Swanky becomes Gayeon, a new Korean restaurant in the developing Hudson Lights ‘hood of Fort Lee. The main dining space is fronted by an open kitchen, above which hangs an enormous mural most easily measured in yards, not feet. Between the activity of chefs in the kitchen, what with heads bobbing and arms akimbo as they await marching orders, and the frenetic, acrobatic energy of the dancers at the harvest festival captured in the mural, it’s a challenge to keep eyes on the food.
But, chances are, you will. Gayeon, which translates as “beautiful encounter,” is as much about dining as entertainment—in its setting and its cuisine.
The sibling of the posh Gaonnuri in Midtown Manhattan, Gayeon also is owned by Andrew Sung, who spared no aspect of his vision to bring fine-dining to a local scene dominated by casual Korean restaurants. Don’t hesitate to dress up and don’t discount Gayeon as a place to impress guests or celebrate a special occasion.
Chef Seung Choi offers tasting menus at prices moderate and high. There’s a cocktail list, a variety of brews and a wine list that definitely needs improvement to provide appropriate matches for the dishes that lean traditional, but are served with flair and a smattering of fuss.
Take the chicken and ginseng naeng chae: It’s a haystack of a salad, its main components (colorful peppers, red onions, white-meat chicken) painstakingly sliced to uniform size—so no one bite suffers an imbalance of flavor—then set on dark leafy greens and topped with pert microgreens. It’s art on a plate, yes, but the piquant mustard dressing gives it soul.
Chicken and ginseng naeng chae
The pair of jun we ordered were plated together astride a column of Korean newspaper, allowing the potato-filled pancake and the egg-batter-coated shrimp to divest any excess cooking oil. (There was none.) Again, it was high-style, without being over-the-top.
Jun
I adored the meatballs, served in a bamboo steamer lined with shredded allium. Made of beef and shot through with ginseng, they’re encased in sweet rice that keeps the meat super-moist and offers a welcome crunch.
Meatballs
My dining companions were wild about the pollock salad, in which the mild fish gets a kind of kung pao treatment that I found obscured the flavor of the fish. But I was the lone voice of discontent on this dish.
Pollack salad
We all fought over the japchae, its skinny strands of vermicelli entwined with wispy slices of mushrooms (you can choose beef or seafood as well), sprouts, radish and more of that rainbow of peppers. (Somebody in the kitchen must spend 14 hours a day on the mandolin.)
If you judge a Korean restaurant on its kimchi jigae (I do! I do!), you’ll be a Gayeon fan: This spiced stew of fermented cabbages is pocked with chunks of pork and cubes of tofu, all of which have fully absorbed the heat of chilies, in paste, broth and raw forms. It’s all that it should be, at once restorative and exhilarating, and if you’ve got that early-fall cold/bronchitis bug that’s swarming our state, consider the kimchi jigae cure.
Kimchi jigae
Secure as a counterpoint, the daegu jiri, a calming, ultra-mild soup of a stew in which cod, tofu, scallions and greens offer pure gentleness. I wasn’t impressed with the tabletop-grilled marinated galbi, with thin slices of short ribs getting a substandard cooking (“The heat’s not working right,” our server told us) at first try. They were replaced and re-grilled. But the outcome was lukewarm: Despite a show of pretty accessorizing condiments, the beef, and the dish as a whole, compare unfavorably to less pricey ($35 is the tab here) renditions at many Korean BBQ spots in both Fort Lee and Palisades Park.
Tabletop-grilled marinated galbi
Ah, but the dolcot bibambap, chunky with spiced-right pork and shrimp, and spliced throughout with vegetables, either crackling or tender, yielded to a bottom layer of rice crisped by its hot stone bowl. Like the top of a good baked mac-and-cheese, there’s never enough crisp rice in a bibambap to go around.
Dolcot bibambap
Which is why you return to your favorite Korean restaurant for more.
Gayeon, 2020 Hudson Street in Fort Lee. Open daily for lunch and dinner. 201-944-2056. gayeonrestaurant.com.