Meju

Walk through the Little Banchan Shop — containers of spicy fish cake, marinated eggs, a mustardy potato salad — and behind it is an eight-seat marble counter. This is Meju, chef Hooni Kim's Michelin-starred tasting room, and it is about one idea: jang, the fermented pastes and sauces that underpin Korean cooking.

The menu changes, but the shape holds. Each course pairs a jang with a dish — doenjang with tofu, gochujang with raw fish, ganjang with crisp jeon and a tasting of aged soy sauces, ssamjang with beef, jeotgal with pork — before a rice course with kimchi and a light dessert. It is the closest thing in New York to a fermentation lesson served as a meal.