Do Hwa

Do Hwa offers a variety of authentic, delicious Korean dishes that are perfect for sharing with friends.
 
Online Exclusive Review, March 5, 2010
A friend of ours who is Chinese grew up in Great Neck currently lives outside of Philadelphia and wanted a taste of Korea when she came to visit Manhattan. At her behest, we hightailed it to Do Hwa in the West Village. We had a fun night as well as a wonderful meal, thanks to the variety of dishes we tried and the stylized manner in which the many plates were served.
We’re no strangers to the lure of spirits, and a naughty School Girl ($9) cocktail with passion fruit and champagne made it to the table as did a Sake Martini ($9) with sake, vodka and a crisp slice of cucumber for garnish. Both duly moved us all to have at least another.
We had to get two orders of Gamja Buchim ($7) to start (Korea’s scrumptious version of potato pancakes). Japchae ($12) was a heaping plate of sesame glass noodles sautéed with julienne vegetables that was certainly an ample enough portion to pass around. Seng Sun Jun ($10.00) with thinly sliced cod in an egg batter was better than it sounds—it reminded us of tasty Moo Goo Gai Pan. Tuna Sashimi and Avocado salad ($9/sm, $12/lg) was delicious, enlightened by an assortment of greens done up with a keen ginger dressing. Kimchi, the traditional spicy cabbage preparation, was nicely tempered in the Mandu Gui ($9) pan-fried beef dumplings.
Bibimbops are standard Korean fare generally loaded up with chili sauce. The great Hwe Dup Bop ($21) was served cold with salmon and tuna sashimi, rice and dried seaweed. We ordered our Classic Dol-Soht Bibimbop ($16.25) hot-pot style, however, with rice on the bottom, beef, a lot of chopped vegetables and an over-easy egg on the top to stir in. Strips of beef bulgogi (not unlike a Steak-Um) to be wrapped in romaine and shiso leaves were also served with an arsenal of small, white bowls filled with prepared banchan sides such as burdock root, tofu and mung beans for accompaniments.
Chilled shots of ginger and cinnamon tea with bourbon called 1st and 7th ($9) were perfect digestifs to accompany our sugar-dusted Beignets ($9) with raspberry coulis—surely that translates from New York to Korea and anywhere in between. —Peter Sherwood