ODRE [nyc]

[Saregama]

Modern Korean from the same folks as Atoboy, and very reminiscent of Atoboy at the outset (in the $28 3-course prix fixe days).

A lovely meal overall, some excellent dishes, some very good, and only a couple where “maybe they should have added something”.

My favorites were the chicken “caesar” salad with a bit of a kick that was more than perilla, the lamb pancake, the spicy cold noodles, and it was hard for me to pick among the mains, but if I had to, probably the beef – but also the kelp butter sauce with the fish, and also the perfectly cooked duck with I’m-not-sure-what delicious sauce.

We were able to order every single thing on the menu and share, which was especially nice. All in all, a tasty meal.

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Amuse bouche: Rice cracker, potato and corn salad, some powder (roasted seaweed?)

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FIRST COURSE

Sashimi plattter with seaweek dipping sauce

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Chicken “Caesar Salad” with napa cabbage and perilla mayo

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Poached egg before & after pine nut milk

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Add-on: Poached pork with crispy garlic chips, kimchi Jam, and black sesame ssamjang

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SECOND COURSE

Snow crab “mandoo” with crab bisque

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Lamb pancake with smoked mayo and spicy crumble

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Mung bean pancake with fermented sabayon

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Add-on: Spicy cold noodles with oyster mushroom and pickled scallion

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THIRD COURSE

Main course accompaniments of seaweed soup, steamed egg gimbap, and banchan (burdock root, fish cake, radish kimchi, shepherds purse paste)

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Spicy beef shank with mashed pumpkin and brussels sprouts

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Branzino with sauteed napa cabbage and kelp butter sauce

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Duck breast with black garlic

[JenKalb (Jennifer Kalb)]

This was a very interesting meal and I enjoyed all the dishes except for the snow crab with the blah saucing very much, esp the interesting poached egg with garnishes of seafood, blood orange etc that was drowned in the pine nut milk, the sauce on the pristine fish, the tasty mung bean patty with its sauce and all of the meat items. The seafood was all super fresh but I thought there was some truth to @rrems criticism of the lack so spice where some of the sauces, like the seaweed viniagrette with the sushi for example were rather bland or where I searched for flavor (the amuse on the cracker at the start for example) and did not find. But overall very lovely and interesting, with nods to multiple cuisines in the cooking. Thanks for suggesting and to all for their company

[Saregama]

I wonder if we could have asked for some sauces on the side, like the ssamjang and others. It may not have been out of place, as they are usually served on the side anyway.

The dishes where they mentioned spice were certainly not lacking it – eg the cold noodles.

Apparently the “sauce” with the crab was soup per the menu, not sauce

[rrems (Robert Rems)]

A surprise for me was the mung bean patty. I didn’t think I would like it but as it turned out it was really good.

[Saregama]

Fry anything crisp and I’ll usually like it But the fermented sabayon was tangy and interesting.

I realized belatedly that the kimbap was in place of the usual rice they serve, and I did actually miss the rice with the mains.

[Ike (Ike H.)]

Thanks for inviting me to this one – my favorites were the branzino with kelp butter sauce, the lamb pancake, and, surprisingly, the seaweed soup, even though it was just part of the banchan. Though maybe that shouldn’t be surprising since banchan is almost always my favorite part of any Korean meal – but I’m not normally a soup guy.

I also quite liked the spicy cold noodles, the poached egg with pine nut milk, and the poached pork.