This blog post was updated on October 16, 2018.
Kimchi. Bibimbap. Japchae. Do those words have you licking your lips or scratching your head?
The people behind the UK’s Korean Food Foundation are hoping that if such terms don’t already put you in lip licking mode that they soon will, as you’ll know they’re but a few of Korean cuisine’s most favoured dishes.
The Korean Food Foundation folks also hope they’re right in believing their flavoursome food will be the next big thing on the UK dining scene.
More and more Korean restaurants seem to be popping up in London these days and foreign visitors arriving on flights to London are beginning to take note.
With dozens of Korean restaurants in and around town (especially in centrally located Soho and in the New Maldon/Raynes Park area of southwest London), making a smart decision on where to buy the best bibimbap or slurp up some killer kimchi can prove difficult. So, the Korean Food Foundation has published a handy little Korean Restaurants Guide 2012 to help diners in search of great Korean food to navigate the growing options of Korean restaurants in and around London.
Aimed at locals and visitors alike, the guide is written in English, French, and Korean and highlights more than 40 restaurants in the London area. The maps in the guide are good, the photos lush and the write ups descriptive yet to the point. Student friendly and affordable din-din in an old South London pub? Swank night out with your meat grilled at your table? Crazily hot, spiced-up cuisine? The range of restaurants represented in the guide is pretty broad.
For the uninitiated, the thing you need to know about Korean food is that it packs a lot of heat. It’s also worth noting that Koreans seem to really like beef, fish and seafood – at least when dining out. If you appreciate the flavours and style of Japanese food or the fieriness of Thai cooking, odds are you’ll love any assortment of Korean dishes.
Says Il-Sun Yang, chair of the Korean Food Foundation, “launching this guide book is a great step for Korean food in the UK. Hopefully our culinary traditions will continue to grow here and people will appreciate even more our unique cuisine, now that they can identify the best restaurants on offer.”
Korean Restaurants Guide 2012 is available free of charge at Korean Embassies, Korean Cultural Centers and Korean restaurants throughout London.
Image credit: Chris Osburn (Post author)
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