FoodMayhem

Boka 9 St. Mark’s Place, New York, NY 10003 is a bar on St. Mark’s Place with Korean bar food. It fits perfectly into this college strip and takes me back to the days where my friends cared more about drinking than eating. Boka has the most confused set of waitstaff I have ever seen. Good intention is there but they often just look so confused, holding plates and looking around, and then 3 different people asking us the same question. That happened at least twice. Oh, and I almost forgot how they didn’t seem to understand that whole reservation concept.

The reason we chose this place is because they are a franchisee of The Bonchon Chicken, the Korean fried chicken that has gained a following. We ordered Soy Garlic and Hot. It’s nice that there’s a variety of serving sizes and you can choose wings, drumsticks, or a mix. I really like how crispy the skin is and most of the meat is moist and tender. The flavor was weak because they seamed to have skimped on the sauce. It looked like a little bit was just brushed on, missing parts and pieces.

Sarah and Tim have had Bonchon before and noticed this one being much less saucy. Tim noted previous Bonchon experiences to be extra sticky due to the sauce, which was not the case here. We asked for more sauce which they begrudgingly gave us.

There’s a pretty full menu otherwise, similar to any Korean bar you’d find in K-town, bibimbop, pancakes, skewers, japchae, etc. We liked the Kimchee Tuna Tartare, a basic tuna in spicy mayo sauce with chunks of avocado. It’s actually a very generic dish with just kimchee on top, but Lon will pretty much eat anything with that spicy mayo sauce on it.

We also ordered the assortment of skewers (2 each of everything). The meatballs weirded me and Sarah out because they tasted like ham but had the texture of dry ground meat. The shrimp was just a piece of shrimp. The rest tasted the same, like sugar and soy sauce. The Pork Belly was the best because it’s pork belly.

At $25 per person (including tax and tip), I can think of lots of of other places I’d rather be, but I would eat Bonchon chicken again, mainly for that crispy skin. I will likely try a different location though.