Kinn - Ktown

[PorkyBelly]

ever since I’ve had chef ki’s excellent food from naemo v1, I’ve been stalking him like a sleazy used car salesman to naemo v2, his popup at yellow house cafe and n/soto.

with his pedigree, blanca (2 stars), jungsik (2 stars), atomix (2 stars), and matsuhisa, i knew i wanted to try his very first restaurant. we’re lucky he decided to open in la.

thanks to @NYCtoLA we were able to try out kinn on their second night of f&f and it was fantastic. huge

everything looked so good we fired the menu and had ooe. everything was good to great, mostly great. highlights were the unmook, k-corn dog, song-ee mushrooms, hen of the wood with sea urchin, turnip with gaejang dressing , hwe of the day, beef tongue, octopus with gochujang aioli, chicken tteok-galbi, and of course the mackerel.

apologies for the crappy pics it was really dark and I was busy stuffing my face. superior pics and review from @NYCtoLA forthcoming…

sergio

gim rice

unmook, clams, fish cake, yubu, sea turban

slurped every last drop

expertly plated by @NYCtoLA

oysters with octopus, cucumber and smoked trout roe

k-corn dog with prosciutto, dungeness crab and homemade ketchup
so good we ordered two

song-ee mushroom with lime

hen of the wood with sea urchin and asian pear

beef tartare with sunchoke and allium

turnip, dongchimi and gaejang dressing
the sleeper hit of the night. the gaejang dressing is

hwe of the day - black cod, halibut, buri, toro

beef tendon with bell pepper and horseradish soy sauce

beef tongue with white kimchi and ssamjang jus

norwegian mackerel with fermented cucumber and perilla oil
half eaten mackerel because I was too busy eating to take a pic

octopus with gochujang aioli and herbs

chicken tteok-galbi with pickled celery and egg yolk

truffle bibimbap with kimchi and winter truffles

fin

kinn
3905 W 6th St
Los Angeles, CA 90020

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[J_L]

So much buzz about this opening. All well deserved! Thanks for the initial intel.

[Pomsmoms]

What was the seating situation like?

[JeetKuneBao]

Damn!

[BringYourBrunch]

Portions look small, but that corn dog looks extremely interesting.

[aaqjr]

stunning and the plate ware is beautiful

[fish_n_rice]

i like small portions

[PorkyBelly]

the restaurant is long and narrow with a 8-10 seat chef’s counter on one side and about 20 more seats of two and four tops on the other side.

[Pomsmoms]

Thank you, for the post and the info!

[PorkyBelly]

reservations for december go live on monday

[rlw]

Looks like half of December is already up:

Resy | Right This Way

I made one for early next month last night.

[PorkyBelly]

November is open too

[Acalicali]

how is the parking situation! Is there valet? or is there a parking lot?

[NYCtoLA]

@Acalicali

how is the parking situation!

There is a parking lot with a valet behind the restaurant. FYI for everybody familiar - this Kinn is right next to the old Here’s Looking At You location.

[PorkyBelly]

five course $59pp tasting menu starting dec 1. hope that doesn’t mean I’m leaving kato-hangry.

Kinn, a modern Korean restaurant, opens in Koreatown

[J_L]

KinnKinnKatoKatoBangBangBangBang

[rlw]

Did Kinn tasting menu edition last night and spoiler alert I left still feeling like I could eat another 5 courses. That said, holy shit I haven’t had such great food from a new restaurant in 2021. It’s bangers front to back.

It’s a tight 5 course menu, currently no supplements, and a small drinks menu with wine and a couple spirits.

I had the “Red Monkey” which was like a nigori style sake, but very red and very yeasty.

Truffle Taco

A nice one biter that ends with a sharp horseradish kick. (One per person)

Branzino Mulhwe

Raw slices of branzino covered with thin slices of persimmon. I don’t know what was in the sauce but it was fantastic and we were scraping it up with our spoons.

Norwegian Mackerel with Buckwheat Noodles

Best cooked mackerel dish I’ve had in my life? As far as I can remember. The hype is real.

The buckwheat noodles were perfectly cooked, and packed with umami when mixed with the condiments beneath it. Small shout out to the little pieces of radish with liver purée.

Chicken Tok-Galbi with Seasonal Rice

A small but nightly ground chicken meatball. It was incredibly juicy—great on its own, with the rice, and eaten as recommended wrapped with a small bite of rice into the thinly sliced radish.

Pig Ice Cream

Not actually pig (well the shortbread cookie looks like one) but a milk ice cream. It was on top of some jammy strawberries and surrounded with a sweet crumble, making it almost like a deconstructed strawberry shortcake ice cream.

I easily could have run it back and done the 5 courses all over again, so hopefully they will bring back some of the dishes @PorkyBelly had as supplements in the future. Or as @J_L points out, there is certainly bang bang potential with Kato, especially once they’re so close.

When we were seated just after 7, we were one of only two parties in the restaurant. But once our 4th course hit, suddenly all the tables were full. The pace was nice—I wouldn’t say fast or rushed—but notably efficient. Our servers were super friendly and helpfully explained all of the dishes. I’m super excited to go back (once there are some more supplements and hopefully the mackerel is a permanent fixture on the menu).

Get your resys in now.

[hungryhungryhippos]

Reminds me of the original days of Kato but I will def have to eat something after lol

[PorkyBelly]

hi @rlw
nice report. so where did you bang after kinn? a bang bang with needle sounds perfect!

[rlw]

Banged with tacos my buddy pointed outside the Numero Uno market on the way back to his place. No pics but would return.

Needle could be ideal—Kinn would have been a nice tummy warm up for that.