Weekly Lunch Pick: the 24-hour sam gye tang soup at Etsu

Taking responsibility for holiday excesses might be a painful task, but Etsu’s sam gye tang ($23) goes a long way in helping tighten belts, both the literally and figuratively. The soup must be ordered a day in advance, but planning ahead pays off: the dish is hearty enough for two, consisting of a whole chicken, stuffed with sticky rice and slow simmered in a savoury broth with Korean ginseng and oriental herbs. The dish is sweetened by dried jujubes, tender garlic cloves, and draped with omelette slivers, pine nuts, scallions and a boiled chestnut. Coarse salt and ground pepper are provided for DIY seasoning. The one-pot meal is more than comfort; Korean tradition purports to cure physical ailments and prevent sickness.