Showing posts with label korean. Show all posts
Showing posts with label korean. Show all posts

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Bibimbap House, Cambridge

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Pork Bulgogi Bibimbap (£9.50)
When I wrote about going to Little Seoul a while back, I had incorrectly thought that it was the only Korean restaurant in Cambridge. In fact, there's another restaurant on Mill Rd with an interesting approach to Korean food...

N and I decided to pay Bibimbap house a visit for lunch recently, and were pleasantly surprised to find only one kind of item on the menu - Bibimbap! (not surprisingly) In some way, I almost prefer a restaurant that does not offer many options because it means they have confidence in whatever it is they specialise in serving.


Bibimbap House only do 7 different kinds of bibimbap, from your standard bulgogi bibimbap to japchae bibimbap and even the infamous ham (read: spam) and kimchi bibimbap.

We order the regular bulgogi bibimbap and the pork bulgogi bibimbap which both come as a nice set with miso soup and two of my much beloved sides. Unfortunately, they weren't my favourite sides - a mash potato salad and some vegetables - I'd much prefer some kimchi, or those fish cakes, or the jelly things, or those marinated potatoes... yum yum. I should probably learn their names.


The bibimbap itself was tasty and sizzling hot, full of gochujang goodness, although the rather large looking bowl was actually deceptively shallow. I very much liked the two bulgogi types, more watery than I'm used to at other Korean restaurants and not so sickeningly sweet, which made it better than usual!

And to top it all off, (presumably) the son of one of the chefs was at the table next to us, wolfing down a meal himself whilst playing his DS.

Yes, I like this place.

Bibimbap House
60 Mill Road, Cambridge, CB1 2AS
01223 506800

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Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Little Seoul, Cambridge


Saturday evening in the lab... Bibimbap anyone?

As far as I know, Little Seoul is the only Korean restaurant in Cambridge - a far cry from the endless supply of Korean places in Sydney's Chinatown. It's already 7:30 pm when our group's token computational guy YST and I head out for dinner. Luckily the restaurant is just around the corner.

(Edit: I've recently been told about another place on Mill Rd called Bibimbap House... read the review here)

It all feels a little strange. The restaurant is situated underground, so you have to walk down a flight of stairs to get in. The inside itself is rather bare, with no-frills plain beige walls. However, the most bizarre part is the layout, with far too many walls segmenting the building into several mid-sized rooms. Reminds me of dodgy karaoke places in Chinatown... except without the smoke-filled aroma, severe lack of ventilation and generally low visibility level. OK perhaps that isn't a fair comparison.

Anyway forget the decor, we're here to eat.

Dolsot bibimbap (£8.50)
We have bibimbap on the brain, so YST opts for the hot stonebowl dolsot bibimbap version whilst I go for the regular which is cheaper by £1. Oh yes. My ingenious money saving scheme is unfortunately more than offset by my inability to resist Korean seafood pancake.

Seafood pancake (£5.70 I think?)
I'm slightly disappointed that my beloved banchan or unlimited-free-refill-side-dishes aren't on offer here, as they are one of the best things about going to Korean restaurants! There is the option to purchase sides like kimchi and namul however.

The pancake is a little softer than I'd hoped and lacking seafood despite its name, but I still scoff it down in a hurry. The dipping sauce does seem a little strong on the soy hence slightly too salty.

As for the bibimbaps... well honestly you can't really go wrong with a mishmash of rice and random ingredients smushed together with dollops of chilli sauce. Yum. Or maybe I've watched Full House too many times (not the US sitcom).

Verdict? Hard to say having only really eaten a couple of things, although the menu choice is not so large. I get the feeling it's pretty solid Korean for what they do offer, minus the free side dishes, but wait... did I hear lunch special?

They do a main and a free side-dish at lunch for cheaper, so I'm pretty sure I'll be back sometime soon!

Little Seoul
108 Regent St, Cambridge, CB2 1DP
Tel: +44 (0) 12233 308681
http://www.littleseoul.co.uk/ 


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