great post. we never felt that flavors at Baroo were muted but they were definitely not bold. I think “restraint” is the right term, and maybe that is the reason we enjoyed every time.
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Gotcha. Did not get to try that iteration of Baroo.
I was thinking/referring to Baroo Canteen, the pop-up, at the Union Swapmeet. I’ll go correct my post. =)
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What is the concept called? What do they sell?
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What is the concept called? What do they sell?
BBQ + Rice: https://www.bbqrice.com/. It’s not similar to Baroo. Much more in the comfort food space, good for delivery. They have a few locations and were quite popular last time I checked.
Edit: I should note that Matthew Kim is great and was a meaningul part of why my wife and I frequented Baroo 1.0 so regularly. Obviously the food was fantastic and inventive, but it was also nice chatting with Matthew during meals. It makes me a bit sad that he seems to have been written out of the Baroo story. People forget that Baroo was originally Kwang + Matthew, not Kwang + Mina.
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I like that the food at Baroo is its own thing. It reminds me of Meteora in that regard.
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including the former needle space.
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When I ate there, my impressions were amazing plating precision and composition, Korean themes (like wrapping food, boiled bitter vegetables, raw meat, multiple items served at once like banchan) and ingredients and some formats, French / fine dining precision and techniques, some international influences, some less conventional flavors like pine and herbal and biterness and astringency or more bland or subtleness but also some distinctly sweet and salty things. For the sours, more vinegar and less lactic tang than I’m used to in Korean food, but idk if I tasted that exactly. The salted aged tofu reminds of Chinese and Taiwanese tofu blocks but could also be Korean or pan Asian. Overall, less savory and mouth watering than what I’m used to in a meal but I see the cost and effort, and I’m happy they have an audience. The food and eating almost felt like a museum experience. There’s Korean language information on the web and books that talk a bit more about what Korean cuisine is/was/is evolving into too for the more curious.
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I always considered current Baroo version to be Korean (Asian) influenced with French/Fine Dining techniques.
There is a restaurant in Paris, called Perception, reminded me of Baroo a lot.
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I did not know that was bbq and rice!
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Yeah, I had the same impressions on the most part. But while I knew what I was getting into - I’d done a bit of homework on Kwang’s cooking, rifled through Jeong Kwan’s cookbook, sniffed around koreantk (awesome resource), and pirated an academic book or two - and I appreciate the technique and what they’re exploring, what came on each plate was just a little bit too removed from tasty for me. It was interesting to pick at each of the components but nothing quite came together. Enjoyment of these things lies on a spectrum, though.
Still hope to one day enjoy a meal there, whether by broadening my perspective or being lucky enough to have them nudge their food a bit more towards my tastes.
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100% Re: Matthew
As much as I enjoy the current evolution of Baroo, there was a more frenetic, creative, daring quality during 1.0. with the post El Bulli & Noma stints. Matthew used to tell people when they’ve ordered too much and it was refreshing to see that customers weren’t always right.
What I miss the most is their rose kombucha. Unapologetically sour, it was a drink that got your attention.
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Yo. I haven’t been to Baroo in awhile and my thoughts had reflected what most said above. But I went today and it’s like a whole different restaurant (for the better).
Service, food, presentation, ambiance is a big big step up from what I remember my last two visits. More risks taken, more intense flavor profiles. My biggest critique before was how most dishes tasted earth driven and not texturally complex. This time a whole host of aggressive ferments, vinegars, umami, spice are woven into the menu. Really didn’t feel like the same restaurant, more like a more grown up version. Which makes sense since we’re a few years in now from when it started.
Three of us. We ordered a bottle of champagne. Did all the supplements and did both mains. After a nice tip our bill was $330pp. It felt pretty worthwhile - especially the amount of protein served. I’ve been on this weird deviation on menus where the lack of protein for the price is really getting to me.
Menu for the night. We sat down, server explained the breakdown. I looked at her and said “everything. All the supplements, we want both mains per person”
Tae
Biji, Mu ssam, Korean fried chicken, Ddukgalbi soolbbang
The Biji was the first bite i took and i thought - kinda the old baroo, softer textures, more muted flavors. Then the ssam hit and it was this intense acid driven vinegar bite with crunch. I knew we were onto something different. A delicious fried chicken. Then one of their classics in the ddukgalbi but it felt more put together.
Raspberry Gochujang, thinly sliced beef tartare, Astrea Kaluga caviar.
yoooooo. I loved the flavor combos on this. The sour sweet tinge of raspberry worked wonderful with the beefy cuts. Not finely chopped like typical tartare but sliced thing so you get a lot of the texture. Obviously i’m not going to hate my company’s caviar, but it was great even without it. With it, it adds another layer of salinity that’s really enjoyable.
Jaetbangeo, gooseberry, pear, sanchu
Finely chopped halibut that was umami laden with a touch of sweetness from the sauce and crunch from the garnish. This is something that the old baroo would have wrapped in something and lost the interplay of texture that this dish has.
Supplement: buckwheat noodle, gamtae, bugak
yah i need another bowl. light, refreshing, the beauty of it comes from the aromatics of herbs and oil.
Sole, Scallop, crab, prawn
A soup dish that evoked all the goodness of the ocean. What i really liked about this
Bottom
black cod fermented black bean, chungju beurre blanc
beautifully cooked cod, aggressive fermented bean paste. Wonderful
Left:
Supplement
grilled ora king salmon - perilla beurre blanc, doobojang. This is the type of dish i really like, where you play with herbal notes, sour notes, spice then layer it with a delicate base. Protein kinda doesn’t matter, it’s more about the sauceplay and how they mingle in the spoon
Top right
supplement from the veggie course
Lotus root and peashoot. This was my course of the evening. I eat a lot of pea shots and this was cooked perfectly. I just loved how they barely cooked the shoots but the stem stayed soft. Then the beautiful lotus root. DROOL.
kimchi brined pork collar, pastrami squash blossom mandoo, kimchi jus
super. the kimchi jus was the star on the dish just cause it gave such a wonderful sour punch.
Short rib, beef, burdock jus. Deeply intense beef jus flavor profile with perfectly cooked tender short rib. The most sophisticated version of this yet.
O
Dessert - pistachio/raspberry ice cream. It was fine.
The biggest thing i noticed was the investment in their wine list. They now have a dedicated wine director (which Mina was proud to mention) and quite the list of goodies. We ordered the elise bougy off the list which was super well priced at $200.
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OpenTable’s Friends in Town dropped for LA. Looks pretty fun.
Baroo set to host The Catbird Seat from Nashville on 6/18
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