Torrance diners looking for Korean comfort food with a more polished approach now have a restaurant drawing attention well beyond the South Bay.

Onki, at 21209 Hawthorne Boulevard, is the first U.S. restaurant from Korean celebrity chef Won-Il Lee. The restaurant focuses on familiar Korean dishes presented with contemporary technique and a menu designed for sharing.

The signature dish getting the most attention is gamjatang, the traditional pork-backbone stew.

Eater recently singled out Onki in its Los Angeles weekend dining guide, highlighting the restaurant’s gamjatang prepared with aged kimchi alongside dishes such as japchae and grilled short ribs.

The Infatuation has also praised the restaurant’s gamjatang and described Onki as a low-key Torrance destination despite the chef’s celebrity profile.

The menu stretches beyond stew.

Current offerings include Wagyu galbi, Wagyu galbijjim, seafood jang, clear beef sogomtang, mushroom japchae, brisket jeon and pork jowl, giving groups plenty of reasons to order several dishes for the table.

That is what makes Onki particularly interesting for Torrance.

The city already has one of Southern California’s strongest Korean and Japanese dining scenes. Onki is not trying to reinvent that tradition so much as give familiar dishes a refined, chef-driven treatment.

And now the rest of Los Angeles appears to be noticing.

External Link: Read Eater’s recent Onki recommendation