Wednesday, 04 March 2009

• Bann

  350 West 50th Street
  New York, NY 10019
  212-582-4446
  http://www.bannrestaurant.com

  I was in New York City for the later part of the day and decided to stay in the city to have dinner.  Unfortunately I didn't plan ahead so I had to rely on the help of Yelp.  Unlike my previous attempts with Yelp, I kept to restaurants with 3 or more $ signs (the more $, the more money).  I looked for Korean BBQ since it was a cold day and we wanted something that would warm us up.  Luckily for me, I found Bann within walking distance.

  

  We didn't have a reservation so they couldn't seat us in the dining area.  Thankfully they still served the full menu in the bar area so we found a cozy candle lit two seater by the aisle.

  A nicely decorated dim interior of the bar:

  

  The bar seating area is pretty good and can easily match other small restaurants I've been to.  The main dining area is a lot brighter but it's also a lot more noisy.  I preferred the intimate setting of the bar.

  Korean side dishes:

  

  Kalbi:

  

  Since we were seated in the bar area, we couldn't cook the food at our table but they gave us the next best thing.  Our dishes came out on a metal plate as you can see above with a fire going underneath to keep it hot.  We ate a little slow so our cook actually started to get burnt.  The beef was flavored well giving it a subtly sweet taste.  It's a little on the pricy side at $22 but it was good.

  Scallops:

  

  Again this dish came in a metal plate and you can see the blue flame just underneath keeping our dish warm.  The scallops were less flavored and there wasn't as much compared to the Kalbi.  I would probably avoid this dish the next time around.

  Molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream:

  

  This was the third best molten chocolate cake I've ever had at a restaurant - first comes Roy's and second is Nobu.  The cake was warm, the fudge inside wasn't oozing out but I didn't mind.  The top was crispy as I like it.  I highly recommend ordering this to complete your dinner.

  Bann is a little on the pricy side but it is New York City, the service is good even though a tad slow, and the atmosphere is really nice.  The food quality is on par with other Korean BBQ restaurants although a little light on the quantity.  I would definitely recommend giving Bann a visit if you're in the area for Korean BBQ.

  Eric Tummy Points: 4 out of 5

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