A few weeks ago, I got together with two old friends from the New York food blogging world. We all wrote and documented food stories for the long gone but not forgotten Midtown Lunch.
This was before Tik Tok and Instagram – in simpler times when you could find a meal for $10 or less.
Naturally, we met up in Midtown at a hot spot that is accessible at lunch and ordered as many interesting plates as we could afford.
I had Sam Sunny on my radar for a bit and thought sharing this Korean comfort food with old food friends was the best possible way to check it out.
The dishes were all great from a plump spicy kimchi shrimp scallop pancake to a bright red rice cake gochujang stew with a side of fried squid to a tasting of their excellent Korean fried chicken.
But when I think back to it, the one dish that keeps coming to my mind were the delicate galbi mandu.
These little dumplings were stuffed with a juicy filling of sweet and earthy beef short ribs. It had a kiss of ginger and other spices and a burst of flavor.
While we were very equitable in sharing, there were three of us and four dumplings. When the fourth mandu sat there for the majority of the meal out of politeness, I finally couldn’t stop myself from popping a second one in my mouth.
If anybody understood, it was my food blogging friends. I’m looking forward to another memorable meal again soon. And this time I’ll let one of them get the extra dumpling. Maybe. Price: $12
| SAM SUNNY |
| 517 Second Avenue (between East 28th and East 29th Streets), Kips Bay (212) 837-1044 |
| samsunnynyc.com |
