Want a quick tag line for a review?
Overpriced and Seoul-less.
Want to read on? Go ahead. You'll be enlightened as to why I just trashed your favorite new eatery in Newburgh.
I'm not certain if they cater to the palette of the demographic who can actually afford the menu but to be honest I've had more flavor come from Korean family kitchens than this place has. Sheesh, I got brown rice served to me by a Korean woman, so you know she's playing up to the "crowd."
What "crowd" do you speak of oh wise reviewer? Do you mean the same crowd that whitewashes every ethnic cuisine because their parents' palettes were basic AF and lacked the culinary insight to raise their children in a multicultural kitchen?
But I digress...
Let's talk Seoul's menu. $15 for what appears to be an appetizer plate of under seasoned, lackluster and possibly frozen Bulgogi, along with a small serving of brown rice.
Hold on. Meat with brown rice? Served hand over fist to an Asian? I damn near lost my mind for a hot second. I looked around to see if anyone caught that but no Asians were in the vicinity to witness or even understand the shame. I wanted to ask the nice lady if I looked like the type of Asian whose palette has been whitewashed and rendered tasteless by American culture? Doesn't she know that I need my white rice dammit!!!
Where was I?
The menu. $13 for Dumpling Soup in which the broth has minimal flavor (unless you like sipping lukewarm briny seaweed flavored water) and an offering of six dumplings that are decent in bite but passable in flavor.
Supposedly, the Kimchi dumplings are homemade but at 3 for $7.50 the hint of freezer burn makes it a regrettable buy that you should definitely avoid. I even begged for some kind of sauce to elevate the dumpling but the lady insisted that I eat it without any because it's the "Korean" way.
Unfortunately, every entree is priced at $12-$15 but portioned like appetizers. Overall, there are under 10 items on the menu and it appears that they are figuring out what sells and what doesn't with the crowd that comes in.
I ordered three items and I cashed out at $40 and change! The menu is obscenely overpriced for no reason. But that's the price we pay for a little authenticity. Seriously, that could've been money well spent on a Target run.
What's even worse?
You finish your meal completely unsatisfied knowing that you could easily make the same meal with some Trader Joe's gyozas, Thai sweet chili sauce, and fresh Bulgogi from a Korean supermarket served over fresh delicious white rice. All for less than $40 dollars.
Since Newburgh does not have any other Asian eateries, asides for Japanese (shout out to Akasaka), we often are quick to accept a spot like Seoul Kitchen as an alternative to satisfy our craving for the "authenticity" that NYC has to offer at every corner.
"But reviews for Seoul Kitchen are great! Four stars! How dare you berate our upstart little Korean Kitchen" says the daring transplant who stumbled into the city of Newburgh on their way to Kingston for some hipster, vinyl-only night, German techno throwback, craft brewery, spoken word, tech meet-up, pseudo intellectual soirée.
Remember, these are the same folk whose measure of "authenticity" is based on what their favorite social media influencer's last food post was. Yeah I said it but you know it's true, so kick rocks.
And I bet if rocks were trending as a delicacy, you would eat it too. Then you will proceed to make a self-indulgent post, with a perfectly composed pic of your $125 dollar plate of Volcanic Breccia with a side of fresh Poke, using a some kind of high contrast faded film filter, while captioning some semi-woke aspirational quote you stole from somebody who jacked it from someone less original but are as equally as irrelevant as you.
That's a little much, I must admit.
All in all, I really hope Seoul Kitchen gets their flavor, pricing and portions in order otherwise this will be another good idea that will be gone in six months. Because we all know that Newburgh needs more options like this to keep its revitalization going. read more