Get ready to play footsies!

Zen and Korean folk music waft through the harmonious walls of this self-dubbed “vegetarian shrine in another space and time.” Guests are asked to remove their shoes before entering, all the more conducive to playing footsies beneath the sunken tables.

Eating in this calm, elegant space is utterly peaceful. Surrounded by unearthly Korean music, wonderful objects and people who move with deliberate grace, even people accustomed to eating on the far side of food may find these greens, porridges and mountain roots exotic. Much of the menu can be sampled by ordering the emperor's meal, which includes a tray of nine kinds of mountain greens surrounded by 10 side dishes: kimchi, cold spinach, sweet lotus root with sesame, chili cabbage and the like.