I’ve been dying to try Moim, the new restaurant in a space that used to be a Chinese laundry on Garfield just east of Seventh Avenue.

I happen to love Korean food and frequent an inexpensive Korean lunch place near Union Square called Manna.

I was eager to see how Moim’s cooking compared to the food I enjoy over there. I was also dying of curiosity about the beautifully designed restaurant that quietly sprung up a couple of months ago.

I’d peeked in few times and it looked very intriguing.

Well, something very special has come to Park Slope and it has an interesting Park Slope twist to it.

Moim is owned by a Korean couple who live in Park Slope. He is a CFO of a Queens hospital and she is the restaurant’s chef. They bought the brownstone that Moim is in and did a MAJOR renovation to the space where the Chinese laundry used to be.

But that’s not all. The owners dug a new foundation in the former backyard and added an elegant back room for the restaurant and a patio for dining alfresco. The addition also houses the wife’s high tech kitchen.

Not only did this couple put an enormous amount of money into the restaurant but also real architectural elegance and Asian style. For the extensive renovation, they hired a well know Tribeca architect and he did an incredible job.

Stone, black brick, Asian screens: beautiful architectural touches abound. Moim, which means "gathering" Korean is an exceedingly nice place to be.

Enough about the decor. The food and service were very good. The moderately priced menu is a a mysterious collection of Korean classics and what I think must be new Korean cuisine.

We had a delicious crab salad as an appetizer but we smelled spare ribs and other delicious smelling small plates going to a table near us.

I throughly enjoyed my Dol Sot Bi Bim Bop, vegetables, meat and rice served in a steaming hot stone rice bowl. The food continues to cook while you eat. Unlike Manna, Moim stirs in a spicy red sauce and other condiments that you must add at the lunch place. I sensed that what I was eating was an authentic but slightly more sophisticated interpretation of what is basically Korean homecooking.

Hepcat had O Lee Gui duck breast with goji berry and asian vegetables. He didn’t give me a bite and it disappeared quickly. Usually a sign that he’s enjoying his food.

According to New York Magazine, "Chef-owner Saeri Uyoo Park has cooked at Spice Market, Café Gray, and
the Modern, but here she mines her own Korean background for dishes
like kimchee stir-fry with pork and tofu, and steak tartare with Asian
pear and pine nut."

The restaurant was lightly attended when we got there around 8 p.m. But at around 9 pm a group of about 20 mom friends gathered for a "mom’s night out" were sitting at a very large table near the front. The restaurant was quite full by the time we left.

Moim is still waiting for their liquor license but will have wine and cocktails. There’s a lovely bar near the front. The kitchen closes at 11 p.m., remarkably late for a Seventh Avenue eatery.

On so many levels, Moim may be one of the most sophisticated restaurants ever on Seventh Avenue. It’s bringing a cuisine unfamiliar to many in Brooklyn, lots of new flavors, new tastes, new textures.

I have nothing but high praise and high hopes for this lovely effort by locals to bring something so elegantly new to Park Slope’s main street with moderate prices and excellent food.

Moim is located at 206 Garfield Pl.,
Brooklyn, NY 11215

Just east of Seventh Ave.

718-499-8092