Reservations Are Going Fast for This New Korean Spot With a Sought-After Chicken Soup
A new Korean restaurant is now open in Brookline Village, and it’s already booking up fast. Iru, which specializes in recipes from the chef’s mother’s kitchen, comes from prolific restaurateur Hajime Yamazaki, who also runs nine restaurants in Japan, some of which have snagged coveted Michelin Bib Gourmand designations.
Yamazaki comes to restaurant ownership and cooking through his family back in Korea, where his parents used to run a restaurant called Kanmiichi. After graduating, he worked an office job, but joined his family’s restaurant business when he turned 28. “That’s when I began learning from my mother, who is a chef,” Yamazaki tells Eater.
At Iru, he wants people to feel the history behind the food. Every dish served in the restaurant is an adaptation of recipes from Yamazaki’s mother, including the cooking methods. “We prepare everything the same way she always has,” he says.
That includes his mother’s recipe for samgyetang, a ginseng chicken soup with origins tracing back to Korea’s last royal dynasty, the Joseon Dynasty, before 1897. The soup is traditionally made with a young chicken or quail filled with rice, and simmered with garlic, the stone fruit jujube, and ginseng. In Iru’s version, Yamazaki mother’s recipe is the backbone for the restaurant dish, characterized by hearty servings of chicken and glutinous rice tucked into a well-seasoned broth. The restaurant is serving the soup as a shared dish for the whole table, which differs from the traditional individual presentation.
And, unlike some other Korean restaurants (Jamie Bissonnette’s Somaek is also an exception), the extensive banchan options — including Napa cabbage kimchi, radish kimchi, bean sprout namul — aren’t free. The samgyetang is served as a prix fixe (starting at $60 per person), with an assortment of banchan to share, or diners can order the banchan separately a la carte. The menu also offers classics like beef bulgogi, japchae (stir-fried glass noodles with vegetables), and seafood pancakes.
The small space, which includes about 22 seats, fills up fast. Reservations are nearly filled through the end of May, when the restaurant will open the books for June. However, Yamazaki says they will do their best to seat walk-ins each night. There isn’t much to distract from the food at Iru. Clean wooden tables are illuminated by rice paper lights, and pale walls hold a few framed images.
Yamazaki chose Boston for his first foray into the U.S. restaurant scene in part because he’s friendly with Masuo Onishi, the owner of fan-favorite ramen spot Tsurumen in Davis Square, and has visited the city many times. Boston’s weather was also a determining factor. “Personally, I’m not very good with cold weather,” Yamazaki says. “But I actually thought it would be the perfect place to introduce a restaurant that specializes in samgyetang.”
Yamakazi says he’s committed to sharing the history of Korean food through his cooking. “We believe food shouldn’t always be judged by price alone,” he says. “We hope our guests will also experience the historical value and stories behind each dish.”
Iru is located at 238 Washington Street, in Brookline. It is open from Tuesday through Saturday for dinner. Reservations are (barely) available here.
