K2: A New Authentic Asian Option In New Haven

Downtown New Haven sees many restaurants come and go. K2 Asian Restaurant, housed in the spot long occupied by Kudeta on the corner of Temple and Crown streets, recently celebrated its grand opening. K2 serves Southeast Asian, Chinese and Japanese dishes, with an extensive dim sum menu and lunch options. I ate lunch there with a friend, and we both left stuffed and impressed, without having to spend too much on the meal.

To start, we order a handful of dishes off the dim sum menu. The food arrives in small waves of two at a time, making it easy for us to take our time. The crab rangoons ($4.95) are small and delicate, lightly fried with a generous portion of creamy crab filling. They are delicious with or without the sweet and sour dipping sauce. The scallion pancakes ($3.95) are paired with a hoisin sauce, and are light and thin, cut into wedges.

Next: sesame balls ($3.95), pork buns ($4.95) and watercress and shrimp dumplings ($5.95). The sesame balls are a little sweet, and would be great at the end of the meal as a sort of a dessert. The pork buns are filled with a savory, slightly barbecue-y flavored pork that pairs well with the neutral flavor of the bun. The disc-shaped watercress and shrimp dumplings have more filling than dumpling, and the ginger sauce complements the flavors well.

For our main course, we try something on the lunch specials menu and the lunch sushi menu. We split the Any Three Rolls lunch combo ($11.95) and ordered salmon, spicy tuna and shrimp tempura rolls. Sushi presentation is excellent, with our plate decorated with various sauces.

K2’s sushi is light on the rice, highlighting the fish, on which they do not skimp. The tuna was not too spicy, and the shrimp tempura roll had a nice balance of tempura crunchiness and avocado. We also ordered Char Kway Teow ($8), listed on the menu as Sinagpore’s “most famous street food.” It’s a noodle dish, with shrimp, pork sausage, squid, chives and bean sprouts in a dark soy sauce. Pork was the main flavor coming through, which we loved. It arrived hot and was easy to share. Our lunch specials came with soup or salad, so we opted for the miso soup, which was a fresh, fancier version of what we were used to.

K2 also offers a build-your-own lunch special, where you choose one of five signature sauces to go with mixed vegetables/tofu, white meat chicken, beef, shrimp or lamb ($6.50 to $8.50). There are a number of sushi rolls, both raw and cooked, as well as rice and noodle dishes, soups and vegetarian specialties on the menu. My friend and I were full and happy when we left, and I’m looking forward to a return visit, as I’d like to try more of the menu. They also offer delivery.

K2 Asian Restaurant, 27 Temple St., New Haven, is open for dinner Sunday through Thursday, 5 to 11 p.m.; and Friday and Saturday, 5 p.m. to midnight. Lunch hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Chinese Dim Sum hours are Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Information: 203-745-4889 and k2newhaven.com.