About 15 years ago, Korean topped most food critics’ lists of the next big thing. It’s never quite taken off, which is strange as the three classic Bs of Korean cuisine — bulgogi, bibimbap and barbecue — are as approachable as they are appealing. Bulgogi is thin strips of marinated meat, usually beef; bibimbap is a hot stone pot of rice, egg and veg; barbecue sees strips of subtly marinated meat and seafood cooked on a grill set into the table. Throw in a side plate of kimchee, the pungent fermented cabbage that doubles as the national dish, and what’s not to like?
New Malden, a 20-minute ride from Waterloo in the London borough of Kingston-upon-Thames, is the heart of London’s Korean community and its cuisine, with an almost bewildering array of Korean restaurants; we’ve singled out our favourite, Imone, below. The other heartland is Soho, where the capital’s very-first Korean restaurant, Arirang, opened in 1975.
But while Londoners might not have taken Korean to their hearts in the same way as Japanese, Chinese and Thai cuisine, there’s now a Korean restaurant for every pocket and palate, from traditional family-run affairs to designer dining rooms catering to well-heeled expats. Here are 12 of our favourites.
Calong
Joo Won was born in the South Korean city of Busan but earned his chef chops learning how to cook classical French cuisine with the Galvin brothers, first at Orrery and then a seven-year stint as head chef of Galvin at Windows. A trip to Seoul, however, re-awoke his affinity for the dishes of childhood and so Calong was born as a pop-up in Chinatown in 2021. Now the pop-up has gone permanent at Won’s first solo venture, where the chef is bringing his fusion of Korean technique and European ingredients to Stoke Newington and beyond. Expect the likes of sea trout with sesame, plum soy and pickled rhubarb or a vegetable pancake with roasted fennel and pickles, those Won isn’t afraid to serve up crowd pleasers like fried chicken with peanuts or a kimchee fritter with chilli mayo. This being the cusp of north and east London, there’s an organic wine list of low-intervention bottles made by small-scale producers.
35 Stoke Newington Church Street, N16 0NX, calonglondon.com
Imone
If you only ever visit one Korean restaurant in New Malden, make it Imone, which stands out not only for its jolly yellow exterior but the quality of its cooking. It is, like many of the restaurants in this corner or Kingston, family-run and with an emphasis on serving traditional Korean dishes that tick all the boxes for a fix of pa jaeon seafood pancakes, fried chicken wings, beef bulgogi or a bibimbap rice pot. Better, though, to order the starred dishes that are the house specials and demonstrate the kitchen’s expertly applied spicing: fried seaweed rolls stuffed with vermicelli noodles; whole whiting in spicy sauce and vegetables; steamed pork belly with white kimchee. Got the day off? Bargain lunch menus start from £13.90 for tofu stew with trimmings of chicken dumplings, fried seafood roll, rice, soy bean and kimchee.
169 High Street, New Malden, KT3 4BH, imonelondon.com
Miga
This gleaming white corner site might look like the acme of a modern Hackney restaurant but there is almost 25 years of hospitality history behind Miga, from the grandmother who trained as a chef in Seoul to her children and grandchildren who launched this venture in 2024 and work front and back of house. That sort of inter-generational commitment is reflected in cooking that, while firmly based on tradition, tastes as fresh as the stylishly minimalist surrounds. Expect creamy blocks of fried beancurd in a house-made doenjang sauce (all the saucing zings with fresh preparation), veggie bibimbap with the option of adding hefty king prawns, and soy-braised galbi-jjim short ribs slow-cooked for so long that sucking rather than chewing feels like the most appropriate way to extract every last drop of deep, dark flavour. To drink, soju cocktails suit the cool vibe of the place to a tee.
1 Mare Street, E8 4RP, @miga.restaurant
Chung’dam
Chung’dam is not your average Soho Korean. For a start there’s the smart look of the place, but it’s the quality of the cooking which really marks the restaurant out, due in no small part to the kitchen applying top-quality cuts of meat to the traditional Korean canon. Prime beef tartare dressed in sesame with strips of pear is an early standout of a meal here but everything else is equally faultless, from seafood pancakes to wagyu cooked tabletop and the little logs of sushi-like rice to adorn with barbecued beef tongue. Arguably, though, Chung’dam’s showstopping dish is the pyeonbaek box, a three-tiered wooden structure in which brisket, abalone, prawns and lobster are steamed to fragrant loveliness. Lovely service, too, and the old Yming site is unrecognisable in its chic new incarnation. Plus if you’ve had one too many sojus, there’s a karaoke room downstairs. It is much better than it was.
35-36 Greek Street, W1D 5DL, chungdam.co.uk
Sollip
Korean cooking gets the fine-dining treatment at this Michelin-starred restaurant in the backstreets behind Guy’s Hospital near London Bridge station. Husband-and-wife duo Woongchul Park and Bomee Ki met training at Le Cordon Bleu cookery school and were clearly apt pupils as their signature cuisine style applies classical French technique to traditional Korean dishes, sometimes with a soupçon of molecular gastronomy. Tarte Tatin is re-imagined with daikon and kimchee, monkfish pointed up with passion fruit and red cabbage, while pain perdu is served with Seorae ice cream, each masterfully prepared plate on the seven-course tasting menu (four at lunch) presented as cleanly and minimally as the cool furnishings in the calm dining room. Each course can be matched to wine by the glass from the extensive cellar and there’s a non-alcoholic alternative, too.
Unit 1, 8 Melior Street, SE1 3QP, sollip.co.uk
Dotori
South Korea is geographically one of the closest countries to Japan and the two cuisines prove to be the best of neighbours on the menu at this Finsbury Park favourite where a bowl of bibimbap can be chased down with a plate of sashimi. The Korean classics are not only all present and correct but pretty much faultlessly prepared too, whether springy haemul pajeon (seafood and chive pancakes) or very savoury bulgogi beef, while an expert hand with the fryer means that light-as-a-feather tempura is as deftly prepared as deep-fried oysters or nuggets of fried chicken. No bookings, and not much seating, so be prepared to queue, and don’t forget to bring cash to pay the bill (no cards are taken).
3 Stroud Green Road, N4 2DQ, dotori.co.uk
KGK
This hotel dining room near Gloucester Road tube used to house the Singaporean restaurant Bugis Kitchen (now re-located round the corner) and is doing a similarly sterling job of making Korean food approachable. The name stands for ‘Korean Grill Kensington’ and a gleaming barbecue is set into each table; while the classic Korean cuts of beef and pork are all here, anyone bewildered by the various options can choose a ‘chef’s feast’ set menu which for £68 offers a greatest-hits of grill cooking — Australian wagyu of the day, 35-day dry-aged rib-eye, marinated king kalbi — with sauces for daubing the meat, leafy greens to wrap them up in, plus steamed rice and soup as well as starters and puds along the lines of glass noodles and roasted soybean ice-cream. To really get into the Korean spirit, add a soju pairing for a further £30.
Courtfield Road, SW7 4LH, millenniumhotels.com
Koba
A mainstay not only of London’s Korean dining scene but a bona-fide Fitzrovia destination too, Koba has been serving up barbecued meat and slow-cooked stews in smart surrounds just off the bottom of Charlotte Street since 2005. Beef galbi (soy-marinated ribs) or bulgogi (thin-sliced soy-marinated meat) is a top shout for the barbecue, as too a seafood selection of salmon, prawn, squid and octopus, with staff a dab hand with the tabletop grills. The short-rib hotpot, meanwhile, has the rich umami flavour that comes from deeply reduced meat juices, perked up with judicious spicing. None of this comes cheap, but staff are as smart as the surrounds and deliver service as efficient as the extractor fans that ensure diners don’t leave smelling of smoky fat.
11 Rathbone Street, W1T 1NA, kobalondon.com
Pochawa Grill
Chinatown isn’t just about Chinese joints; it’s also home to this riotously fun Korean joint which, with its neon lights and disco balls, looks like a K-pop video come to technicolor life (complete with the joyous pop soundtrack). Still, look beyond the stylings and you’ll see that this is essentially a traditional barbecue restaurant given a slick modern overlay, with the authentically outré ingredients to match, from a stir-fry of chicken gizzard to a hot plate of spicy pork larded with melted cheese. More cautious diners might choose to drape pork belly or bulgogi beef over their DIY barbecue grill, while elsewhere on the menu are kimchi pancakes, fish cakes in a punchy gochujang sauce, and fried chicken with varying degrees of chilli heat. Korean beers, rice wines and soju cocktails are on hand if a shot of fortification is needed.
29 Wardour Street, W1D 6PS, pochawagrill.com
Olle
Everyone from Tottenham and South Korea captain Son Heung-min to boyband sensation BTS have visited this glossy Chinatown restaurant, which is probably as close as one can get in London to a cool modern Korean. The potential for star-spotting is one attraction; the other is some top-quality meat that ends up on the tabletop barbecue: melt-in-the-mouth bulgogi, of course, but also wagyu beef and LA-style beef short ribs. And not just on the barbie: the yuk hwae (Korean steak tartare, savoury with sesame and sweet with pear) is another must-order, and perhaps the best way to gauge the quality of the meat if your grilling skills tend towards the well done — though staff are happy to take on cooking duties.
88 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 6NH, ollelondon.com
Bibimbap
The West End is not short of traditionally run, quality Koreans — we like Myung Ga and Arirang (London’s very first Korean) in Soho — but the sometimes-offhand experience is not always the most welcome introduction for first timers. Lose your kimchee cherry at Bibimbap, a quartet of user-friendly Korean joints dotted around the West End and City and hugely popular with everyone from Asian students to Square Mile suits (though note the Greek Street outpost is the only one really conducive to a proper meal rather than grab and go). The menu is helpfully divided up into bibimbap, noodles, rice dishes, soup and sides: spicy pork bibimbap, seafood noodles, beef bulgogi rice, tofu soup, kimchee pancakes, say. It’s not life-changing — unless, of course, it opens your eyes to further exploration of this fascinating cuisine. And it’s about the same price as Wagamama.
E1, EC3, EC4 and W1, bibimbapsoho.co.uk
The Petite Corée
This West Hampstead local used to mix Korean flavours with European technique (guinea fowl breast in plum wine jus) but is now, happily, much more a straight-down-the-line Korean. There’s tabletop barbecue, with beautifully marinated meats sent out for about a fiver less than one might pay in the West End, plus all the other classics of dumplings, pancakes and glass-noodles. But pricing aside, what really sets the place apart is the duo of unimpeachable fried chicken dishes: double-fried thigh with either spicy gochujang sauce or soy garlic sauce, both demanding to be ordered and shared between two (or a meal for one). For £10 corkage, it’s bring your own bottle, except on Friday and Saturday nights — though most of the Italian and New World wine list is under £30, plus there are bottles of soju, Korea’s answer to saké, for a tenner.
98 West End Lane, NW6 2LU, @thepetitecoree
