![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/254966e2ba2b4e375da3c8bbdb1c764d3d-Fish---Chips-Musaek-04.rsquare.w700.jpg\")
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Musaek<\/a><\/p>\n \n 6 E 32nd St, nr. 5th Ave.\n <\/p>\n \n A riff on fish and chips. A specialty of the South Korean coastal city Sokcho, mulhoe is fish stew that\u2019s perfect for summer. Spicy raw fish is served chilled with a cold soup and, of course, cold noodles. At Musaek<\/a>, on the eastern fringe of Koreatown, the soup is served on the side and the noodles are bouncy konjac. \u201cIt\u2019s basically like a seafood sashimi with cold broth. It\u2019s so savory and so refreshing,\u201d says the restaurant\u2019s co-owner, Danny Hanh. \u201cIt\u2019s tangy, sweet, and has some acid from vinegar and lemon \u2014 you pour it over the seafood.\u201d<\/p>\n The man behind the mulhoe is chef Lenny Moon, who worked at Jungsik<\/a> and was the executive chef at Hortus<\/a>. Now he\u2019s joined up with the trio behind the fledgling Urimat Hospitality Group, which has opened three spots this year, all in a 30,000-square-foot space stretching from 32nd Street to 31st Street. The others are Howoo<\/a>, a beef-centric Korean BBQ spot, and Dubuhaus<\/a>, with homemade tofu. Here, the focus is on seafood.<\/p>\n Occupying the 12,000-square-foot basement below the two other restaurants, Musaek is reached through a long hallway. It\u2019s dimly lit and attractive with dark-green banquettes flanking a U-shaped bar at the center of the room. The ribbed glass above blurs the bottles and there\u2019s muted light coming from under the bar\u2019s countertop. It\u2019s a place where, Hanh says, they want to introduce seafood dishes that are otherwise not often seen in the city\u2019s Korean restaurants.<\/p>\n In addition to the mulhoe, that includes jiritang, a type of monkfish soup. The port city of Masan is known for monkfish, Hanh says, and it\u2019s associated with the spicy monkfish stew called agujjim. Here, the jiritang broth is flavored with ginger and large Korean green onions. Samhap comes with octopus that\u2019s braised in dashi and sliced thin, stir-fried kimchee, tiny fried enoki mushrooms, and ricotta ssamjang. Wando seaweed is made into a jelly topped with uni, ikura, and soy sauce; chungmu gimbap comes with fried green onion, spicy squid, and radish kimchi.<\/p>\n \n Mussels on ice. While there\u2019s a bit of nostalgia on the menu, too \u2014 in the form of deep-fried shrimp heads meant to evoke Seukkang shrimp crackers, a favorite childhood snack of the chefs \u2014 not everything is pulled from the peninsula: Moon also makes fish and chips with shishamo, a type of smelt that Koreans call \u201cice fish,\u201d that\u2019s vodka- and beer-battered and deep-fried. These are small fish, packed with roe and edible bones. Along with the potatoes, which are steamed then fried, the dish is brightened up with a white kimchee slaw.<\/p>\n All of the fried food will, the group hopes, get people drinking cocktails. John Roel Carp, who worked at the nearby bar Osamil Upstairs<\/a>, designed a menu of drinks that are all clarified and made in batches. They\u2019re mostly made with Korean ingredients, too: Think basil-infused vodka with hallabong or Jeju mandarin; tequila with barley tea; and Toki whiskey with perilla leaf that\u2019s baked and dried. The idea, Hanh says, is to \u201cshare the flavors\u201d between the bar and dining room.<\/p>\n EAT LIKE THE EXPERTS.<\/p>\n Sign up for the Grub Street newsletter.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n
\n Photo: Courtesy of Musaek\n <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/10899e143553ae57959204944cc6919f66-Mussels-Musaek-03.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\")
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\n Photo: Courtesy of Musaek\n <\/p>\n