Kunjip + Pinkberry

Kunjip
9 W 32nd St. (K-town)
212.216.9487
photo menu

Pinkberry
7 W 32nd St. (K-town)
212.695.9631
website

I finally visited Kunjip after half a year of wanting to try it. It's not that my friends don't like Korean food, or that the location is hard to get to. We just always ended up somewhere else, for Korean BBQ (which Kunjip has, by the way) or Japanese food (which wasn't that impressive in K-town, no surprise).

I took my friend A. here, apparently on her first Korean food experience. A. is a vegetarian and I thought the menu had enough veggie offerings, especially since most Korean restaurants also give you a bunch of cold side dishes with your order. The kimchi wasn't spicy but the other pickled vegetables were yummy.

We asked for hot tea with our order of stone pot dishes. Funny enough, the photo menu is only pasted on the wall of the aisle leading to the hostess, not actually displayed in the table menus. While we waited in line (it was very hopping even on a week night around 6:30pm), we tried to look through the photo menu and gave our orders to a very "helpful" and "efficient" waitress. Yes, I've never ordered food while waiting to be seated. I guess they really wanted to get us in and out quickly.

Since this trip was a week ago and my Korean is nonexistent (I know kimchi and kalbi and hello, no lie), I can't quite remember what I ordered. I believe it's item C22 on the photo menu on the website: rice on the heated stone pot with assorted vegetables, ground beef, and egg. Unless I ordered something that is similar but also had kimchi and a sweet/spicy sauce. A. ordered a stone pot with rice and veggies which was so pretty I almost envied her.

Anyhow, when we finished they offered another "tea" that we didn't order. It turned out to be a red, sweet cinnamon drink, very good for a finish. Perhaps a dessert drink of some sort? I would definitely go back, maybe study the photo menu more carefully so I know what I'm ordering.

Later after dinner we had the obligatory trip to Pinkberry (also very hopping with a long line on a week night). Apparently they now have a new flavor coffee (expanding from the original two flavors of green tea and original plain yogurt). I was not brave enough to try the coffee flavor and simply ordered an original with blackberries. A. ordered a green tea but actually liked mine better. For all of you out there who don't know Pinkberry. It's this yogurt place that has fresh fruit toppings like strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, kiwi, mango as well as cereal toppings like captain krunch etc. Besides Greek yogurt, my favorite yogurt can be found in Asia, especially China. I'm just not a fan of skim-milk, ultra sweetener, and syrup filled fruit on bottom yogurts that I've been given here in the US.