Chef Changki Kang blends his home country’s traditions with local products
Hand Hospitality, the multiconcept group that runs a number of New York City’s most popular Korean restaurants, is expanding its portfolio with Odre.
The prix-fixe restaurant just opened in the city’s East Village and highlights the gamasot, a heavy cauldron that is a hallmark of Korean cuisine as well as the restaurant.
Three of those cauldrons sit on the restaurant’s bar, steaming with freshly cooked rice and soup that evoke the childhood memories of chef Changki Kang.
According to a release announcing the restaurant’s opening, Odre will focus on seasonal items from New York, a state with similar climate and geography to Korea, allowing the Asian country’s culinary traditions to be represented at the restaurant while also making use of local bounty.
The food will be offered in a four-course prix-fixe menu priced at $42 per person, with starters such as cold asparagus with cured shrimp, pine nut sauce, and grapefruit, and chicken with Korean pear, chives, and cilantro in a sesame mustard sauce.
Second-course options include a squash pancakes with scallop mousse, pickled wild chives, and a curry dip, and pork mandu dumplings with sancho mayonnaise and sesame leaf.
Main courses include steamed monkfish with bean sprouts, a leafy green called minari, and gochugaru sauce, or beef shank in a kalbi sauce with leeks, shishito peppers, radish, and shiitake mushrooms (called pyogo in Korean).
All of that is finished off with a daily soup along with rice — a traditional end to a Korean meal.
Also part of the prix-fix menu are six seasonal banchan, the side dishes that are an important part of a typical Korean meal.
South Korean alcohol varieties and wine are also available.
“Growing up, my grandmother cooked rice in a gamasot, and I experience a strong sense of nostalgia from the smell of freshly cooked rice and soybean paste stew.” chef Kang said in a statement. “In Korea, meals often transcend their basic function to symbolize care and connection. We’re looking forward to incorporating these Korean elements into the New York City gastronomic landscape and bringing the community closer together.”
The restaurant design is inspired by folk handicrafts such as maksabal ceramic bowls and hanji, or mulberry paper, and the food will all be served in Korean-style pottery.
Korean artist HyeSeong Kwon’s works adorn the walls.
Kang has spent 14 years working in kitchens and was part of the culinary team of other Hand Hospitality restaurants including Her Name is Han, Chodanggol, and Take 31.
Apart from those restaurants, Hand also operates award-winning Atoboy as well as Nonono, Towa, Hakata TonTon, Jua, Lycée, Moono, Hojokban, AriAri, Samwoojung, Seoul Salon, and Japanese dual concept Okonomi, and Yuji Ramen.
It also runs cocktail bar George Bang Bang.
All of its concepts are in New York City.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
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