“Nōksu is located underneath the 32nd Street subway station which is unconventional for a typical fine dining restaurant.” Bon Appétit spends a day on the line with Jing Wen Ng, Chef de cuisine at Nōksu in New York City. Located in the subway, no gas stoves or open fires are allowed, so chefs must get creative with their techniques.
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00:00Noksu is located underneath the 32nd Street subway station, which is unconventional for
00:09a typical fine dining restaurant.
00:12Working in the subway station definitely has its limitations.
00:15We can't have any guest stoves or open fires, and we have to get creative with intricate
00:20techniques.
00:21It's also a small space, so we have a really small team.
00:25As the chef de cuisine, I'm cooking, plating, and creating, but I'm also in charge of
00:29the operations.
00:31People come in the subway, they're not really expecting anything, and then here we are doing
00:35all this cool, excite-y stuff.
00:43I'm here at Noksu—oh my god, so awkward!
00:49Hi, my name is Jing.
00:50I'm the chef de cuisine here at Noksu.
00:52It's located underneath the subway station.
00:55Let's get to work!
00:57So, to get into a restaurant, we actually input a code, because we don't want people
01:02from the subway station to just walk into the restaurant.
01:04It also gives a little speakeasy vibe.
01:06So, we change this code daily.
01:09So, this is a restaurant.
01:11It's 15 C's Chef's Counter.
01:13This place used to be a barbershop, so our owner Bobby was actually inspired by the movie
01:18Jiro Dreams of Sushi, where the restaurant is actually located in the Shibuya subway
01:23station.
01:24So, he decided to create one here in New York City.
01:27This is the main area of the kitchen, where we prep, we cook, and we serve everything.
01:32Chef De and Chef Fred are already here, so I have to go and change and get to work.
01:36So, this area is what we call the cave, because it's technically underground.
01:41It's kind of under construction still.
01:44This location is not owned by the MTA.
01:45It's actually part of the Martini Cotel.
01:47It's going to be a dessert hall in the future, and they have very kindly built us a little
01:53area where we store our dry stuff.
01:56In the subway station, there's not a ton of space in the main kitchen.
01:59So, I'm going to go over here to change.
02:01I got to change now, so see you later.
02:09The first thing I do when I come in and work is look at the prep list.
02:12So, we fill out the prep list the night before, based on the reservations.
02:16So, today we have two seatings or 14.
02:19We're doing 28 covers.
02:20For example, I wrote oysters.
02:22With 28 people today, we're going to chuck 29 oysters with one extra, just in case it
02:28falls on the floor or something.
02:30I typically check in with Chef Ren over here.
02:33Hi, Chef Ren.
02:34Hey, Chef.
02:35How are you?
02:36As the chef de cuisine for the restaurant, I have to make sure that things are done in
02:38a timely manner and that we have the prep we need for the day.
02:42He is our AM sous chef, and he is in charge of all the AM prep in the kitchen.
02:49Can you make the dashi foam and then fry the big boy pringies?
02:52Yes, Chef.
02:53I see it.
02:54Okay, cool.
02:56It's definitely easier to prep for a tasting menu, especially a tasting counter like this,
03:01knowing how many people are coming in, so that we don't over-prep or under-prep.
03:05Cool, so I'm going to start the swap sauce, and I'm going to go grab the swap wings right now.
03:14This is Chef De.
03:15He's our executive chef.
03:16Hey, guys.
03:18These are the swap wings.
03:20We break down from the squabs because we don't serve them to the guests, so we use it for
03:25the sauce.
03:26Squab is a pigeon.
03:27It's a domesticated pigeon.
03:28We get our squabs from California.
03:31We like to make fun that, oh, we're using the pigeons from the subway, but no, obviously
03:35we get them from a purveyor.
03:37The first thing I do is sear the swap wings.
03:40We want to caramelize the swap wings to get the most flavor out of the squabs.
03:45It's very important that the oil is really hot before we start.
03:49When we deglaze it later with the Madeira and port, all that caramelization in the bottom
03:54is going to transfer into the sauce and make it nice and tasty.
03:57I think squab has a really nice gamey flavor to it.
04:00It's like a cross between duck and chicken.
04:03We do serve half a squab head.
04:05It has a texture of a soft-shell crab, so you're supposed to eat the whole thing in
04:09one bite.
04:10Because of the limitation of the space, we're in a subway station, we can't really have
04:14gas hooked into the space, so we use electric stove.
04:19We have a nice little hood to suck up all the smoke.
04:23Then we're going to use the same rondeau to finish cooking the vegetables and to make
04:27the sauce.
04:28So we add things here in layers, just like Chef De's cooking has a lot of layers in them.
04:33You want to extract the most flavor out of each vegetable.
04:37So you get them from adding things from different stages before moving on to the next one.
04:41So here we have black peppercorns and doenjang, a Korean soybean paste.
04:45It adds another layer and texture because it's fermented.
04:48At the CDC, I make this sauce because I think it's a little technical and I really enjoy
04:54making it.
04:55It's therapeutic.
04:56Pour it.
04:57It's a 45 wine, so it has more sugar than regular red wine and we use this for the sauce
05:02just to add a little bit of sweetness into it.
05:04So I'm going to bring this down to sec, which means I'm going to take it down until it's
05:08dry.
05:09I'm using it low and slow to extract the most flavor out of the squab wings as well as the
05:15vegetables.
05:16Uh-oh.
05:17The induction just kind of stopped working.
05:20I'm going to have to reset it.
05:22Definitely one of the struggles, so.
05:28Things get broken here.
05:29I do have to find solutions to fix it.
05:31This is a part of being a chef de cuisine for the restaurant.
05:34Yeah, she's back.
05:36I'm going to add the Madeira in here and it has that more acidic flavor.
05:41So it has that nice like fermented barrel oak flavor.
05:45This still needs to reduce for about 10 to 15 minutes and I'm going to add the Yeolju
05:51and then the mushroom essence, which is the last thing that goes into this sauce.
05:55In the meantime, I'm going to start with pastry stuff, which is something that I do as a CDC
06:01in this restaurant.
06:03Right now, we're making the Hawthorne Grenadier that goes on top of the free dessert.
06:09It's a palate cleanser.
06:12The bottom, there's pistachio custard and then it's taco berry sorbet, chrysanthemum
06:17foam and topped with this Hawthorne Grenadier.
06:21Verju, it's like a non-alcoholic grape juice.
06:25It's nice and tart and acidic.
06:28This is a cherry puree that I'm adding into the Verju.
06:31We don't have a pastry chef because essentially we're just like a very small restaurant.
06:37There's only four or five of us cooking in this kitchen at one time.
06:41You can't have a tasting menu without desserts.
06:44Haw Flakes is like a traditional Chinese candy.
06:49It looks kind of like that.
06:50It's like a little disc.
06:51This is a childhood snack for me and Chef Dei actually.
06:55I'm from Singapore and we do have this candy and I hated it as a child, but it has a really
07:00good acidic flavor.
07:01I think it goes really well with the taco berry.
07:02So now I'm adding the glucose.
07:04It's kind of like wet sugar.
07:07Glucose actually helps to thicken the product that I'm making and also makes it sweeter.
07:11So this will come up to a boil and then I'm going to let the Haw Flakes steep for about
07:1530 minutes before I strain it and then make something else out of it.
07:19While this is going, I'm going to be adding the Veal Jiu into the squab sauce.
07:23There's a lot of multitasking going on.
07:25For example, like this is boiling, I have time to do something else so I don't have
07:29to stand here and wait.
07:30We don't have a whole lot of time before service.
07:32I do have a ticking clock in my head always.
07:35I try to like, in my head, mentally, like time each project.
07:40I know that this is going to take three hours to make, so I'm going to start it first.
07:43Oh, it's boiling.
07:48I'm just going to strain it into a pint.
07:51Now it's a syrup, yeah.
07:53So now I'm going to make the actual grenadine mix.
07:57It's a ratio of syrup to water, so I use this tool called the refractometer.
08:02The refractometer measures the sugar content in the mixture and then from there we can
08:08figure out if it's the right percentage that we want or we can adjust it with more syrup
08:14or more water.
08:15We're trying to hit between 18 to 22.
08:18That's the most ideal because anything more than that would be too sweet and then it wouldn't
08:22snap like a grenadine would.
08:24That's just what we do.
08:25We strive for perfection.
08:27Right now it's very low, so I'm going to add more syrup to adjust it.
08:30A brix is just a measurement unit for the sugar content.
08:33So when you put any liquid or something that you want to measure on here, it shines a light
08:39and the light would refract whatever solid, in this case it's sugar, in there and it measures
08:44how much light is refracted.
08:46Okay, perfect.
08:47We're at 19.
08:48And now we're going to put them into the molds and then I'm going to blast freeze it.
08:53So we only have one of these molds here, so that's why I'm doing it one tray at a time.
08:58Also, space.
09:00We only have this little blast freezer that can only hold up to two trays and there's
09:04already a couple things in there.
09:06The blast freezer is different from a normal freezer.
09:09The blast freezer is 14 trays.
09:11Yeah.
09:12Next I'm going to do some inventory and invoicing because as a chef de cuisine for the restaurant,
09:16you're also in charge of the operation side of things and that's just what entails it.
09:22This is our ordering board where we write down the things that we need to order.
09:26There's also the clipboard where we put all our invoices as well as the order guides that
09:31I use to place orders.
09:33So the chef de parties will write down what they would need for me to order.
09:38I also put down a cutoff times over here because different purveyors have different ordering
09:44cutoff times basically.
09:45It's actually easier to order for a smaller restaurant, especially for a tasting menu.
09:50Well based on the reservations, we can tell how many people are coming in for the week
09:53and then we'll order accordingly.
09:56But we also don't want to order too much earlier in the week.
10:00Space is very limited here because we are in a subway station and we just try to make
10:05everything work.
10:06I take my order guide here and then I look through the regions to see what we have, what
10:12we don't have and I'll write it down and then I'll place the orders after.
10:16I'll also grab the invoice clipboard and I'll start scanning the invoice into a system
10:21that we use.
10:22That way we can track inventory and make sure we're not overspending.
10:27It's called Cruftable.
10:28It's a really powerful tool that we use to track our inventory, our spending.
10:33I use that to calculate costing.
10:35It keeps track of the price changes for the ingredients.
10:40So then I'll know what costs more now while I have to source for a cheaper product.
10:45That is my job as CDC, is also to sustain the business because at the end of the day
10:50the restaurant is still a business.
10:51The goal is to have the menu cost below 25%.
10:56Usually the most expensive thing right now in this restaurant are actually the squabs
11:00and we typically get about three to four cases a week and that would cost us maybe like $1,700.
11:06I like to budget weekly spending between $4,000 and $5,000.
11:12So right now this is done.
11:13I'm going to be making the truffle pearls, which is kind of like a cool little science-y
11:17project that we have here in the restaurant.
11:20It's really cool.
11:21So this is just really cold oil that we would need to make the spears.
11:28The spears are basically just little like truffle pearls.
11:32It looks like very, very small, tiny boba.
11:35This is kind of like a spherification process.
11:38So we're going to add agar into this and once it hits the cold oil, it's going to seize
11:43up immediately and it's going to spear up almost like right away.
11:46This is mushroom essence and truffle juice that I'm putting in here.
11:50We make the mushroom essence in-house.
11:52It's cremini mushrooms cooked down with water.
11:55We're going to add squid ink for color.
11:57It's just the sound of Chef Dang.
12:00It's a sign that you know he's in the kitchen.
12:04He's hashing some perilla.
12:06So this goes onto the oyster dish.
12:09I'm going to add dashi.
12:11Dashi is a stock made with kombu and bonito.
12:15For agar to activate, it needs to boil for at least a minute while you're whisking.
12:19If not, it's not going to work.
12:22Agar is a setting agent.
12:24This is a rack of chemicals.
12:27They're also called hydrocolloids, which we use in cooking and it basically helps to stabilize
12:33sauces that we make.
12:34Chef Dang loves the chemical rack.
12:37It does feel like a science experiment and it's definitely very fun to play with.
12:41It just helps to make a better product.
12:44For example, in like sauce making, it can help to prevent things from splitting too
12:49quickly.
12:50I'm going to just like transfer it here so I can put it in a squeeze bottle.
12:53It doesn't have to sit in the oil for too long.
12:55It almost just starts to sphere instantly once I add the mixture in there.
13:00It does really have to be very cold for it to work.
13:03I'm just spinning the bowl as I'm dripping the chocolate spheres in there so that it's
13:09not too hot.
13:19All right, we're just done here.
13:21I only knew I wanted to be a chef when I was about 14.
13:26I really suck at school and I think it's the only thing I'm really good at, so that's why
13:31I'm doing it.
13:32It's actually really fun.
13:33This is just a passet or a passoir that we use to strain stuff.
13:38A lot of French lingo, a lot of kitchen lingo.
13:41It really just turns into nice little pearls.
13:44Chef Dang had this idea of making the dish look like it's in a pond.
13:48So the spheres look like the soil next to a lake or a pond.
13:54It also adds an interesting texture and flavor to the dish.
13:58It's really pretty and I think the guests enjoy it and if they enjoy it, then I think
14:02it makes it all very meaningful and worth it for all of us.
14:05And it's almost 3.30 now, so I'm going to start making the beignets.
14:12So I have the beignet batter over here as well as the ISI gun, which I am going to charge
14:18the batter in.
14:20The ISI gun is typically used to aerate any kind of products.
14:25It's very commonly whipped cream, but I use it for the beignet to incorporate more air
14:30into the dough so it's nice and fluffy.
14:33This batter is almost like a sourdough.
14:36It has yeast in there so it's alive and it's constantly fermenting.
14:41So this dish is basically a savory custard made with parmesan as well as a little bit
14:46of uni and some truffle oil to make it extra luxurious.
14:49Right now I'm going to charge this gun.
14:51Charging the gun means that I am putting nitrogen, this guy, in here.
14:58So now it is charged and ready to be piped, so I'm just shaking it up to incorporate all
15:04the guests from the little charger.
15:06It aerates it basically.
15:08The induction burner actually brings things up quicker than a typical guest stove because
15:13of all the magnet from the actual induction clings on to the pot or pan that we're using
15:19and it heats it up almost like instantly.
15:21I want it at between 180 to 200.
15:28So I do make sure that there's a little bit of oil in the ladle before I pipe the batter
15:32in there just so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the ladle.
15:36Right after I pipe it, it should start to bubble.
15:38It's the right temperature and then I'm going to baste it and it should puff up like a little
15:43ball.
15:44So this ladle actually helps keep the shape of the beignet because I want them nice and
15:49round.
15:50As a CDC, I definitely help with a little bit of the creative aspect of the menu.
15:57So this is what it looks like on the inside.
15:59It's nice and airy.
16:00This is before we pipe the parmesan custard that goes in there.
16:03I'll give this Chate's favorite.
16:04He loves it.
16:05Chate, you want one?
16:06Absolutely.
16:07So we just finished frying all the beignets and now I'm going to start cleaning up.
16:11It's currently four o'clock.
16:12We have about two hours until service.
16:19So right now I'm basting the squabs 30 minutes before service to get it ready for service.
16:38We baste this at a lower temperature and then we let it rest for about 30 minutes.
16:43It helps to tighten the skin a little bit so that when we do the final fry at a higher
16:48temperature, it starts to become crispy.
16:51One squab is two portions, so we do 14 squabs all day.
16:57So I'll be here from when service starts at 6 all the way until we close around 11 o'clock.
17:03My role primarily is help plate the food and cook the squabs as well as some small garnish.
17:11Plating is really important in a tasting menu because I think it gives the visual for the
17:16guests to try to understand and see what we're trying to do here.
17:19Especially here in Noksu, we try to be very, very detailed.
17:22During service, it takes us about maybe like 10 minutes to plate some things.
17:26Once service starts, it's like a little dance we do with each other.
17:29We're guest-facing.
17:30I think it's really cool that we're plating the food and then we're serving it to the guests.
17:34All right, so service.
17:35I had to finish frying these squabs.
17:37Thank you for joining me today in the day live at CDC at Noksu.
17:41Come try our food sometime.