Witch Topokki

FOOD

Topokki, also spelled tteokbokki, gives Witch Topokki its name and its main event. These Korean rice cakes cook in the table pot with the sauce and additions you choose. The appeal is partly their chewy character and partly the way the meal can be adjusted: a relatively straightforward rice-cake pot, a noodle-heavy version or something with more vegetables. There’s no requirement to make the most elaborate combination on the first attempt.

Sauce is the important early decision. Mild choices sit within a range that also reaches toward mala-style heat, while carbonara-style options offer another direction. Seasoning powders and broth form the cooking liquid, so this choice affects everything that follows. Everyone at the table gets a vote before the hottest seasoning goes in.

The rice-cake selection brings different shapes and filled varieties into consideration. Cheese-filled choices offer a change from plain rice cakes, and the wider selection is worth examining before filling a bowl. Ramen adds a second substantial component to the pot. It can share the sauce with the rice cakes or become the part of the meal you keep returning to with your chopsticks.

Vegetables give that pot more variety without requiring another main dish. Mushrooms, green onion and jalapeño have been among the Troy bar’s additions.

The prepared hot bar is a substantial companion to the cooking. Korean fried chicken, fish cake and an assortment of fried snacks are part of the restaurant’s street-food approach. They also give everyone something ready to eat while the pot simmers. A plate from this side of the buffet can be a meal’s opening act without exhausting its possibilities.

The changing snack selection can include soy-garlic and sweet-and-spicy chicken, sausage-and-rice-cake skewers, fried seaweed rolls, steamed vegetable dumplings, bulgogi and vegetable croquettes. Their availability is part of the day’s selection; let the hot bar supply the final invitation.

Pizza and French fries broaden the prepared-food choices beyond the Korean dishes. That can be helpful when a group includes someone who wants a familiar bite between experiments. The strongest introduction still comes from the namesake rice cakes and a few of the street-food snacks. Leave enough room for both, and the buffet becomes more interesting than a single oversized bowl.