Roll Over Kimbap, Flatiron

I'm always looking for new lunch spots near my office, so when Roll Over Kimbap opened a few weeks ago I had to give it a try. Kimbap is a Korean snack food comprised of cooked rice and various fillings, rolled in dried seaweed and sliced into bite-sized pieces. It sounds like sushi, but here’s how it differs. First, kimbap rice is seasoned with sesame oil and salt, not vinegar. Second, the fillings typically include cooked or pickled ingredients rather than raw fish.

Roll Over’s menu includes kimbap stuffed with pork cutlets, braised beef, tuna salad, mushrooms, fish cakes, and more. I ordered the spicy pork with a side of chili mayo sauce. It was fast, fresh, very tasty, surprisingly filling, and cost about the same as a sandwich.

While the sides were tempting (especially the Gohu Twigim, a sweet pepper stuffed with savory pork and then fried), I opted to be sensible and save them for another day. Given that I'm sitting at my desk wondering what to get for lunch today, that could be sooner rather than later.

Roll Over Kimbap, 25 E. 17th St., Flatiron. Click here for their website.