Golden Town Seafood Restaurant

If only all Ktowns were created equal.

After a team outing in LIC, a few of my coworkers and I thought it'd be nice to take a quick trip to Flushing for some yummy late night bites. I was not prepared for the full meal that awaited us.

You need take a cab from the Main St 7 station or take the LIRR to Murray Hill if you don't have a car, and we were a little unsure about our decision during our journey. Once we were seated though, all those worries disappeared.

First off, Hahm Ji Bach is one of the cleanest Korean establishments I've ever been to. The floors, the tables, the flatware: spotless. We decided on two orders of pork belly, mookeunji mero chorim (sea bass and kimchi stew), and mandu casserole.

The banchan was amazing: freshest and tastiest I've ever had. The pickled radish was by far the table favorite. Crunchy while still packing a punch in flavor without too much pucker, it's a perfect addition to any Korean dinner table. The tofu also stood out from the crowd.

When it came time for grilling, our server used pork fat to oil up the slate and threw the slabs of pork belly on. Ten minutes later, I was biting into delicious lettuce wraps of pork belly, kimchi, and chive goodness. The flavors were spot on, and the meat quality shown through my other barbecue memories.

The sea bass was tasty, but I wouldn't order it again. The kimchi flavor was a little overpowering and sour. The fish was definitely fresh, but not as tender as I would've liked with sea bass. There was however ample fish in the pot.

The casserole became a situation of "eyes bigger than our stomach." Despite our small stomachs, we made sure to enjoy it as much as possible, which wasn't too hard. To be honest, I prefer Chinese dumplings to Korean mandu, but this casserole was an amazing combination of flavors. I liked how there were a lot of veggies and also lots of starchy/heavy carriers throughout (rice cakes, udon noodles, tofu).

Paying for the check was a little cumbersome as we needed to catch a train back to the city. We asked for the check well ahead of time, but there was a lot of miscommunication between the servers and we had to run to the counter with our jackets, and rush them to swipe our credit cards.

Aside from that little snafu, I'm so glad my coworker took us out to this restaurant as I wouldn't have gone on my own. I will definitely back (and most likely on a weekend, $4 LIRR tickets).