Over in Frelard, the recently opened Tray Kitchen is attempting to bring

Over in Frelard, the recently opened Tray Kitchen is attempting to bring a dim sum-like experience to its terrific Asian-fusion food, with an emphasis on Korean flavors—though it remains to be seen if they’ll work out the kinks in execution.

Even trying to explain how it all works is an exercise in confusion, but let me give it a go. There are two menus. The first features a la carte selections with about seven plates, midsize to large. The second is a rotating menu with just over 20 small plates, considered Tray’s dim sum cart. These dishes are “of the moment,” according to the restaurant’s website, and come to you not on a cart, but on a tray that a waiter shakily holds before you (hence the restaurant’s name).

This is supposed to allow you to choose items that catch your eye and make spontaneous choices. As with dim sum, you get a sheet on which your waiter checks off a box for any items you order. Sounds good in theory, but there are problems. For starters, unless you’re there on a busy night (a Friday or Saturday), the dishes come at an awkward, often lumbering pace. Sometimes you might see only two, and then 15 minutes later get bombarded with five or six, making it hard to curate your eating experience. Maybe the first two things look tasty, but you’ll want to hold out because a tray with something even better could be headed your way shortly. Or not.

Or, while a waiter shows off plates to two tables, you might find yourself in an unexpected rivalry with your neighboring diner for one particular dish. But really, all this fuss and stress is unnecessary. At the end of the day, if you don’t feel like waiting around to actually see the items, you can just order from the dim sum menu as you would from the standard a la carte menu. While practical, this option makes the whole dim sum deal feel a bit gimmicky—or, less pejoratively, as one waiter called it, “like a visual element.” All that said, if time is not an issue and you’re totally up for going with the flow, the experience can in fact be a fun one.

Now that, I hope, you understand how it all works (I think I do), let me move on to the food itself, which is actually quite notable and balances bold flavors in a way that few restaurants are pulling off. Once seated, put in an immediate order for the K.F. C. (Korean fried chicken) wings on the a la carte menu. They’re incredibly flavorful, courtesy of a seriously spicy Korean chili sauce, and fried to a lacquered crisp. If there are only two of you, go with the small portion. This will give you something to munch on while you wait out the potentially long periods between tray presentations.

As for the dim sum menu, you’ll want at least six or more of these for two people, as they truly are small. I’m not a huge shrimp fan, but to my surprise, my very favorite was the butter-poached shrimp and broccoli with fish sauce and a Thai chili vinaigrette. The beauty of the butter (kept in check by the chef so as not to become overly rich) balanced against the acidic yet slightly sweet vinaigrette is outrageously delicious, and the poaching preserves the delicacy of the shrimp. Even my 7-year-old couldn’t get enough of it. Another winner—again, not one I expected—was the trout mousse. It’s brilliantly served over two bottom layers of avocado and sriracha, which gives it a kick and several dimensions of flavor that don’t, shockingly, overpower the trout. The honey-roasted carrots with French feta, fennel, sunflower seeds, and smoked paprika was hands down my favorite vegetarian option, the cheese creamier and less aggressive than traditional feta.

The mussels, in a perfectly piquant sweet-and-sour broth with a light touch of coconut milk, come with delightfully chewy rice cakes—like those often found in Taiwanese soups—and a punctuating pop of cilantro. There’s a slow build of heat with this dish, which I also really enjoyed. A Brussels sprout salad manages to make an overused ingredient desirable again, the leaves cut in a chiffonade and served slightly warm, with just a touch of brightening vinegar. It’s a great palate-cleanser amid some of the meatier plates, like a just so-so Moroccan spiced lamb (the lamb was on the tough side) and the beef tartare with Asian pear, sesame, soy sauce, honey, pine nuts, and the requisite egg yolk (on this one, the balance was upset by the overabundance of sesame oil).

Other nice, if not extraordinary, bites include the kimchi falafel with housemade mint yogurt and fennel fronds (I expected the kimchi to get lost in the frying, but it didn’t), and the wild mushroom faro with chanterelle mushrooms and whipped ricotta. Desserts are limited, but the beet ganache actually maintained its beet-ish character without turning the dish too vegetal and paired well with the ginger-cinnamon ice cream.

On weekends, Tray Kitchen offers a very different—and not to be missed—brunch menu (no trays) with three categories: congee, Chinese-style pancakes, and grain bowls. My coconut curry congee with seasonal mushrooms, kale, chives, and a soft poached egg was luscious, with the coconut preventing the one-note-ness that I find sometimes pervades congee. The walk-up congee bar allows you to add all sorts of other ingredients, like cripsy shallots, pickled radish, ginger, and charred jalapeno relish.

The grain bowls are a knockout too; the “loco moco,” which the menu calls a “chicken-fried kalbi patty,” is actually a dense and addictive pork-and-beef patty marinated in kalbi sauce (named for its style rather than its substance) over short-grain rice topped with pork miso gravy and a soft poached egg. My favorite, though, was the kimchi pancake, browned superbly on the outside but soft and yielding within, with textural depth via shredded kimchi, scallions, bean sprouts, and chunks of house-cured bacon—comfort food at its best. It too comes topped with an egg.

The only thing missing from this remarkable brunch is sweetness. Though they do offer Chinese donuts (basically just an airier version of a churro, served with chocolate-sriracha dipping sauce), all the dishes are savory. Though I tend to go with salty items at brunch, I always like some toast with jam or a side of fruit to bring a touch of sweet.

Brunch is sure to be a smashing success, but while diners are bound to either love or hate the clunky tray aspect of the dinner service here, the quality and verve of the food should more than easily make up for it.

nsprinkle@seattleweekly.com

TRAY KITCHEN 4012 Leary Way N.W., 557-7059, traykitchen.com. 5–10 p.m. daily plus 10 a.m.–2 p.m. Sat.–Sun.