Hankuk Oriental and Korean Market

With four tables and four booths, this narrow eatery can handle around 30 customers at one time. Although the setting is diner-plain, the Korean cuisine is authentic, making few compromises for the American palate. Garlic is a key ingredient in at least half of the aromatic dishes from Hankuk’s kitchen. More than half of the menu items are either soups or preparations in broth. For example, duk-mandoo-guk is beef broth overflowing with scores of dumplings, rice cakes, beef, bits of egg yolk, green onion and garlic. The Korean fish stew is composed of large chunks of fish, small crab legs and squid, along with vegetables, red-pepper paste and garlic. Soybean-paste soup, buckwheat vermicelli in cold soup, and Japanese-style noodle soup all are available in their pure vegetarian state.