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High-end Korean steakhouse and makgeolli maker Girin announced it has served its last dinner as of May 18. The respected restaurant will serve food and drinks in the bar area only until Saturday, June 1. After that, the Girin will close for good to make way for a new Japanese sushi restaurant and grill, which is projected to open in mid-June.
The closure of Girin is a definitive loss for the Seattle restaurant scene. In 2016, the restaurant was a James Beard Award semifinalist in the Best New Restaurant category. Girin was one of the country’s only producers of makgeolli, the cloudy Korean rice beer. It’s long held its own among the area’s best Korean restaurants, noted for its modern twists on classic dishes like the kalguksu with squid ink noodles and japchae with Dungeness crab. The restaurant also made a slew of excellent kimchi iterations.
Girin’s striking design, with high ceilings and polished wood, was another noteworthy aspect. It’s unclear whether the new sushi restaurant will keep the current interior.
