Still in the Olympic spirit we decided to release the inner culture vulture and check out Kimchee in Holborn for some authentic Korean Cuisine. The restaurant was opened by Mr Kim a native Korean who wanted to bring some real Korean cooking to the capital. The place itself is kitted out with charcoal BBQ and open plan kitchen.
We visited on a busy Thursday evening. Heading straight for the cocktail menu we tried the Berry Berry Nice – Makgeolli mixed with blueberry liqueur and shaken with crushed ice and the Sojito – soju, zesty lime, brown sugar, fresh mint and soda water. We also sampled two of the Korean wines; the Seol Jung Mae a strong plum wine, full of flavour and the Bokbunja, a raspberry wine which was lighter and probably the better choice.
For food we dug into the Pa Jeon, seafood pancakes served with a soy and chive sauce, pretty hefty things, think American breakfast style, good if you’re hungry! We also had the Yang Yeum chicken, a generous portion of lightly battered chicken in a sweet chilli sauce.
For mains we decided to be a little crazy and go for the Beef tongue, personally the only tongue we’ll be sucking from now on is the boyf’s. Lemon sole was the winning dish, served with grated radish and a BBQ sauce, the fish was soft and well presented. We also shared a Bap, no stodgy white bread here though, that’s rice in Korea.
To finish we had our favourite green tea ice cream and a try of the black bean too. Both rich and creamy and tasted great. Kimchee is a great place to grab a quick bite to eat and offers something a little different than your usual Burittos and Burgers.
71 High Holborn, WC1V
www.kimchee.uk.com
