the best fried korean chicken i’ve ever had but were good
scallion pancake– yummyyy but the sauce that came with it were meh. nothing special
corny corn corn– BLEH. dont get it. it was a waste of money and essentially just corn and cheese.
LA galbi– yum! Wasn’t over cooked or burnt as i’ve experienced as other places.
Duk Boki– wasnt good, wasnt bad, not impressive. The rice cakes were cooked perfectly but the flavor wasnt really there for me.
Definitely a place to check out. MAKE SURE TO GET THE PORK BELLY