Paju Noodle Bar launches with a colourful comforting menu.
When Paju moved from its tiny digs on Queen Anne to a roomier spot in South Lake Union earlier this 12 months, it opened up considerably extra seats for folks to strive Invoice Jeong’s inventive, fashionable Korean cooking. Now, the much-acclaimed restaurant, in a really perfect spot to greet returning Amazon staff, is about to turn into much more accessible: Beginning January 6, it would function because the informal Paju Noodle Bar throughout weekday lunch hours.
Paju earned its spot on our checklist of town’s 50 finest eating places for its jewel field tributes to Korean flavors, like fried rice, black with squid ink and topped with a confit quail egg yolk. Whereas the noodle bar shares a reputation and area with the unique idea, the one overlapping dish is the much-loved rooster wings. The double-fried wings have run as a particular within the evenings since Paju opened in 2019, however will probably be a staple at lunch, provided in plain, soy garlic, and candy chili flavors. In reality, they’re 1 / 4 of the lunch menu, which makes the meal far less complicated than the multi-course night model, and much cheaper, too, as dishes prime out at $18.
The noodles alluded to within the identify come within the type of both a spicy seafood ramen with shrimp, squid, mussels, and yu choy, or Paju’s tackle seolleongtang, a wealthy oxtail broth with brisket and herbs. Bibimbap rounds out the menu and provides vegetarians an choice, coming with an assortment of mushrooms and greens, plus the selection so as to add tofu, spicy pork, or ribeye bulgogi.
Seolleongtang sits within the higher echelon of soul-warming, SAD-busting soups and ought to be a scorching vendor on these basic gray Seattle days, simply one other astute aspect in Jeong’s good transfer to reap the benefits of the anticipated daytime crowds. And an thrilling win for these employees, too, since one of many solely issues that may make a morning commute higher is understanding that it ends at double-fried soy-garlic rooster wings.
