Moono

"The restaurant opens on Wednesday, May 31, at 29 East 32nd Street, between Park and Madison avenues, in partnership with Hand Hospitality — the Korean restaurant group behind Atomix, the two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Nomad, and Ariari in the East Village. It’s the second restaurant from Kim, who opened Jua in Flatiron right before the pandemic and earned a Michelin star as soon as the awards returned. His menu is a la carte this time around, with dishes that pull from various aspects of Korean cooking, most priced between $20 to $30. There’s sections of twigim (fried foods), jeon (pancakes), ssam (lettuce wraps for meats and seafood), and sotbap (pots of rice). Noodles, specifically mul naengmyeon, anchor the lineup. The chef prepares the chilled noodle dish with buckwheat noodles sourced from Maine and a broth made by simmering brisket, shank, and pork belly. Sliced meats, Asian pear, and a boiled egg sit atop the cold dish, which is meant to be eaten year-round. “New Yorkers are getting familiar with bibimbap and galbi,” he says. “Now is the time to show them something different.” The stage this time is a restaurant on the edge of Koreatown that feels like a small palace. Moono has 100 seats spread across the ground floor and an indoor terrace that overlooks the dining room. The high ceilings give the restaurant the appearance of a chapel, or maybe a Wes Anderson hotel. The second floor is accessible by stairwell and elevator. Both passages will eventually lead to a chef’s counter the team is opening upstairs. For now, Moono is open Monday to Saturday, from 5 to 11 p.m." - Luke Fortney