If you haven’t been offered a free sample of Red Bowl Café yet, then I strongly recommend taking a walk past the new Marshall Street establishment. The Asian fusion café is brand new and specializes in a variety of Korean and Japanese style dishes. Located at 121 Marshall St., Red Bowl Café opened on Oct. 17, replacing what used to be Sliders.

Although it appears to have limited space, the Red Bowl Café has plenty of tables and stools for seating. The stools are very comfortable and have red cushions attached to them. Overall, the small restaurant has almost a chic and trendy atmosphere — the walls are painted black with red curtains hanging around the restaurant. A big, red chandelier hovers over the register as a nice addition to the red and black décor. Lounge-style music is played, adding to the laid-back vibes.

Allan Bae, the owner, opened Red Bowl Café to provide college students and faculty with quick and easy food with an upscale twist. The restaurant is focused on satisfying its customers with good quality food that can be served to them fast. In fact, when I went to Red Bowl Café this past weekend, my food was served to me within five minutes of being seated.

The prices range from $9–$20. Bae said that the prices at Red Bowl are higher than other restaurants on Marshall Street, but that the quality and taste of their food makes up for it.

I tried a few dishes from the menu and liked the beef bento box most. It was presented beautifully. It came with beef teriyaki, fresh salad, deep fried sweet potatoes, a house-made, deep fried spring roll and white rice. I could tell that the spring roll was homemade because of its fresh taste, unlike the processed taste of most spring rolls.

The Korean barbeque flavor cooked in the salty kalbi beef was a succulent combination of sweet and savory. To top it off, the beef was sprinkled with scallions and sweet onions, adding more flavors to the dish. The house ginger dressing on the salad was a bit heavy. The homemade dressing did taste very fresh but was too rich and creamy for my liking. The bento box had a fairly large portion of food and was finished with fresh strawberries and served with a side of sweet and sour sauce.

I also tried the Red Bowl noodle dish. This is a pork noodle soup with hot spices, minced pork, spring onions, vegetable mix and scallions. The soup is topped with a hard-boiled egg and the “house secret” paste sauce. The meat-based paste adds a spicy kick to the soup, giving the broth more flavor.

This provided a medium heat that set my lips tingling. The Red Bowl noodle dish comes with house made hot pepper chili oil on the side. This soup, along with any other bowl, can be served with your choice of the following noodles: ramen, udon, flat noodles or soba.

The last dish I tried was the chicken teriyaki entrée. The shredded pieces of chicken are cooked in a sweet teriyaki glaze and topped with sesame seeds and scallions. The chicken was moist enough and plentiful but was cut in very small pieces. The taste, however, was exceptional and if you like chicken teriyaki then I highly recommend ordering this dish.

Overall, Red Bowl Café seems like a pretty standard noodle house. They do offer vegetarian options, like the miso-based vegetable soup and the veggie bento box. Bae said he believes in using as many fresh ingredients as he can get. The chef does not cook with any chemicals and only uses gluten-free oil.

Next time you’re walking down Marshall Street, don’t forget to stop by the Red Bowl Café. You’ll most likely be handed a free chicken teriyaki sample by one of the employees standing outside. This, along with the sweet smell of Korean barbecue, should definitely lure you in to trying the café and I highly recommend it.

Published on October 25, 2015 at 9:22 pm

Contact Callie: caweinst@syr.edu