MUSAEK

Impeccable cocktail and seafood bar! The drinks are amazing and smooth. If you like clean and surprising tastes then you’ll love the drinks here. Love the concept and the food is fresh and top notch. The interior design is chic and sets the mood for a great date night or with a group of friends. Try everything on the menu!

What a nice addition to K town! Artfully prepared seafood dishes and creative fun cocktails. Their mussels are so plump and cooked just right, sashimi was all cured well, and hand rolls are rich in flavor yet clean. The quality of the ingredients really shines. A bit dark for dinning, but this place is also a bar. Beautiful setting with sophisticated lightings, yet still comfortably casual. Will visit again definitely.

Downstairs from Dubu House, this a dimly lit bar specializing in seafood. They appear to concentrate pretty heavily on their cocktails and they have a nice happy hour/HH selection with reasonable prices. I went with the Cantaloupe & Boricha for $12 with tequila, Korean barley tea, pandan, lime, soy milk, and yakju which was tasty. It had a nice light sweetness from the tea, a tiny bit of citrus, and a good hint of the nutty tea at the end. The drink was small but it's hard to complain about as it was only $12 as even for happy hour, this is quite cheap. Two other people from the same menu enjoyed the Korean Pear & Gochujang with tequila, Grand Marnier, bergamot, and guava. Both are normally $19 on the main menu and if it's the same size, I wouldn't recommend it as much. To start out with, someone else got the Hwe Muchim for $14 with squid, Jeju fluke, granny smith apple, perilla, sesame, gochujang vinaigrette, and jalapeno-cucumber granita. The portion was good with three oversized pieces topped with large pieces of squid and fluke which she said was pretty tender even for squid with only a bit of chew. They enjoyed it a lot and recommend it though they found it difficult to pick up and it was easier to eat partially with chopsticks at least to begin with before eating the rest. As extra, I got the Mussels from the HH menu for $13 or $14 with steamed B.I. mussel, pickled shallots, and yuzu-seaweed sauce. This came with five high quality mussels where the shells were all on salt which was an interesting but not so good idea as it made picking them up a little bit messy. The mussels were high quality and meaty with a bit of sourness and sweetness from the shallots and sauce. These were good. The rest of us outside of the person ordering the muchim started with the Jeju Fluke Hwe simply listed as the fresh chef's selection of fluke. There are two versions of this dish with one being on the HH menu for I believe $10 less or so with the waiter saying that it was a bit smaller by comparison which makes sense and we got the HH version which I think was in the mid or low $20s while the full size version was I think in the mid $30s or so. The hwe was presented very nicely in a few different styles with two being in a ssam topped with a some spicy crunchy vegetable (I am pretty positive it was finely chopped radish kimchi,) two being wrapped around some crunchy leafy micro greens, and three pieces each of two types of slices with one being slightly thicker with there being 10 pieces overall. The dish also came with two dips including some soy sauce with some peppers in it as well as a perilla oil sauce with some yuzu kosho which was a fun spin. As a texture person, my favorite version by a little bit was the mini ssam as the crunch went nicely with the bit of spice along with the micro green variant. The slices were excellent quality as well though and went nicely with the perilla in particular. This was excellent and I would recommend it heavily. There was also the "Masan" Monkfish Soup for around $20 with 48-hour fortified monkfish bone broth, radish, and red pepper which was light but hearty. The broth was simply flavored with many pieces of thick monkfish. They gave a dipping sauce which had some mustard in it to put the fish in to add some extra flavor which was nice. I think the dish should also come with some rice or something to eat with said soup and wouldn't mind paying a few bucks more if it came with multigrain rice or something similar. It's also perhaps a little bit too plain so maybe kimchi on the side or some other type of banchan would help otherwise. Outside of the more plain flavor, it was good and will be nice when it gets cold in winter. We had a good time here. The food was good quality and reasonable enough for the price point especially for the happy hour stuff. They might concentrate on cocktails but I would stop here again and get some more hwe and possibly try some other dishes. Mid 4 for the spot during HH while a low 4 otherwise

Very pretty bar, you can tell they spent a lot of money doing the renovations. Food was good, but they didn’t have anything substantial. Not sure why there is a dining menu and a bar menu. Weird things on it like soup, which we didn’t get. We wanted to have dinner there but there’s nothing filling on the menu. Drinks sound creative but the ones we had tasted not as creative as it sounds. Good place to bring a date.

I was really excited to try this bar but it was a bit more disappointing than I thought. The cocktails sound good but they weren’t as tasty and unique as I thought. The tomato and kimchi one really did not taste good, in fact one of the worst cocktails I’ve tried to date, and that was one I was looking most forward to. Additionally the music was way too loud. I think the concept is really cool but I think execution was lacking a bit. The atmosphere was nice and it was designed well and very spacious.

The hidden gem in NYC’s Koreatown! This underground bar has such a cool, intimate vibe—it feels like you’ve discovered one of the city’s best-kept secrets. The cocktails are beyond amazing, perfectly balanced every time, and you can tell AJ really knows every classic recipe by heart. Each drink tastes better than the last, and the presentation is always on point. Thank you, AJ, for your incredible craftsmanship and hospitality. This spot has officially become my go-to in the city. Definitely coming back soon!

Having tried Dubuhaus and being surprised by their aesthetic execution, I was compelled to give Musaek a try, which is the speakeasy located within Dubuhaus. It seemed to be a similar concept as Undercote of Cote and Barbam of Rib No. 7. You enter Dubuhaus and make a left, where you see the sign for Musaek. Then you walk down a couple flights of stairs and see this very spacious open area, which was surprisingly louder than I had expected, but not in a displeasing way. It felt like a speakeasy but a very big version of it. We sat down at the bar and ordered four drinks total. I usually like to specify the names of the items I ordered but forgot to take a photo of them, and the cocktail menu is not available online, which I think they should have. I remember we ordered all of the signature cocktails except for the ones that were available for happy hour. Most of them were good. The drink that stood out to me was the Yuzu and seaweed one. I thought it was intriguing, but it leaned more Yuzu than seaweed. It tasted like a cocktail that everyone would like: citrusy and a bit savory, what's not to like? The other drink that stood out to me, in a bad way, was the one with dongchimi in it. It was really interesting at first because it smelled like dongchimi, and the first sip was pretty good; I was surprised that they were able to make it pleasant. But as time passed, the warm temperature made the cocktail taste disgusting, and we did not like it. The cocktails were a bit on the pricier side, but nothing crazy, just standard New York pricing. The host and bartenders were all nice, patient, and personable, which I appreciated. There were six bathrooms that were beautiful, private, and clean, just like Dubuhaus. The good ambience and service from the workers made me want to return to try the happy hour cocktail menus, since they all sound interesting and are provided at affordable pricing.

Absolutely loved this place! The signature cocktails were incredibly refreshing and creative — the Yuzu seaweed and Pear gochujang were standout favorites. The seafood dishes were next-level — fresh, inventive, and full of flavor. I especially loved the shrimp cracker, Yeosu shrimp, and Jeju fluke — each one was beautifully prepared and paired perfectly with a glass of prosecco. The ambiance was chic yet relaxed, and the happy hour deals offered great value for such high-quality drinks. A must-visit for seafood and cocktail lovers. Highly recommended!

A work friend treated me to this place and it was such a hidden gem. It is tucked underneath Howoo on one street and another restaurant on the other street, so there's actually two ways to enter this place. Gives very modern, spacious speakeasy vibes. Most customers were asian given the koreatown location. Drinks were all very good and love how their menu has a slider scale of how sweet vs. bitter vs. strong each drink is!

First off, happy hour from 5-7p is a great deal. The cocktails were pretty intricate and overall good. My favorite, although not on the happy hour menu, was the Nok Cha and Black Sesame. The Jeju Fluke Hwe was fresh and the pairing sauces were phenomenal. Definitely a great throwback to a Korean classic. The oysters and fish and chips were also good, but the Jeju Fluke Hwe stole the show. Service was pretty attentive, with water consistently filled and appropriately timed queries as to whether we needed anything else. This would be an awesome upscale casual place to grab drinks with friends, for a date, etc. It also wasn't too empty or too busy on a Wednesday night after work. I'd definitely love to visit again and try some more menu items!

Relatively new bar with Korean food and drinks. Located right next to Howoo. Really cool design with very spacious booths for intimate conversation. Overall design was classy with wood tones with granite-like floors. The drinks were Korean inspired such as: * Nok-cha & black sesame * Ginseng & Korean pear * yuzu & seaweed

Note: Closer to a 4 outside of Happy Hour. I was at this dimly lit cocktail bar/seafood spot with a group a couple days ago. They are the much more low-key spot compared to the crowded good Dubu House upstairs and it feels like it would be a nice date spot or a place to cap off a night. We were originally going to each get the $45 Hwe Platter but unfortunately, the menu had changed around a week prior so we got other things instead with the menu looking different online again so you might not be able to get what we got and the prices might be different outside of the drinks it seems. They appear to concentrate pretty heavily on their cocktails and they have a nice happy hour/HH selection with reasonable prices. I went with the Cantaloupe & Boricha for $12 with tequila, Korean barley tea, pandan, lime, soy milk, and yakju which was tasty. It had a nice light sweetness from the tea, a tiny bit of citrus, and a good hint of the nutty tea at the end. The drink was small but it's hard to complain about as it was only $12 as even for happy hour, this is quite cheap. Two other people from the same menu enjoyed the Korean Pear & Gochujang with tequila, Grand Marnier, bergamot, and guava. Both are normally $19 on the main menu and if it's the same size, I wouldn't recommend it as much. To start out with, someone else got the Hwe Muchim for $14 with squid, Jeju fluke, granny smith apple, perilla, sesame, gochujang vinaigrette, and jalapeno-cucumber granita. The portion was good with three oversized pieces topped with large pieces of squid and fluke which she said was pretty tender even for squid with only a bit of chew. They enjoyed it a lot and recommend it though they found it difficult to pick up and it was easier to eat partially with chopsticks at least to begin with before eating the rest. As extra, I got the Mussels from the HH menu for $13 or $14 with steamed B.I. mussel, pickled shallots, and yuzu-seaweed sauce. This came with five high quality mussels where the shells were all on salt which was an interesting but not so good idea as it made picking them up a little bit messy. The mussels were high quality and meaty with a bit of sourness and sweetness from the shallots and sauce. These were good. The rest of us outside of the person ordering the muchim started with the Jeju Fluke Hwe simply listed as the fresh chef's selection of fluke. There are two versions of this dish with one being on the HH menu for I believe $10 less or so with the waiter saying that it was a bit smaller by comparison which makes sense and we got the HH version which I think was in the mid or low $20s while the full size version was I think in the mid $30s or so. The hwe was presented very nicely in a few different styles with two being in a ssam topped with a some spicy crunchy vegetable (I am pretty positive it was finely chopped radish kimchi,) two being wrapped around some crunchy leafy micro greens, and three pieces each of two types of slices with one being slightly thicker with there being 10 pieces overall. The dish also came with two dips including some soy sauce with some peppers in it as well as a perilla oil sauce with some yuzu kosho which was a fun spin. As a texture person, my favorite version by a little bit was the mini ssam as the crunch went nicely with the bit of spice along with the micro green variant. The slices were excellent quality as well though and went nicely with the perilla in particular. This was excellent and I would recommend it heavily. There was also the "Masan" Monkfish Soup for around $20 with 48-hour fortified monkfish bone broth, radish, and red pepper which was light but hearty. The broth was simply flavored with many pieces of thick monkfish. They gave a dipping sauce which had some mustard in it to put the fish in to add some extra flavor which was nice. I think the dish should also come with some rice or something to eat with said soup and wouldn't mind paying a few bucks more if it came with multigrain rice or something similar. It's also perhaps a little bit too plain so maybe kimchi on the side or some other type of banchan would help otherwise. Outside of the more plain flavor, it was good and will be nice when it gets cold in winter. We had a good time here. The food was good quality and reasonable enough for the price point especially for the happy hour stuff. They might concentrate on cocktails but I would stop here again and get some more hwe and possibly try some other dishes. Mid 4 for the spot during HH while a low 4

I had a wonderful time at Musaek and thoroughly enjoyed their drinks and seafood dishes. Opened by the same group behind Dubu Haus/Howoo, Musaek is a new lounge/bar that specializes in clarified cocktails and seafood. Their happy hour deals were solid so I'm glad I made it on time! Seafood: --Jeju Fluke Hwe: super fresh fluke prepared in four delicious ways with two dipping sauces. My favorite was the konbu-cured fluke which radiated umami and savory flavors, and paired SO nicely with the perilla oil that offered an additional fragrant, herbaceous flavor. The OG fluke went well with the citrus-y ssamjang and chili soy sauce - fish flavors were amplified by the sweet, sour, and spicy flavors. The wrapped fluke with aged kimchi and the wrap with fresh cabbage were both yummy with a crunchy textural component, but I just couldn't get over the fish with the dipping sauces! --Uni Bibimbap: delectable!! This bibimbap was not only packed with uni, but also green tobiko and ikura. The addition of crunchy veggies/seaweed and crispy quinoa made each bite super fun from a textural standpoint. I felt like it was well executed with its seasoning/flavors and appropriate ratio of ingredients to rice. If you're looking for a seafood-forward bibimbap, this is it! But if you want it to have other flavors or hot, then maybe Moono, and if you want it creamy/more moist, then Ari Ari. --Scallop: I was craving crudo and this really hit the spot! Scallop pieces were fresh in a tangy, citrus-y sauce with herbs. --Yeosu Shrimp: Fresh shrimp wrapped with other veggies and rice in a crispy seaweed. The jalapenos and crispy toppings added a nice crunch compared to the chewy shrimp. Ratio of protein to rice to sauce was definitely appropriate! --Fish & Chips: shishamo that were nicely fried and went well with their white kimchi mayo with a slight tanginess and creaminess that temporized the fishiness. Drinks: -Korean pear & gochujang: Yum! Loved the mildly sweet pear flavors with the prominent gochujang taste. A spice kick then hits towards the end of your sip. -Cantaloupe & boricha: reminded me of a margarita, except with a strong tea flavor that complemented the tequila. -Banana & perilla: more whiskey-forward than expected but had a banana flavoring taste and subtle perilla flavors. I appreciated how their signature items (hwe, cocktails) were actually a part of the happy hour deal! The lounge space is also beautiful. Dim lighting makes it an intimate space. The tables were big and couches comfortable. Lots of seating available! Staff were nice/friendly and food came out pretty quick! Portion sizes were expected for lounge food but definitely not enough for a full meal. I think the move is to put your name down at Dubu or Howoo, go downstairs to Musaek for a drink/seafood apps, then enjoy your dinner upstairs.

A new Korean cocktail bar located under the restaurant Dubuhaus. The interior is very classy and comfortable. I have been there two times in the span of two weeks and was impressed both times. There are only 7 cocktails menu now which I tried all - they all share the same style of a clear, elegant drink with soft yet complex mix of flavors, and inspired by many Korean ingredients. Among all I love Yuza & Seaweed the best - a milk punch style drink with great lychee and pear notes and complemented with a savory, crispy nori. The happy hour deal is a steal which is about 40% off for 3 of their cocktails, with a selection of food items that are also delicious. The "fish and chips" is an especially innovative dish where the fish is actually shishamo and is deep fried like chips. Overall really happy with my experiences and will definitely recommend to every cocktail lover!

Beautiful space with Korean shareable plates, tapas style and reasonable prices for ktown. The design and space is intimate and great for a small group catch up / perfect for a date. The cocktails were inspired by Korean ingredients and they have happy hour for 5-7pm. I would definitely check this place out before it gets popular. The team and service provide was also great, very attentive, it felt like a fine dining experience but in my more casual setting. Can't wait to go back to try more of their creative cocktails!

Musaek is located inside the same entrance as dubuhaus (which has amazing food by the way). The bar is located downstairs, and unlike other NYC establishments, this had a beautiful dark cavernous feel. It was large, with a big bar in the middle of the room. Seating was available around the sides of the room and the bar. Looked like they also had a DJ booth but I'm not sure for what reason. Although it is a bar they do serve bites that are inspired by the sea. And they do not try to coverup the fact that you're eating seafood. The fish and chips were whole fish that were fried, so expect some small bones! We also got the hwe muchim and the monkfish soup. Everything tasted very fresh and high quality. Their drinks were small and light, but were creative in terms of ingredients. Bathrooms here were also confusing like the ones upstairs at dubuhaus. But overall pretty good experience. Can't believe this place isn't more popular!