Noreetuh

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

The name says it all. Noreetuh means "playground" in Korean, and that spirit — curious, casual, genuinely fun — runs through everything at this modern Hawaiian restaurant on First Avenue in the East Village. Chef and co-owner Chung Chow shapes a menu that draws on the layered food culture of Hawaii, pulling in Japanese, Korean, and broader Pacific influences without forcing any of it into a tidy box.

The People Behind It

Two co-owners drive the experience. Chef Chung Chow handles the kitchen, while General Manager Jin Ahn oversees one of the more serious wine programs in the neighborhood — roughly 300 selections with particular depth in France and Germany. That list earned Wine Spectator's Best of Award of Excellence, a recognition that reflects how deliberately the beverage side is curated. The goal, as the restaurant puts it, is to pair artfully crafted food with an approachable list in an environment that never feels stiff.

What's on the Plate

The musubi section alone signals the kitchen's sensibility: the classic Hawaiian rice-and-nori snack appears in over a dozen variations, from a straightforward SPAM version to Hokkaido scallop with nori mayo, or Japanese firefly squid with pickled ginger and nori jam — each cut into three bite-sized pieces. An ossetra caviar supplement is available for any musubi, which tells you something about the range Noreetuh is comfortable playing in.

Beyond the musubis, big-eye tuna poke with macadamia nuts and pickled jalapeños anchors the appetizers, alongside soft shell crab tempura and grilled Ibérico rib meat with ginger pickled cabbage. Mains lean into Hawaiian-American comfort — mochiko fried chicken with King's Hawaiian Rolls and mac salad, kimchi fried rice with SPAM and fried egg, a peekytoe crab fried rice finished with smoked salmon and mentaiko — but the kitchen also turns out a 30-day dry-aged NY strip with red miso sauce and a Parisian-style gnocchi with Spanish octopus and meyer lemon brown butter.

Large Format and Wine Dinners

For groups, Noreetuh offers a compelling large-format menu: calamansi glazed roasted duck with leg confit and shiitake mushroom rice (serves four), a char siu glazed wagyu beef tongue served with bao and kimchi (serves six or more), and a whole roasted heritage pig for twelve or more. The restaurant also runs an ongoing wine dinner series — past events have featured Champagne Bollinger, Immich-Batterieberg Rieslings, and Château des Jacques — that draws on Jin Ahn's expertise and gives regulars a reason to return beyond the everyday menu.

The Hawaiian cuisine here is neither theme-park nor fusion novelty. It's a genuine point of view, executed with enough range and care to have earned its place on both the Michelin radar and Wine Spectator's recognized list.