The old Johnny Cross' building on Skippack Pike just east of Route 202 in Blue Bell, briefly Savory Grill in its last incarnation, now has three occupants: Gaya, a Korean barbecue; Asuka, a Japanese restaurant/sushi bar; and a 350-seat banquet hall (1002 Skippack Pike, 215-654-8900). All share a common kitchen, overseen by a chef known to all but his mother as "Mr. Choi."

Patrons enter a common lobby and are directed to the dining room of their choice; all are open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

General manager Daniel Minn says the owner, whom he declined to name, believes that there's a huge market for Korean food in central Montgomery County, especially a need for banquet space. "A lot of immigrants came here in the 1980s and prospered," he says. Their children are now marrying.

Gaya is contemporary - cream walls, dark woods, highly polished marble floor, tables set with crossed American and South Korean flags. Each table has a gas grill, specially ventilated to minimize smoke in the dining room. Hot pots start at $10.

Asuka has black-topped wooden tables decorated with crossed American and Japanese flags. The stone fireplaces from Johnny Cross' remain. There's a full sushi-bar menu; figure on $15 to $25 for cooked entrees.

At Gaya, the food is fresh and made with care. Banchan, or small complimentary dishes, are well-considered; they may include slices of daikon with jalapeño; an exceptionally balanced kimchi; tricolor fusili tossed with mayo; and ridged, briny slices of bean curd. The DIY barbecue offers your choice of pork or beef cuts. As they sizzle on the grill, you ready your plate with a cornucopia of fixins: lettuce and cabbage, kale, carrot sticks, cucumber, jalapeño peppers, a dense, rich soybean paste. The kimchi chigae (stew with spicy fermented cabbage) has the bubbling intensity of lava and enough chili peppers to closely approximate its mouth feel. Floating in this orange brew are luscious bits of pork belly, scallion and nonfermented cabbage. A house specialty is the nengmyun, thread-thin homemade buckwheat noodles. They're offered here in numerous forms, but the hwae variety is served cold with a more-sweet-than-spicy pepper paste with the glorious effect of morning-after spaghetti. On the side are slices of beef, Asian pear, cucumber and a hardboiled egg, plus raw marinated skate, which is salty and chewy like fish jerky. Open daily, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

This new restaurant just popped up on Zagat's. Other than what I posted below, does anyone know anything about it? Has any one been yet? It sounds interesting, and I've just starting eating Korean BBQ at Kim's on Cheltanham Ave. Can anyone tell me how they compare?

From Zagat's: Dark-wood tables topped with high-tech grills for smokeless Korean BBQ are firing up both the Korean community and other locals at Gaya, a big, bright DIY specialist that's twinned with neighboring Asuka in a renovated Blue Bell landmark; diners opting to leave the cooking to the kitchen - run by a recent immigrant from Korea - have choices including hot pots, stews and made-to-order noodles (1002 Skippack Pike; 215-654-8300).

Historic stonework contrasts with contemporary spotlighted tables at Asuka, the handsome Japanese that shares a front door and kitchen with Gaya; there's the requisite sushi bar and midpriced lunch and dinner menus brimming with tempura, teriyaki and sukiyaki (1002 Skippack Pike; 215-654-8900).