foodLDNreview
Seoul Bakery, London
15.6.16
A sprinkle of Seoul street dining in London.
More mornings than not, I wake up dreaming of Seoul. Of the crisp chill running through the air as I awoke ready for a solo day of eating and seeing all the places I’d been dreaming of. Of the flavoursome spices and thrills of Korean cuisine, lovingly prepared and offered in huge batches. Daydreams of Seoul are a running theme in my days, so it seems.
Seoul Bakery has been on my London To Eat List for the longest time so when an overdue catch-up with a friend arrived in my diary, I knew just the place to go.
Nestled ever so unassumingly on Great Russell Street, Seoul Bakery is a cute and cosy hangout spot, seating just 15 people at a time. We were seated immediately after arriving at around 1.15pm before a huge flurry of people came in and had to queue! Its walls are covered in customer graffiti, paying homage to their favorite K-pop idols. All the thumbs ups from me.
As a newly-converted vegetarian, I was sceptical of how well the food would fare for me, as I have my always-favourites when it comes to Korean food, but I remain positively impressed and, in classic Mish style, still ate all the food.
Since visiting Seoul in February, I’ve become quite enamoured with hot Korean teas and so we opted for two steaming mugs of honey plum tea. Deliciously sweet and warming against the unexpected June showers outdoors.
I settled upon a kimchi fried rice after craving it forever, a hearty and comforting plate of rice tossed with kimchi. Never spicy with just enough of a kick, it was moreish and delicious, just how I wanted it to be. I usually add an egg (always amps up any meal amirite) and/or cheese but decided to go without this time and it was still good.
A great way to make casual Korean dining meals go further is to add kimbap, a Korean take on sushi. I opted for the cheese kimbap whilst Cherie opted for classic beef. Soft, just crunchy enough and packed with flavour, I can certainly recommend this dish as a little sharing side! It even kept okay for a leftovers lunch on Monday ;)
Cherie chose a tofu and chicken stew for her ‘main’ which looked oh so good and warming. One to try next time, sans meat, eh?
We also got a classic dish of toppokki (soft rice cake in sweet red chilli sauce) to share, which while good, could have done with being a little stickier and spicier. Determined to try the cheese variation next time – oh how I miss eating at School Food in Hong Kong!
For reference, our entire meal including 5 dishes and 2 drinks came in at just £28! Super affordable for a quick meal in London.
14 Great Russell St, London WC1B 3NH.
