Best Korean restaurant

Kaya's charm begins with its blunt menu descriptions, full of eel guts, squid legs, and cow bones. The food itself is, rest assured, plenty appetizing (though not necessarily cheap). While newcomers to Korean cuisine are usually advised to begin with milder classics like kalbi (marinated short ribs), Kaya's regulars come for the homemade hot sauce gracing most of its hot-pot entrées, including a fine bibimbap and a stack-blowing kimchi chigae. Charming, too, is the Japanese-inflected décor in this trio of restaurants -- a rarity for a genre in which holes-in-the-wall are the norm.

Since its post-fire remodeling a few months ago, Koreana likewise has charm to spare. Actually, "spare" is a good word for it: the new space is elegantly simple in shades of burgundy and pale gray, with sleek conical track lighting. The menu, however, eschews minimalism for versatility, which makes this Korean-Japanese hybrid, as with Kaya, a wise choice for tyros and connoisseurs alike (though it too is not for the cash-strapped). The tradition of grilling meats right at the table makes for an excellent introduction to the cuisine, and Koreana obliges with a wide selection of them, including rib eye, tongue, and pork belly. Advanced courses, meanwhile, involve fascinating flavor combinations -- from the bacon, radish, oyster, and shrimp-stuffed cabbage wraps to yook-hwe, or raw beef with sesame oil, egg yolk, and Asian pear. Makes the tripe hot pot sound downright tame.

Kaya, 581 Boylston Street, Boston, (617) 236-5858; 1366 Beacon Street, Brookline, (617) 738-2244; 1924 Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 497-5656. Koreana, 73-75 Prospect Street, Cambridge, (617) 576-8661.