So look, dude, you got punked. I'll get back to that in a minute. It's Zuti, with a hachek accent…read moreover the Z, making it a slavic Z, actually, Croatian or Bosnian in this case, and again, we're coming back to that....
It's not a name that screams "Korean restaurant" (well... again... give me a minute) - so they went back last week and added in the Korean characters that are an abbreviation for Korean restaurant next to it, and then did the same in red neon in the window. Not taking any chances, they want to be sure we know.
And it's a cool space, with a nice bar, comfortable seating, and there's a terrace upstairs. It's all very sleek and trendy.
To save one bit of suspense... the food is delicious. And it's pretty. Been twice now.
There are three different kinds of dumplings on the menu - all of them are mandu, the traditional Korean dumplings, steamed, the fillings differ - kimchi, beef & vegetable, vegetable. But each is written differently on the menu - Kimchi mandu, Empandita de Carne y Verdura, Mandu de Vegetales. To me, that's unnecessarily confusing when the only difference is the filling. they come served in lovely lacquered plates, floating in a pool of vinegar, soy, and dabs of mustard and other sauces and seeds, and stuff. It makes for a pretty presentation. And I certainly can't complain about a lack of dipping sauce. (280 pesos) On the first visit, a bit of a complaint - the center of the kimchi dumplings was ice cold... turns out they make and freeze all their dumplings and then steam them straight from frozen. These hadn't been in long enough and the middle had barely melted. Issue corrected, and on the second visit, piping hot through and through.
First visit, after ordering, received a trio of banchan before the dumplings - both cabbage and cucumber kimchis, and a little folded omelette. Second visit, we didn't order a regular main course, and no banchan.
First visit, a fantastic jeokkboekkum - spicy stir fried pork, and shiitakes, to make lettuce wraps from. Served with rice, the lettuce, chili paste, and another banchan of beansprouts added to the table. They don't quite have their timings down right (remember, they haven't run a restaurant before) - the main course arrived while I was on my second dumpling. The waitress wanted to clear away my dumplings. No. You don't get to take my dumplings. So she left the four plates on the next table over, for me to retrieve, because she never came back to the table. (550 pesos)
You'd think I wouldn't go back after that, but the food was really delicious, and I can see the potential there, but I can see it as a steep learning curve for them.
So I went back with a friend on another night, and they were closed, after confirming via Facebook they were open. (Turns out that their gas had been shut off, so they just went home.) So we went back another night, after calling and getting a confirmation that they were open and there.
And, as I said, this time the dumplings, the beef ones, were piping hot. (280 pesos)
But back to that timing thing. I ordered a couple of appetizers to come out as my main course, Henry ordered a main course. Mine came out... with apologies from the waitress this time, around the time we finished the dumplings, but a solid 10 minutes or more before his main course came out. Love the chojang coated grilled sweetbreads on rice. That's a winner right there. The Korean chicken wasn't quite what I expected. I was thinking of the typical Korean fried chicken that we all know and love, I mean, it did say "crunchy chicken wings), this is a half dozen wing sections, not breaded and fried, so not crunchy, in sweet and salty sauce, but no spiciness. Asked for and received some chili paste, which we added to them. And, we got kimchi with these. No other banchan. (290 and 280 pesos)
The L.A. Myeon, a wordplay on the southern California roots perhaps, came out. We liked it. I can't say we were wowed by it. It's basically the Korean version of ramen - lamyeon (there's that wordplay, see it now?). So much more that could be done to make that bowl more attractive. The broth was good, albeit fairly light, the noodles were decent, and there was a bit of beef and vegetables throughout. It could have just been more... arranged... like their other plates, and as ramen often is. And still no banchan. Just kind of inconsistent on that front. (400 pesos)
Let's get to the "look, dude, you got punked" part. Apparently, obviously, the whole place was "designed". But like really designed. They worked with someone who not only designed the space, but much of the "concept". And... the name. Because, you see, they asked the designer to come up with a name that not only had a cool sound to it, but that would communicate the concept of "Asian", "Oriental".... and the designer came back with the locally unrecognizable (unless you're Croatian) word zuti... which means "Yellow".
Just let that one sit and roll around in your woke brain for a moment.