Food Tastes Better With An Amazing View At Kimoto Rooftop In Brooklyn

The eclectic menu at Kimoto Rooftop in Downtown Brooklyn highlights American favorites with an Asian influence that are sophisticated in presentation and playful in concept.

1. Tuna Tartare

Over a bed of creamy, chunky guacamole is a generous portion of fresh raw tuna with pickled jalapeno and sesame seeds. Be sure to scoop up all the goodness on the plate, including the spicy aioli and the sweet soy sauce, with the crunchy, tri-colored tortilla chips on the side.

2. Tempura Basket

The tempura basket features crispy, hot-off-the-fryer tempura that ranges from shrimp to baby calamari in a skewer to potato croquette. The wasabi mayo and the sweet teriyaki sauces that come on the side pair perfectly well with the tempura.

3. Beef Bulgogi Tacos

This fusion dish highlights the cuisines of Mexico and Korea. Stuffed inside crunchy wonton shell are tender beef bulgogi with spicy kimchi slaw. The tacos are topped with thin slices of Asian pair, toasted sesame, and scallion.

4. Spicy Togarashi and Truffle & Parmesan Fries

The flavors of these delicious flavors are further enhanced with spicy togarashi (top) and truffle & parmesan. Perfect accompaniment to your main entrees, the fries have crispy exterior and moist interior.

5. Gochujang BBQ Wings

Forget all the chicken wings you have had in the past - the Gochujang BBQ Wings will completely change your mind! These wings have the crispiest skins with the juiciest meat. The spicy and sweet gochujang BBQ sauce make these wings even more addicting.

6. Kobe Beef Burger

These soft buns are lathered with generous amount of kimchi slaw at the bottom and gochujang bbq sauce on top. The juicy beef pattie is topped with white truffle oil and sprouts.

7. Crispy Pork Cutlet

The pieces of deep-fried pork cutlet are topped with kewpie mayonnaise sauce and red cabbage slaw.

Seo Restaurant in Midtown East: Cold Soba to Keep the Heat Away

When you live in the greatest [culinary] city in the world, you are inclined to try as many different restaurants as possible. However, there are some restaurants that are worthy of second, third, or even fourth visits.

One such restaurant is SEO Restaurant in Midtown East. I came here during Spring Break due to its proximity to my friend's NYC apartment and fell in love with its chewy Inaniwa Hiyamori Udon. For my second visit, I came with a big group of 8 people. We started off with a bunch of appetizers. The first to arrive on the table was Steamed crab dumpling ($10). The mustard sauce was really spicy...probably had a bit of wasabi in it. The shumai isn't as heavy as most shumai at Chinese restaurants, yet still maintains rich crab flavors.

The Calamari Salad ($10.50) came in a plate with iceberg lettuce (sort of disappointed by the choice of greens), lightly sauteed calamaris, and lame slices of tomato surrounding the whole thing. I really liked the vinaigrette that resembled a mixture of soy sauce and vinegar.

Jidori Karaage ($8.50), or fried marinated free range chicken, was quite greasy and fatty. I opted for the bitter greens on the side. The chicken didn't look crispy enough for my liking anyways.

We also had some kind of seafood broth/soup with clams, seaweed, scallions, and calamari. The broth had very deep, ocean flavors from all the clams in the bowl.

For my main course, I opted for Tenzaru Soba cold soba ($17) with cod dipping sauce and shrimp and vegetable tempura. Admittedly we had a big party, but it took forever for our noodles to arrive! Also, one person in our group didn't get his entree until I was half way done with my meal. I was disappointed that the soba only had scallions on the side to put in the dipping sauce and no grated radish.

The soba lacked any interesting, unique flavors. Instead, it just tasted like any other soba you would have. I suppose I should have stuck with the inaniwa udon. Oh well.

There were kabocha (my favorite!), shrimp, and portebello mushroom tempura. The mushroom tempura was the oddest thing ever...it was way too juicy! My second experience at Seo Restaurant was definitely not up to par with the first visit.

  

Fusion Japanese and Korean Food from a Food Court

Because we arrived at home in Seoul a little later than usual, Mom and I decided to go to a food court at a mall nearby for a quick dinner. I am the most indecisive person when it comes to choosing what I want to eat, so a place like a food court, where I have to choose from a variety of cuisines and dishes, is the worst place for me. In the end, Mom ordered the fish roe rice and udon set menu, while I decided on the chili seafood omurice (fried rice wrapped in egg).

Mom's dish came out 10 minutes prior to mine, so we shared the food. I loved the fish roe rice, which is basically bibimbop with minced kimchi, vegetables, and fish roe in a hot stone pot. Instead of using chili paste, though, we only needed the kimchi for flavors. So delicious! I also love when the rice hardens and becomes crispy at the bottom of the hot pot. The udon didn't taste anything special, but I am not a huge fan of udon in the first place. The tempura, which I didn't eat (I don't eat fried food anymore!), was very greasy, according to Mom.

Finally the big TV screen indicated that my omurice is ready so I went to pick it up. The wait was certainly not worth it because the sauce was extremely, EXTREMELY sweet to the point where I had to wipe it off. It tasted like an awful combination of ketchup and sugar. Yuck.

Also since the sauce was literally surrounding the omurice, it was overwhelming and shielded all the taste of the rice and the egg. The fried rice was lacking in flavor and I regretted getting this meal for sure. Well, at least now I know what NOT to get :p