Camera in the Kitchen: Kofoo

Kofoo, whose name is derived from the combination of "Korean" and "food", serves up home style Korean food in a small take-out space around the corner from FIT in Chelsea. Their delicious food is cheap, fast, fresh, and with their fairly extensive menu allows for one to try something new on every visit. That is, if you don't find something you love so much that you feel the need to get it every time you go there.

We tend to stick to the freshly prepared kimbap—the spicy tuna with carrot, cucumber and pickled radish in particular—because...we like it. A lot. One order of kimbap—about 13 pieces—also makes for an adequate sized meal that leaves us satisfied and not on the verge of suffering from stomach explosion, a possibility that exists with some of Kofoo's other large-portioned items.

When we're in a hurry for lunch we grab one of their $6 pre-made assorted kimbap boxes, which contain one piece of each of their 10 different kinds of kimbap and one piece of yubu cho bob (a pocket of deep fried tofu stuffed with seasoned rice). Probably because we're not used to the taste, we feel no love towards the cheese kimbap—in which a mildly gooey sliver of American cheese lurks among the other inoffensive fillings—but we like everything else, the spicy tuna in particular.

Their $8 eel dup bop is a great deal for a generous portion of broiled eel atop a bed of sautéed vegetables on rice, but usually ends up being too much food for one meal. Of course, you could just eat half of it and save the rest for later, but if you're anything like us (that is, you really like broiled eel) you may end up trying to finish it and hugging your belly afterwards wondering why you couldn't just control the urge to devour all of the sweet, tender eel meat.

Kofoo's bibimbap could also be spread out over two meals. Mix their large container of egg, cucumber, carrot, shiitake mushroom, squash, seaweed, bean sprout, and choice of beef, tofu, chicken or seaweed salad with rice (white or brown are offered) and spicy sauce for a filling dish.

We wish there were more convenient places like Kofoo around the city. Luckily we work just around the corner, allowing us to satiate our craving for Korean food every day.

Kofoo is located at 334 8th Ave (between 26th and 27th streets). 212-675-5277