Baroo, which opened in Sept 2023, was the result of a collaboration between Chef Kwang Uh and his wife Mina Park.  The pair had previous small places starting in 2018 and after much evolution opened this concept featuring a Korean fusion.  Presently they serve only one tasting menu but hope to offer vegetarian options in the future.  Their price point is on the low end of tasting menus in LA at $110 and they also offer wine pairings.  They offer Korean beverage pairings but they were not available that night.  After hearing about the options we ordered our own bottle of wine and a glass of red for the meat course, which is the only course you have a choice on.  The menu offered pork collar but beef short rib could be substituted for $12.  We opted to have one of each.  It was a medium-sized place with small bare wood tables and low lighting.  The fairly spartan interior goes well with the re-developed warehouse district it was in.  The Uber driver drove right past it and dropped us off at the end of the building but it was not hard to find from there.  The friendly staff were willing to answer questions and the pacing of the meal was pretty rapid with no long pauses, almost feeling rushed at times.  However, the food was wonderful and full of flavor.     I understand their earlier ventures were even better but this one is plenty good enough to add to your go-to list.   If you want to read another blogger’s fine accounting of their meal here, check out melhuang1972.

Set-Up

 

Food

The menu is inspired by the Buddhist view of a human life cycle from pre-birth to death.  There were 2 parts to the TAE course, which starts it off with a sea crisp and a cup of squash soup.  Both are excellent but the soup borders on divine.

Next was nduja on red yeast cherry bread.  This one had good spiciness and fun textures.  An excellent start to the tasting.

 

YANG was a Hokkaido scallop, seared and topped with puffed rice in a citrusy broth.  Very nice and the texture the rice added was really nice.

 

SAENG was a battered sole on a leaf of Bibb lettuce.   The crisp batter on the outside of the tender fish was to be wrapped in the leaf and eaten like a wrap.  There was a sauce on top that was slightly stronger tasting.   The green coating was different yet well done.

 

DAE was a soy braised Black Cod in a cool (temperature) preparation.  The sauce was spectacular, as was the fish but even better when you mixed in the side bits of kimchi and fried green papaya.  Yummy.

 

WANG was the pork collar option and the meat here was tender with a wonderful curry based sauce.  The setup was the same on both main course meat options with the white kimchi between the leaf and meat.  The Short rib had some crunchy bits on the exterior and another sauce based on burdock.  Both meats were tender with different enhancing sauces.  You couldn’t go wrong with either choice.

 

BYUNG was fried thin greens on top of rice mixed with XO sauce and other seasonings.  It was very good but not as wow-inspiring as the previous dishes.

 

JEOL was melon panna cotta custard topped with sorrel ice and then a crispy thin layer.  The idea was to chop up the top and mix it all together.  It was only mildly sweet but filled with fun textures and temperature variations.  It was a perfect end to the meal and life cycle.