Bacon-lovers looking to pig out on their favourite food, rejoice!
A new restaurant in New York offers a nine-course tasting menu featuring the pork product in every plate.
Belly Korean Bacon Shop boasts that it offers the city's first bacon omakase (a Japanese phrase which means 'leave it up to you', or chef's choice) menu, featuring dishes such as bacon sushi, bacon schnitzel, and a hurricane donut with smokey Belly cream, which delivers the flavour of bacon, if not the actual meat.
The restaurant says the $US45 bacon omakase has been designed to bring diners on a journey, exploring different cuts, textures and preparations of pork.
"Pork belly is a staple in Korean food, and Belly's menu is a creative, fun take on it," the Belly team tells SBS Food.
"And though the menu emphasises experimentation, there is serious culinary technique applied behind the scenes."
Owners and longtime friends Phillip Cho, an advertising executive, and Anna Lee, who works in marketing and communications strategy, got the idea to open a restaurant after hosting laid-back, bacon-centric dinner parties for their pork-obsessed friends.
Although the owners' South Korean heritage is reflected in the menu, executive chef Brian Crawford's dishes also showcase a range of cuisines, including Italian (bacon carpaccio with truffle oil and shaved parmesan) and Japan (bacon sushi).
“We’re all Korean and grew up eating Korean food, so we initially focused on that," Cho tells Eater New York.
"But Brian is Caucasian and married to a Chinese lady, so we have a lot of diverse backgrounds and inspiration.”
A small a la carte menu is also available, featuring some simpler dishes with amusing names like Bohemian Wrapsody (a grilled wrap filled with salt & pepper pork jowl) and Get In My Belly! (braised pork belly on rice with Korean coleslaw and potato salad).
The restaurant also features a 12-room karaoke bar called Beats downstairs, so you can sing after your supper - if you can still move.
More bacon inspiration
Maple-glazed doughnuts with bacon
