HanGawi

[DanM]

My wife and I will be heading into NYC in a couple of weeks and are looking at going to HanGawi, a Korean vegan restaurant. Does anyone know about this place? Any suggestions from the menu? They also have a cafe called Franchia which also looks good.

Thanks!

[David A. Goldfarb]

I've been a few times (I work down the block) for lunch and dinner, and I quite like it. It's very different from typical Korean fare. I'd recommend whatever dishes they are featuring with seasonal ingredients, and the mushroom dishes I've had there are particularly good. I can't remember what it's called, but there is a cold mildly bitter ginseng drink that is served in a bowl that I always like.

[Will]

I've only been to Franchia (their more casual, less expensive, place) in recent years, but I did enjoy my experiences at Hangawi. They manage to make it a very tranquil environment in the middle of the city, without pushing it over the line to over-the-top new agey. The food is expensive for what it is, but was well executed when I visited. Service is also excellent.

Korean temple cuisine is similar to shojin ryori (Japanese temple cuisine). While there are vegetarian restaurants in Korea, so Hangawi and Franchia are, as best I know, the only fully vegetarian Korean places in the US, and surprisingly, we don't have an equivalent in LA, which has a much larger Korean population than NY (keep in mind that, possibly unsurprisingly, non-Koreans do seem to be the core crowd at Hangawi).

They serve and sell wild Korean green tea. While I have talked to tea friends who know more about Korean tea than I do who suggest that Hangawi's tea may not be a good value, or even what it's said to be, but the tea is quite good, but very delicate in flavor.

[Steve R.]

I've only been to Franchia (their more casual, less expensive, place) in recent years, but I did enjoy my experiences at Hangawi. They manage to make it a very tranquil environment in the middle of the city, without pushing it over the line to over-the-top new agey. The food is expensive for what it is, but was well executed when I visited. Service is also excellent.

It's been 20 years since I've been there, dragged by a vegetarian friend who lives in Vermont and meditates quite often (at the direction (suggestion?) of his spiritual master of course). Not that I'm biased against places like this but they're not the big, bold red sauce eyetalian haunts that I so cherish for my own meditative practice.

At any rate, I found the meal exactly as Will describes and I really liked it. Except for sitting in a very uncomfortable position, that is. Twenty years later, I have fond memories of how many types of seaweed I now know I can enjoy without feeling in need of therapy. And I'd go back. But my Vt. friend wont visit this amoral, corrupt big city again so there goes my excuse (and he, like Bernie Sanders and Ben/Jerry, is from Bklyn... sheesh).

[LPShanet]

I concur with all of the above responses and descriptions. And I'd say if you're visiting from out of town, go all in and do Hangawi rather than Franchia (if you're choosing between them and not doing both), since the atmosphere is part of the experience.