No labels party
Octo, Koreatown
RESTAURANTS • First Word
Korean and Chinese food don’t rub elbows nearly enough in New York City. Octo, an under-the-radar K-Town spot from the New Wonjo team that opened in December, is changing that fact for the better.
Octo isn’t fusion cuisine as much as it’s a Korean take on Chinese fare. That said, there’s a dish that does, in fact, marry the two culinary cultures, and it should be on everyone’s order: kimchi xiao long bao — soup dumplings stuffed with pork, kimchi, and a sweet-and-sour broth. It’s exactly as flavorful a union of sweet, spicy, salty, and umami as it sounds.
Make sure to order the jajangmyeon — noodles with blackbean sauce — a standard of Korean cuisine, originally brought there in the 19th century by Chinese migrant workers. The noodles here may be thinner than you’ll see in most versions of the dish, but they’re excellent. Elsewhere, the kitchen sprinkles truffles on a lot of the dishes, but its flavor is often overshadowed by other ingredients (or maybe they’re just being frugal with the shavings).
Cocktails are the sleeper hits, particularly when they infuse Asian ingredients into classic drinks. In Octo’s Negroni, the gin is swapped out for lemon-infused soju and the old-fashioned is made with Japanese whisky, Iwai 45, and Dawn 808, a Korean tea and (supposed) hangover cure.
Married, friends with benefits, roommates, or just drinking buddies — Octo doesn’t necessarily define the relationship between Korean and Chinese cuisines. But with food so comforting, who needs labels? –David Farley