Chung Moo Ro

Kevin and I were planning to meet someone at Macys in Herald Square a couple of weekends ago. We arrived pretty early and decided to grab some lunch while waiting for her. I was in the mood for some Korean food, so we walked to Koreatown. Koreatown or K-town is a small enclave of Korean owned restaurants, spas, hair salons, shops and a few karaoke joints. It's located on West 32rd St, between 5th and Broadway.

There were just so many Korean restaurants to choose from, we didn't know where to start! Almost every other shop was a 24 hour Korean BBQ restaurant. We even saw a few really authentic ones that uses real wood for the BBQ! At last we decided on Chung Moo Ro. The sign outside the shop claims that it is "The best of the best Korean barbecue", so it must be good :P The wait staff was really polite and got us a table immediately. The little restaurant was pretty pack with young and trendy Koreans. We didn't really have time to try the BBQ and decided to get the regular entrees.

The moment we sat down, they started to bring out the appetizers. There were nine different appetizers in total. I really enjoyed the fried mackerel and steam egg ( a big bowl of steamed egg, something like the Japanese cawan mushi).

Kevin ordered the Kam Ja Tang ($12.95) which is potato and pork ribs in hot and spicy stew. It came with a bowl of rice. I didn't really like the taste of the stew but Kevin seemed to enjoy it a lot.

I had the Ddook Bae Ki Bool Ko Ki ($13.95). It's one of their signature dishes. Thick slices of rib eye steak marinated in their house sauce, served in an earthen bowl. This is by far the best Bool Ko Ki I have ever tasted. The beef was tender and well marinated and the soup was sweet and really really appetizing. That came with a bowl of rice too.

Both the portions were really big and we couldn't really finish them. I would suggest sharing an entree instead of getting one each. I really enjoyed the food at Chung Moo Ro and we would most definitely return to try the Korean BBQ the next time we are in that part of town.


Chung Moo Ro
10 West 32nd St,
New York, NY 10001
Tel: (212) 594-4963
Fax: (212) 594-4964