I'll be honest, I was drawn to Thursday Kitchen because of the promise of glow-in-the-dark drinks in a Capri sun bag. Yes, this is how they serve their cocktails. Fascinating right? How can you not want to check it out?
Holly and I met there early on a Friday night and by 6:15pm and they were pretty packed already. Although neither of us were starving, but we felt like if we didn't grab a table now, we would be waiting a long time. We were hoping to maybe leisurely start with drinks and then transition over to food but that didn't really happen. As soon as we sat down, multiple people were asking us if we were ready to order which was kind of annoying. I will say that by the time we left at 8:30pm, there was a really long line outside, so I guess it was kind of warranted for them to churn as many tables as possible. The first good sign of this place was that it was packed full of Asians - it is a Korean tapas place but it it's in the East Village so I was expecting more artist/hipsters than anything else.
They don't have a liquor license but they do have soju cocktails which is what comes in the glow in the dark bags. The one I got had smashed up strawberries and was good but it didn't really taste very strong. Holly got one that had a bunch of herbs in it and she wasn't a huge fan as the basil was way too overpowering. But they are fun drinks to try out none the less.
The menu is tapas style and they recommended 2 plates per person but I honestly felt like you could get 3 or more if you're really hungry. We opted for the ugly potato ($8), the octopus ($9), truffle mac and cheese ($9) and the kimchi paella ($12). The octopus was very very small thin slices served with a mango salsa type garnish. It was a bit underwhelming because usually octopus dishes have nice thick hearty pieces to it and this was too delicate for me. Next was the truffle mac and cheese and it was as advertised, super cheesy and delicious. The twist to this dish was that it had manila clams in it, which I know sounds kind of gross but it actually really worked. My only gripe was that I wish this dish was larger as it was really like 3-4 bites max per person. Next came the kimchi paella which wasn't really a paella but more like a really creamy risotto. It came with green New Zealand mussels (my favorite), shrimp and kimchi in it. The waiter kept telling us before that it was cheesey and we thought he was talking about the mac and cheese but I can see how one would describe this dish as cheesey too. Lastly we had the ugly potato which was crispy potato with melted cheese and BBQ sauce on it. The parts of the potato that weren't super brunt were great but there was probably more burnt ends than I would have liked in there. I really wanted to try the matcha bread pudding but we were both full from so much cheesey foods that we couldn't do it but it sounded delicious.
I'll give this place kudos for being incredibly unique and creative, which is something that's been missing from a lot of places I've been to lately. You can definitely taste the Korean flavors in the food and it was great to see them honor those elements with a slight twist to it. Again, my usual gripe with tapas is that when you like a dish (i.e. the truffle mac and cheese) you just wish you had more of it vs. such a small portion. Definitely get here early if you don't want to wait around. Total bill: $43/pp with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
No comments:
Post a Comment