All About SEA, New From the Jungsik Team

1. It’s been a long time coming ­— and a lot of work.

The idea for SEA, which stands for South East Asian, has been in Yim’s mind for years. He signed the lease for the space on 30th Street in June 2019, but the pandemic put things on hold.

Yim got the idea for SEA while making family meal for his staff at one of his other restaurants in Korea. There, however, Yim had trouble finding ingredients to make some of the dishes he’d had while traveling in Singapore, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam: lemongrass, Thai basil, cilantro, and coconut milk, for example. But back in New York at Jungsik, he didn’t have the same problem — the markets in Chinatown were more than happy to oblige.

“He’d get the ingredients to make family meal for the staff at Jungsik, and he started to practice making fried rice, and phở, and som tum. That’s when he thought that, one day, this could be a restaurant itself,” Lee explains.

SEA is indeed a departure from Yim’s Korean heritage, which he puts on full display at Jungsik, but this isn’t his first venture into Southeast Asian cuisine. He’s previously hosted pop-ups in Korea called I Phở You, serving Vietnamese food, prior to developing the concept for SEA. And he has also hosted post-shift “Phở Parties” for chefs in New York, inspired by his favorite Vietnamese restaurant in New York, Thái Sơn on Baxter Street. In total, he’s spent close to decade immersing himself in Southeast Asian foodways and cooking techniques.

SEA doesn’t claim to serve authentic Southeast Asian cuisine, but rather notes that the menu draws inspiration from the many cultures found throughout the region. Some notable examples of that include a prime short rib with Hung Lay curry that draws inspiration from Korean jangjorim (soy-braised beef) and galbi (braised short ribs), pairing it with a curry from Northern Thailand, as well as a crab fried rice that brings together Thai chef Jay Fai’s famous crab omelet and Indonesian nasi goreng into one dish.

2. It’ll be more casual than Jungsik, but you should expect the same level of service.

The bi-level space is split into two sections: upstairs, which has a total of 80 seats, including a bar, will be a more casual, open experience in comparison to the two-Michelin-starred tasting menu experience at Jungsik. There is no set menu — it’s à la carte — and they’re holding the front half of the dining room and all of the bar seats for walk-ins. “We want to be open. Anybody is welcome here,” Lee says.

Still, the same standards of service remain paramount. “Expect the same quality of food and service. You’ll have the hospitality that you get at Jungsik, even though at SEA we are much more casual. We’re approachable, but we want people to know that we’ve put a lot of thought into our menu. We know our ingredients, and we know what we’re good at. We’ll show you what it means to have fun,” Lee laughs.

Unlike Jungsik which has a serene and more muted dining room, the space at SEA features lots of color, from green booths and banquettes to blue tiles. Neon signs, vintage Thai license plates, and posters line the walls near the bar. Handmade light fixtures resemble straw hats.

3. Fans of fine dining, don’t fear — there’s more to come.

Despite the intention to keep things upstairs a bit more approachable and casual, SEA isn’t fully giving up on the tasting menu culture they’re known for at Jungsik.

The downstairs portion of the restaurant will be home to tasting-menu-only SEA Lab, which is slated to open in about a year. It’ll have an open kitchen and a chef’s counter that seats 15.

“SEA Lab will have a completely different menu than upstairs. It’ll be more experiential, and more refined,” Lee says.

For now, you can take a peek at SEA Lab, but they aren’t seating any diners there at the moment. Eventually, both levels of the restaurant will be open at the same time, allowing patrons to choose their own à la carte or tasting menu adventure.

4. Let’s talk about the food.

SEA’s menu is filled with dishes that are true labors of love, often incorporating days-long cooking processes, and a soup that boils for more than six hours. In his own words, executive chef Park takes us through five essential dishes to order.

Seafood Platter

Oyster, sweet shrimp, scallop, yellowtail ($68)

“We reinterpreted the seafood tower with Southeast Asian flavors,” Park explains. “For example, we’ve enhanced familiar cocktail sauces by adding fish sauce and various herbs. The result is a taste that feels both familiar and refreshingly new, along with a selection of fresh seafood that includes oysters, scallops, yellowtail, and spotted prawns.”

Prawn Roll

Cod, vermicelli ($18)

“This is an upgraded version of the spring rolls that chef Yim ate in Hanoi and that he made during his phở pop-ups in Korea,” says Park. “In fact, we are directly importing netted spring roll paper from Ho Chi Minh City to deliver the unique snowflake-like texture it offers. While spring rolls are often made with pork, SEA’s spring roll uses one whole prawn per roll. Knowing how the delicate flavors of prawns are best enjoyed as is, we simply add homemade fish cake paste to add more body and flavor.

“On a personal note, whenever I visit a Vietnamese restaurant, I can’t help but order spring rolls — they are simply delicious with a side of fresh lettuce. The combination of lettuce, mint leaves and nuoc mam adds a refreshing twist, making a fried dish feel light and fresh.”

Thai Links

Pork, sticky rice ($16)

“Esan sausages are all about that punchy, tangy kick, while Chiang Mai sausages bring a more herbal, aromatic vibe,” Park notes. “On my culinary adventures with chef Yim in Thailand, I fell in love with both, and I was inspired to combine these two distinct flavors into one sausage. Why not have the best of both worlds in one? Imagine savoring the bold, spicy notes of sai ua alongside the fermented zing of sai krok Esan. Now that’s a perfect dish with a pint of beer!”

Crispy Pork

Fresh herbs, vermicelli pancake ($35)

“Chef Yim’s love for ssam (a Korean way of wrapping meat with green leaves) with protein is expressed in this dish, which is also reflective of how Vietnamese people often enjoy their meats (think of bún chả, for example),” he says. “Cooking this pork is a three-day process. First day, we brine the pork belly overnight. Then, on the second day, we steam the pork at a low temperature and apply salt and vinegar to the skin to make it extra crispy. Then on the third day, we double fry the pork to perfection.

“On a side note, I’ve lost count of how many pigs I’ve cooked to get this recipe just right — it’s taken a lot of time and effort, but using heritage pork really brings out the depth of flavor. The crispy skin is a testament to the countless hours and dedication that went into perfecting this dish.”

Pork Noodle Soup

Ribs, shoulder, belly ($25)

“Our pork noodle soup was inspired by two dishes: Vietnamese phở and Malaysian bak kut teh,” Park explains. “It is a bowl that has many layers of chef Yim’s love for Southeast Asian spices and flavors. The broth is boiled for a minimum of six hours containing pig’s head, ribs, trotters, shoulder bones, and a blend of spices, and we cook it in a huge 40-gallon pot. Each part of the pig is also cooked separately to ensure the correct cooking time for each cut.”

5. Don’t sleep on the drinks.

SEA will have a full bar, focusing on six craft cocktails and a full wine program that leans heavily on wines sourced from France, Italy, and California. There’s the Dirty “Cha Yen” ($19), a take on a Thai iced tea that plays on the Old Fashioned. And expect to find ingredients like Thai baby banana and calamansi in the cocktails, all of which have been created by their head bartender Hongju Lee.

“We wanted cocktails to have multiple layers, just like the food,” Lee explains. “Everything has its purpose.”

Local New York beers, as well as Thai and Singaporean beers, and a full wine list round out the beverage program, which was curated by Jungsik sommelier Jamie Schlicht.

They didn’t overlook non-alcoholic drinks, either. There’s Heineken 0.0 ($9) — “perfect for pairing with phở,” says Lee — and single-origin Vietnamese tea ($10) sourced from New York-based Anna Ye Tea, plus coconut water as an alternative to the typical bottle of sparkling or still. Two zero-proof cocktails include one made with black tea, hibiscus, and milk (The SEA), and a house spritz with calamansi, ginger, and club soda.

Whether diners come to SEA because they’re longtime fans of Jungsik, or because they love the food and flavors of Southeast Asia, Yim, Lee, and Park hope they’ll come with an open mind — and come hungry.

“[Chef Yim] kept his mind very open, humbly knowing that since he’s not Southeast Asian, doing Southeast Asian food could be shocking to the world,” Lee says. “But he felt that if you know how delicious food tastes, then that shouldn’t put a barrier up.”

SEA is open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday, from 5 to 11 p.m.

Ellie Plass is a freelance writer based in Brooklyn. Follow her on Instagram and X. Follow Resy, too.