K-Town on Shabolovka is the second branch of a new fast food chain from bartender-restaurateur Alexander Kan. While you’ll have to leave the Garden Ring to get there, the restaurant is just a short walk from Shabolovskaya metro station. On your way to try some cheap, tasty Korean eats you can see the famous Shukhov Tower, a masterpiece of constructivist architecture.
Kan is the co-owner of various trendy establishments in the city including “Nikuda ne edem,” “Projector,” and “Kvartira,” but K-Town is his first foray into the fast food industry. Named after New York’s Korean neighborhood, K-Town Noodle Bar is on the cozy side, seating just 30 or so people. The menu consists of dishes of adapted Korean cuisine or “Koryo-saram,” which is the self-designation of Koreans living in the former states of the Soviet Union.
The main dish is kuksu (or kuksi) — a spicy soup with traditional Korean noodles and vegetables (290 rubles). A warning: it has quite the kick! Sides come at prices unheard of in Moscow — the kimchi salad is just 90 rubles, while the pickled fern and beef salad is 150 rubles.
If kuksu isn’t your thing create your own dish in the fried rice section of the menu where you pay for additional ingredients. The chicken, spicy kimchi and fried egg brings a little taste of the East to your dining table (250 rubles). Alternatively order jap chae, traditional Korean glass noodles, with your preferred additions.
The menu wouldn’t be complete without dumplings, which you can order both steamed and fried (195 rubles), with meat and kimchi or meat and vegetables. Looking for something to really fill you up? Try the Korean steamed meat pies. They’re called pigodi here, but elsewhere in Moscow known as pian-se (110 rubles). Pian-se are said to have originated in the 1980s from Koreans living in Sakhalin, a Russian island in the North Pacific.
Stick with the Korean theme and order a Hite beer (180 rubles) or perhaps take a walk on the wild side with more adventurous Korean offerings like Stout Black or Max (250 rubles). Even better, try some rice ale, called “kamdi” (80 rubles), which is quite a rare drink in Moscow.
+7 (495) 298 7821
29 Ulitsa Shabolovka, Bldg. 2.
Metro Shabolovskaya k-town.ru
