All ends up in the same place.
All the orders, that is. At the Food Gallery 32 food court, a variety of independent Korean vendors, some who adapt flavors from China or Japan, all are served by one computer-ordering system, literally at the front of the house. Though you're free to stroll past the stalls and (their time permitting) chat up the proprietors, your order must be placed with the clerks up front, with no accommodation for special requests.
For my half-and-half order ($7.99) I was in the dark on jja jang myon, noodles with onion, pork, and potatoes in a black bean sauce whose texture wavered between chocolatey and sludgy. To be sure, because this dish was unfamiliar (and, in retrospect, not to my taste), customizing my order would have been a puzzlement at best. But as for jjam ppong, noodles with seafood and vegetable in "spicy" sauce, "not very" was my verdict. Some one-on-one time with a Jin Jja Roo counterperson might have amped up the heat.
Jin Jja Roo
11 West 32nd St. (Fifth-Sixth Aves., inside Food Gallery 32)
212-967-1678
