Jungsik is still worth a stamp in your tasting menu passport - Review - New York - The Infatuation
"A meal at Jungsik starts with banchan. Except instead of kimchi and other little side dishes, the opening course is more like the amuse bouche portion of your meal at a restaurant like Daniel or Le Bernardin. Jungsik was New York’s first Korean tasting menu when it opened in 2011—cast more in the mold of those French white-tablecloth spots than less starchy successors like Atomix, Jua, and Meju. Fourteen years later, a 10-course meal at this Tribeca restaurant is a substantial investment at $295, but it’s still a memorable experience, if a somewhat predictable one. photo credit: Jungsik As long as you look forward to tables set with Champagne flutes, and favor subtlety and precision over bold flavors, a special occasion dinner at Jungsik will run smoothly along a well-oiled groove. Staff wear color-coded blazers to denote whether they’re runners, servers, or sommeliers. They’re at hand when you need them to clear a plate or recommend a wine, and just out of sight when you don’t. Those five bites of banchan start the meal off on a high note. Each shows off the kitchen’s impressive use of techniques to coax out big flavors and textures: shattering pastry encases sweet prawns and smoked trout roe, and an interpretation of joomeokbap—Korean rice balls—compresses all the complex spice and tang of a squid stir-fry into a golf-ball sized, jet-black fritter. photo credit: Jungsik photo credit: Jungsik photo credit: Jungsik Pause Unmute But after a pleasant hwe crudu and a glorious, golden-brown fried octopus leg with gochujang aioli, the menu loses some steam, moving into more formulaic territory. A piece of arctic char has skin that crunches like a potato chip, and buttery flesh, but it doesn't quite jump off the plate like the curried black sea bass at Jungsik's newer, more casual restaurant SEA. The galbi at Jungsik is perfectly cooked, but the rosy interior cries out for a little char. (By contrast, the sriracha ribs at SEA nail that balance.) Still, for a classic fine dining experience that's less roller coaster, more gentle sailing, Jungsik does a great job. And unless you really hankering for some $40 deconstructed kimbap stuffed with truffle rice and garnished with a clothespin at the bar, Jungsik's Signature Menu, with dishes that change seasonally, is still the best way to experience the well-practiced choreography of a meal here. Food Rundown Banchan The banchan are arranged in a series of five one-biters. They start with a pretty standard beef tartare on brioche, and only get stronger from there. Some of the highlights of our meal included a steamed egg with gamtae seaweed and that joomeokbap in fritter form that we’d happily eat like popcorn if we could have more than one. photo credit: Jungsik Octopus The superstar of this tasting menu. It’s presented simply: a tender fried leg of octopus served over a puddle of gochujang aioli. But it goes deeper than that—the aioli is fiery and savory, and the octopus shatters on the surface while being fork tender on the inside. Kimbap We’re generally wary of any dish served to us with a clothespin. Jungsik’s kimbap is the exception that proves that rule—the clothespin only serves to keep your hand free of grease from the delightfully crunchy seaweed around the outside. Plus, the roll is served with three slices of yellowtail and tweezers, letting you pretend that you’re in The Bear for just a few seconds. photo credit: Jungsik" - Will Hartman
