Topped offers charm, excellent food in Chinatown

From North Hotel Street, it’s easy to overlook Topped amid the sea of other signage.

Don’t, though — it’s an intimate Korean gem that’s well-appointed, yet affordable. Topped also has a special feature: a secret garden getaway in the gritty heart of Chinatown.

THE EXPERIENCE

Topped has two distinct sections. You enter through a long corridor between walls painted a minimalist gray to give it a hip vibe, with a semi-open kitchen to one side. On a hot day, inside is the place to be. But that environment pales when compared with the garden patio farther down the corridor.

Outside, string lighting above the patio tables provides romance, greenery sways gently in the night breeze and a miniature waterfall gurgles into a koi pond. In a city with a criminal lack of outdoor seating, Topped’s covered patio is a tropical refuge.

THE FOOD

Topped is a very approachable Korean restaurant, perfect for first-timers or those who want a more explicit introduction to the cuisine without Americanized or dumbed-down food. The witty menu contains brief explanations of basic Korean customs and traditions, and amiable owner Justin Sok is on hand to expound on them.

The Topped menu is slim, but it fits the mellow, streamlined style of the restaurant. Sok offers a few small-plate appetizers, including homemade mandoo, along with a variety of takes on bimbimbap (the traditional Korean meat, rice and vegetable dish), ssam (do-it-yourself lettuce wraps) and a couple of desserts.

Happy-hour specials run from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and include $3 off all bimbimbaps and $7 small plates.

The jeon pancake sampler ($7) is a crowd-pleaser, with Korean pancake varieties ranging from green onion and squid to shrimp and paprika.

In addition to the traditional bimbimbaps — among them spicy pork, thin-sliced bulgogi beef, thicker-cut kalbi beef, tofu and vegetable — a couple of “modern bimbimbap” are on the menu. We opted for the jangjorim butter ($12 during happy hour), with braised beef, butter and nori — a creative take on the traditional.

The spicy pork bimbimbap, the owner’s favorite, was ours as well — tasty!

THE DRINK

“Koreans love to drink,” says Sok, and with soju and Korean wine at $10, and $5 beers that clock in at a hefty 22 ounces, you’ll be drinking Korean-style.

Topped’s alcohol list is well-curated: three varieties of Korean beer, soju, Korean wine and a couple of house wines by the glass.

While the beers are light and the wines sweet, the soju, ​a Korean liquor commonly made from rice, clocks in at 17.5 percent alcohol — a little heavier than a glass of wine. It’s drunk by the shot glass.

“It’s bad luck to pour your own drink,” Sok notes with a smile after we’ve all just done exactly that. “Traditionally, you pour for the person opposite you; and the younger person receives the drink with both hands.” We needed no further encouragement.

The soju and Korean wines come in bottles, which go a long way when poured as shots.

The Korean wine — available as rice wines, plum or raspberry — was different and utterly delicious, with three plums at the bottom of the plum wine bottle.

But the peach soju stole the hearts of my dining companions.

The​ intimacy of sharing bottles, pouring for each other and the inevitable toasts — “Gunbei!” — gave the meal a sweetness that grew far into the evening.

THE VERDICT

Sok’s charm and friendliness had us rooting for Topped, as the care he’s taken with the menu and dining experience comes across loud and clear. The food and drink are good enough to stand on their own, and the outdoor ambiance makes the experience extraordinary. For pau hana during the week, I’m thinking there’s no better place to escape into your own after-work oasis.