Asian Spoons
850 110th Ave. N.E.
425-451-3888
It was by no accident that the new Asian Spoons restaurant was designed with oval imprints throughout the space.
“The designer thought of the imprint of the egg shape as some kind of resting spot – like a nest,” said Steven Jun, chef of Asian Spoons that opened in January.
Owner Young Kim hopes his new restaurant will serve as a downtown hub for diners, especially busy business people looking for a cozy place to eat lunch in a booming city.
Offering fresh fusion cuisine with a modern twist, Asian Spoons is a small restaurant on the corner of 110th Avenue Northeast and Northeast Eighth Street. People can enjoy casual dining in a sophisticated atmosphere with hip music, Wi-Fi and good service, Jun said.
Kim also owns the Bento Box restaurant in the Overlake area that has been around for 25 years and serves many Microsoft employees. The Reporter chatted with Jun about Asian Spoons and its cuisine.
Reporter: What makes Asian Spoons unique?
Jun: It’s fresh fusion cuisine with a modern twist. We named it Asian Spoons because we have different Asian cuisine: Chinese, Korean and Japanese. Then we added a touch of fusion. So we haven’t changed the flavor, but we made the presentation better.
Reporter: Give us an example.
Jun: We have a Crunchy Beef appetizer with thinly sliced onions and we put in water and you can taste the onion flavor in the beef. With presentation, it kind of looks like a mountain. The thin slices of New York steak are lightly deep fried in corn starch and it’s served with garlic chips and finished with garlic ponzu and lemon aioli sauce ($12).
Reporter: Why the Eastside for a new restaurant?
Jun: The owner, Young Kim, has the sense that Bellevue needs some kind of authentic Asian food. Also, there are no Asian restaurants in the area that offer brunch.
Our brunch runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays and our menu includes omelets (Omurice, a Japanese-style rice omelet, is made with assorted vegetables and fried rice, mixed with special sauce: $9). We offer signature classics, such as Brioche French Toast ($8.50); Ricotta Pancakes with mascarpone butter and wild berries ($8.50) and Sweet Potato Brulee (banana-jack fruit spring rolls and caramel sauce: $8.50).
Brunch also includes a Pan-Asian lunch, with options such as Soon-Du-Bu (traditional Korean hot pot tofu with seafood and eggs: $9.50) and Nabeyaki Udon (seafood hot pot with crab, shrimp tempura and chicken breast: $11.50).
Reporter: How has the Bellevue community responded to Asian Spoons cuisine?
Jun: So far, so good. We have two reviews on the internet so far that have rated us a four and a three.
Reporter: What’s for dinner?
Jun: There are two dishes I’m recommending because they have so many vegetables. We have added a lot greens to our dishes to make them healthier and that is also our concept here.
The first one is a Korean dish called Sizzling Bi-Bim-Bap. First, we heat vegetables and rice in vegetable oil in a sizzling bowl. This gives the rice a crunch. There are six different vegetables: carrots, spinach, bean sprouts, shitake mushrooms, cucumber and shredded lettuce. It comes with Korean barbecue beef, eggs over easy, sesame seed oil and seaweed on top. It is served sizzling in a heated stone bowl with a spicy red bean paste ($10.95).
The second one is another Korean dish called Ssam-Bap. ‘Ssam’ means green lettuce; ‘Bap’ means rice. So it’s kind of like Korean-style tacos. You wrap carrots, cucumbers and green peppers in lettuce that has different flavors, along with Bulgogi (Korean barbecue beef) and roasted garlic. It is served with a miso-based sauce ($15.95).
Reporter: Dessert?
Jun: We have added homemade nonfat frozen yogurts with fresh fruits, like sliced strawberries, that people keep coming in to try because they are so good.
Carrie Wood can be reached at 425-453-4290 or cwood@reporternewspapers.com.
