Last week’s foodie adventure took place at Kimchee, an authentic and reasonably priced Korean restaurant situated near Holborn Station in London. A group of travel, food writers and bloggers were invited to a very comprehensive tasting menu at Kimchee. Sat at our table were our host Anokhee Karia, Marketing manager and Winnie Paek, a lovely Korean lady, who happens to work at Kimchee’s HQ too. She also educated us on Korean food and customs through out the meal. It was very interesting to hear how Koreans introduce themselves by stating their name and their age, the admirable respect towards an older person and how drinking and serving practices are an important part of Korean’s etiquette. Koreans offer glasses of liquor to each other rather than pouring their own. Koreans have their own set of social rules and they follow them closely. Korean food is served to be shared and usually served in communal tables. Erika, from Kimchee, designed our personalised place mats.
The Menu:
Kimchee was designed with the oriental home feel in mind with clean and graphic lines, dark wood lattice panelling and cedar wood lamp shades, including an oriental internal garden by the entrance. The kitchen is enclosed by glass panels so you can watch all the magic and action in the kitchen as it happens. The restaurant upstairs was buzzing on a Tuesday night.
Kimchee upstairs restaurant:
Kimchee upstairs restaurant:
Kimchee downstairs room:
Drinks
Aloe Vera tea and Makgeoli – alcoholic fermented rice drink serve in a bowl.
Our feast was divided in four parts and each one was paired with a matching alcoholic drink.
A shot and a mouthful, another shot and another mouthful…we left the feast very happy indeed!
Kimchi (also spelt as kimchee), is a traditional Korean side dish of fermented chilli peppers commonly made with Chinese cabbage. It’s serve at every single meal.
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| above: Kimchee |
Above: Korean alcohol
First round:
The lemon sole was served with a crispy noddles, the pancakes were soft and accompanied by Kimchee and modum namul (bean sprouts, spinach, radish and cucumber) as side dishes though out our meal.
dolsot bibimbap bowl- cooked and served in a stone bowl, adding the chilli paste will add more flavour and some heat to this dish.
Second round:
Second round included a delicious and tender pork belly with garlic and deep fried lotus eaten with lettuce leaves and side dishes.
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| Kimchee jjigae – Korean stew |
Third round:
below: delicious Korean type of steak tartare
Below left: beef mari – packed with flavour, below right: pouring and receiving drinks Korean way
Fourth round:
On the forth round we were presented with more delicious food. However, the prawn mari with mustard sauce somehow it didn’t appealled to me as much as the other dishes. The Jap Chae was one of my favourite dishes made with starch (sweet potato) noddles, beef, thinly sliced carrots, onion, and mushrooms seasoned with sesame, soy sauce and sweetened with sugar. It was garnished with slivers of red chillies – delectable! We were told that this dish is mainly served at parties and special occasions.
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| Jap chae |
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| our table |
Deserts, the final round:
Chap Ssal Ddeok, delightful sweet and chewy rice cakes balls, filled with mousse-like textured chocolate ganache encased in sweet glutinous and chewy rice flour mixture and dusted with cocoa powder – a really enjoyable sweet treat. A selection of luscious and tasty ice creams were also on offer: almond, black sesame, roasted green tea, red bean and sweet chestnut. I liked them all, but the favourites were chestnut and roasted green tea and black sesame.
Chap Ssal Ddeok, delightful sweet and chewy rice cakes balls, filled with mousse-like textured chocolate ganache encased in sweet glutinous and chewy rice flour mixture and dusted with cocoa powder – a really enjoyable sweet treat. A selection of luscious and tasty ice creams were also on offer: almond, black sesame, roasted green tea, red bean and sweet chestnut. I liked them all, but the favourites were chestnut and roasted green tea and black sesame.
I was told Kimchee serves authentic Korean food. I am not an expert on Korean or Asian food so I can’t comment on the authenticity of our meal. However, I can recommend this eatery based on fresh and rich flavors, elegant presentation, prompt service, affordability and extensive menu. On my arrival I noticed that at least half of the guests upstairs were Asian I believe that to be a good sign. Gun Bae!
It was a special food and travel bloggers meal to showcase Kimchee’s menu.
Hot&Chilli was a guest of Kimchee and Roche Communications
