To learn more about the art of bibimbap, we’ll be visiting various restaurants to try different interpretations of this classic Korean dish. We’ll post our thoughts and photos after each visit.

Restaurant: Cafe Duke
Location: 140 W 51st St, New York, NY 10020

What We Ordered: Bibimbap, $8.95

Toppings: beef (marinated), zucchini, carrots, cucumber, bean sprouts (seasoned), spinach (seasoned), burdock weed, lettuce leaf shreds, shittake mushrooms, fried egg, sesame seeds

Rice: white

Our Thoughts: Cafe Duke on 51st Street is a large food court that serves everything from sushi to sandwiches to Korean fare. The bibimbap comes prepackaged in a large plastic bowl, so there is no wait time. The rice comes as a side in a Styrofoam container and you also get a little container of kimchi. We found the big plastic bowl to be optimal in mixing everything - the large surface area helped us avoid any overspill.

The major difference in this bibimbap was the beef, which is basically bulgogi, slices of sweet marinated beef that is featured as its own meal in the bulgogi deop bap. Having a strong meat presence gave the bibimbap a quality we hadn’t seen in previous bowls. Also, having a fried egg was a welcome touch, although we wish the yolk was runnier. Overall, Cafe Duke’s bibimbap lacked a bit in freshness, especially since its bean sprouts and spinach were overly seasoned and very soggy. But the rice to toppings ratio was good, and for $8.95, the whole package was a good deal. If only they could figure out how to keep the dish warm for longer.