Wed 11 May 2005
Kum Gang San Korean Restaurant
49 West 32nd Street
New York, NY 10001
212 967 0909
32nd Street, between Broadway and 5th Ave is the heart of Korea town in New York City. This block is jammed packed with everything Korean including Korean restaurants, Korean food markets, Korean clothing and specialty shopping, Karaoke bars, cafes, night clubs, massage parlors and who knows what else. My cousin Brian told me about an underground poker room somewhere around here.. Anyone care to comment about this? 
Anyhow, we went out for lunch at one of the first Korean restaurants off of Broadway called Kum Gang San. “san” in Chinese (and think in Korean also) means mountain and the funny thing is they actually brought the mountain into this restaurant. The entire east wall is made of a composite rock surface with a flowing waterfall. This brings me to the next highlight of this restaurant and that is the caves and platforms for a live music band that performs on this rock wall! The result is a Fred Flintsone kind of feeling in this restaurant with the caves and the white piano on top. (just created a new category “over the top” for those restaurants such as Golden Bridge Restaurant that go the extra mile ;-0 )
Getting back to the food however, I must say the Korean food here is pretty good as well.
They have some great lunch specials including the galbi spare ribs Korean lunch box for under$10.
I got the Bi Bim Bap but was kind of disappointed that it was only served in the stone bowl but not cooked in it. The difference is the amount of crispiness of the rice from the heat of the bowl. It was still good however and was only $7.95
May 21st, 2005 at 10:05 pm
Kum Gang San might possible have the best korean BBQ in Manhattan
July 17th, 2005 at 6:42 am
I really enjoyed all of the food!
July 17th, 2005 at 6:43 am
Great Food
November 8th, 2005 at 8:21 am
Really good food…just to clarify if you want the heated stone bi bam bap…order the dolsot bi bam bap. The earthstone pot will come back nice and hot. Yum!
May 16th, 2006 at 6:41 pm
[...] There’s a nice review of Kum Gang San on Plate of the Day. Here it is. [...]
October 2nd, 2006 at 10:52 pm
Best Korean in all of Manhattan. If you haven’t experienced what everyone is talking about, you must make a visit soon!
November 18th, 2006 at 4:10 pm
This was a first for my wife and I and i must say that the food was excellent and very healthy.
Definitely worth a return visit whenin New York next.
May 7th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
MMM, just thinking about this place is making my mouth water. If you want a fun place perfect for big groups and loud laughs, take it to the max and check out this spot; you’ll have a fun time and leave feeling happy guaranteed. Just a tip: make sure you order the “special” kalbi, it’s different from the regular kalbi bbq, i think they use their own special sauce or something, it’s AMAZING.
August 1st, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Kum Kang San is the worst Korean restaurant. They were shut down by the health department last year for 2 weeks. I wouldn’t eat there even if the food was free.
August 9th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Bibimbapis my favorite Korean dish. Thanks for the tips.