Half-priced Sunday dinner at Kimchee

I went out to dinner at Kimchee this evening with two friends, to make use of their weekly half-price Sunday offer (on all food and desserts; drinks not included). Our first visit in February had been a good experience, so now we were determined to try as many dishes as possible at even better value-for-money! The queue was expectedly long and we waited about an hour in the strong wind to get in, but thoughts of the feast ahead kept our spirits up.

Nothing better than a pot of hot barley tea to accompany a hearty meal and counter the chilly weather outside. I really liked its nutty roasted flavour, very similar to Japanese genmaicha.

We ordered a multitude of side dishes to share. This first one is of course the obligatory kimchee or pickled Korean cabbage. Every bit as good as the last time - refreshingly sour and salty, with a mild spiciness to set the palate up for the meal ahead. I think this portion was even bigger than the last one we had!

Next was pa jeon or traditional Korean pancake with spring onions and mixed seafood, served with a soy and chive sauce. Another repeat order, this was really fragrant and moreish. A crisp and light outer coating concealed generous bits of fresh shrimp, squid, scallops etc. The sharp-flavoured sauce enhanced the dish's savoury depth and dispelled any hints of greasiness immediately.

Now to sample some new dishes: this was squid bokkeum or stir fried squid and vegetables (mainly peppers and spring onions I noticed) in a fiery hot chilli sauce. Not too sure about the 'fiery hot' bit - perhaps so by Western standards, but it hardly did anything for us! Still this was a very nice dish - the squid thankfully not overcooked so it was still quite easy to chew, coated generously in a chilli sauce which I would judge to be mildly spicy and sweet (most authentic Korean chilli sauces are seldom as spicy as they look, and always have a sweetish aftertaste). The peppers contributed a nice juicy crunch to the texture while the spring onions delivered appealing aromas.

This was prawn chilli, crisp battered prawns in a sweet and sour sauce. This was a bit disappointing I felt; the batter was quite soggy (perhaps not surprisingly after being drenched in a sauce) and the portion size was very small (only 4 king prawns, but at half-price we couldn't possibly complain!). On the plus side, the prawns were rather fresh and maintained a firm texture, and the sauce was appetising.

Next, crab tuigim, soft shell crab fried in breadcrumbs and served with a plum dipping sauce. This was really good - it didn't feel greasy at all, just a very thin crispy layer of breadcrumbs over sweet, savoury and succulent flesh. The plum dipping sauce had a good balance of sweetness and acidity, and helped to cut through the apparent richness of this deep fried dish. Comfort food at its best.

Last side dish of yang yeum chicken or lightly battered chicken in a sweet chilli sauce, served in a rice basket. I actually thought this was the least satisfactory of the starters - soggy batter (even for the bits that were untouched by the sauce) and the meat was rather dry and tough (but thankfully in bite-sized pieces, so it was bearable with the delicious sauce). The rice basket was nothing to shout about either - as soggy as the batter. This portion, though, was the most generous of the sides that we had ordered.

Now on to the rice/noodle mains: this was jjam bbong, listed under 'joong sik' or Korean-style Chinese cuisine - spicy seafood noodle soup with squid, prawns, mussels, scallops and vegetables. This was wonderful - the soup was as spicy as it should be, and extremely light and tasty. Topped with copious amounts of fresh seafood and crunchy shredded vegetables (cucumbers, onions, peppers, chilli), this was a bowl of pure piping hot delight.

Another noodle dish: this was Japanese-style seafood udon, with the same seafood now mixed into stir fried thick noodles in a rich, sweet soy sauce. The texture of the noodles was excellent - smooth, slick and slurp-worthy on the outside, and chewy & substantial within. The soy sauce gave the fresh seafood pieces further savoury depth whilst enhancing their natural sweetness.

Last main dish of the evening: seafood dolsot bibimbap, the classic Korean rice dish served in a hot stone bowl with toppings of the customer's choice (in our case the same stuff as in the previous two dishes). This one came rather unusually with an oyster sauce instead of the usual red chilli paste, but for a good reason - the oyster sauce obviously works much better than chilli in complementing the natural flavours of seafood. The sesame oil which coated the inner part of the bowl gave the dish an incredible aroma (and of course prevented any rice grains from charring and sticking to the bowl) as everything was mixed together. I could never get sick of this wholesome and scrumptious dish.

Dessert to finish: all three of us ordered this ice cream flavour of sweet chestnut, topped with dried dates and pine nuts. Very authentic flavour with a nice, smooth texture. It was a pleasant surprise for both my friends, who had been expecting something more like a water chestnut flavour, but got their richer cousin instead.

We were totally stuffed and nearly unable to move after sharing all that food. This was possibly the best food deal I've ever encountered in an expensive city like London. The damage? Only £14 per person after service charge!!

Anyway, as we walked out we noticed that this half-price deal will be discontinued at the end of April - shame we wouldn't get to do this again! I'm sure it's still pretty good value at full price, but given the number of dishes we've already covered here, I'm not in a hurry to return in the near future.

V-Day outing at Kimchee restaurant

The usual three of us went out on Valentine's Day to Kimchee restaurant near our hostel for a deliberately unromantic evening. This Korean restaurant is very new (opened late last year) and has already gained huge popularity in the past few months, presumably for the quality of its food as well as the very reasonable prices (which is surprising because it looks so spacious and classy!). They don't take reservations for small groups, so we had to wait for about 45 minutes for a table.

So many couples that evening! Great food, perhaps,
but surely not the best place for a date!

Open kitchen - always fascinating for a foodie.

Elegant ceramic lamps on the long tables.

Unlike most Korean restaurants, this place doesn't serve the usual complimentary range of side dishes - everything has to be paid for. But as we would find out, they were worth every penny charged. Here is the first of three starters we ordered, kimchee (sometimes also spelt kimchi). This dish of pickled cabbage is a staple in Korean cuisine, and I do know for a fact that a special fridge is often set aside in Korean households for homemade kimchee.

Beautiful presentation on a turquoise celadon plate.

Very neatly arranged layers.

I haven't been to Korea, but as far as my experiences go, this was the best kimchee I'd ever tried. Fresh, crunchy, sweet, sour, spicy - truly astonishing quality in this humble starter which really whets the appetite.

This was our second starter of pa jeon, a traditional Korean pancake with spring onions and mixed seafood, served with a chive and soy sauce:

This was also delightful - aromatic and crisp on the outside, packed in with generous bites of seafood including clams and squid. The soy sauce (somewhat different from the Chinese and Japanese varieties) enhanced the savoury depths of this dish and also cut through its richness with a sharp flavour.

The final starter, dduk bok gi, rice cakes with fish cakes and vegetables, served in a hot and spicy sauce:

Another excellent dish. Successful juxtaposition of textures - the thick rice cakes were delightfully smooth and chewy, while the thinly-sliced fish cakes were fresh and with a gelatinous bite. The sauce packed a real punch - really spicy, fragrant (due to the onions), and just slightly sweet, as most authentic Korean chilli sauces are - truly satisfying.

Now for the mains! First one up, chicken dolsot bibimbap. This quintessentially Korean rice dish is served sizzling hot (what could be better for winter?) in an earthenware pot, with rice, sliced/shredded vegetables, a raw egg, and red chilli paste. Diners have to mix the ingredients in the pot themselves before eating. The bottom of the pot is lined with sesame oil to prevent the rice from sticking, and also to intensify the aromas of the dish.

Before - all the ingredients arranged nicely around the mound of rice. 

After mixing them ourselves - looked hearty and smelled amazing!

Perfect comfort food for cold climates - a wonderful smorgasbord of textures and flavours, with warm & fluffy rice, sweet & crunchy vegetables, tender and well-seasoned slices of chicken, rich & creamy raw egg (when broken and mixed), all lifted by a refreshing & spicy chilli sauce and aromatic sesame oil. What more could one ask for?

 We also had a jigae (hotpot) to share. This is a soft tofu and seafood hotpot:

More spicy comfort food. This was an aromatic and flavourful stew. Good portion with substantial bits of seafood, well complemented by the silky smooth tofu.

No Korean meal is complete without a barbecued dish - this is spicy chicken bulgogi, chicken pieces marinated in a hot and spicy chilli pepper sauce:

This didn't disappoint either - the chicken pieces were extremely tender, well-seasoned, and really fragrant (it's that aroma you get from using a real charcoal grill). Not as spicy as we'd expected, but nonetheless delicious, almost like a very good satay (see the C & R review) without the wooden skewers. I thought the presentation with alfafa sprouts, lotus root and garlic cloves was pretty classy.

We finished with two desserts, one scoop of ice cream each, and chap ssal ddeok (traditional soft chocolate rice cake with a light dusting of cocoa powder) to share:

Anticlockwise from top: roasted green tea, green tea and black sesame.

Nice ending to the meal. I'm not sure if the ice creams were made in-house, but they were pretty rich and creamy. The sprinkling of pine nuts, green tea powder and black sesame seeds added a touch of luxury and authenticity. The individual flavours, admittedly, were not that pronounced - they seemed somewhat uniformly milky, though the roasted green tea ice cream was slightly more intense, with hints of toasted brown rice/barley (like Japanese genmaicha). Good portion though!

The chocolate rice cakes were nice while they lasted (very small portion!) - the texture was exactly like Japanese mochi, with a rich chocolate filling, and cocoa dusting on the surface. Not sure it was entirely authentic (chocolate in Korean food?) but I wasn't going to complain.

In summary, great food with good portions and presentation, in a nice and well-ventilated environment - despite sitting next to the open kitchen, our clothes didn't smell after the dinner. I learnt that you get 50% off all day, every Sunday, on everything in the menu, which is even greater value-for-money! It was a very good first experience for me, and I know that I will be back very soon.

More pictures of the restaurant as we left near to closing time:

I love those ceramics!

Long tables throughout the restaurant -
supposedly a traditional setting.

Beautiful rock garden feature at the waiting area.

Main entrance along Holborn High St.