The Han Oak Team’s New Downtown Restaurant Opens Today

The Han Oak team will soon begin serving Korean fried chicken, noodles, and dumplings for takeout and delivery out of a new downtown restaurant. Han Oak’s Peter Cho and Sun Young Park will open their highly anticipated restaurant Toki today, with a truncated menu of Han Oak’s pandemic-era blockbusters.

Instagram influencer Gary Okazaki, also known as Gary the Foodie, broke the news that the restaurant would open January 15, also teasing menu items like the Gimbap Supreme, a seaweed and rice dish wrapped to look like a burger. As the restaurant eases into opening, Cho has a few new ideas he’s playing with: The restaurant will serve Korean fried chicken with a variety of glazes or dusts, including the original Han Oak fried chicken seasoning, a chili oil dip, and a sweet garlic soy glaze. Plus, Toki adopted the Tasty n Alder grill, which Cho plans to use for more grilled meats and dishes. “We’ve never had the capacity to do it at Han Oak,” Cho says. “But to have a proper three-foot-wide grill, we’re excited to do more stuff off of that.”

Beyond that, however, Cho says the menu will look very familiar to people who have been visiting Han Oak over the years. “The menu is some new stuff, some old stuff, some new additions to the old stuff,” Cho says. “I’m trying to keep it low-key.”

Han Oak, Cho and Park’s nationally celebrated Korean restaurant, has become a destination for tourists and a favorite among Portlanders. From the early days of dumpling nights to its Netflix and Hulu debuts, Han Oak has become an A-lister in the local restaurant scene. But the Cho-Park family took its time before opening a second spot. Last year, a real estate developer nudged them in the direction of the former Tasty n Alder space, and finally, Cho and Park started working on opening a new restaurant. They temporarily shut down Han Oak, and focused on developing a menu and moving into the new restaurant.

When Han Oak reopens, Cho and Park will reintroduce outdoor dining, with a new menu of hot pot items. “We originally opened on the 13th of February, back in 2016, so I thought Han Oak hotpot for Valentine’s Day would be fun,” Cho says. “We still have the courtyard, it’s for the most part empty, we’ll put up some dividers... keep it fun and easy.”

Toki is located at 580 SW 12th Avenue. The restaurant will soon open for outdoor dining, as well.

• Toki [Instagram]
• Toki opening announcement [Instagram]
• The Team Behind Celebrated Korean Restaurant Han Oak Will Open a Restaurant Downtown [EPDX]