I’ll be honest, this article is all bias (and bias wreckers). I fell in love with hansik, or Korean food, at a young age, with my best friend’s mum introducing me to flavours that would follow me through life. I’m a pretty half-assed cook, but in my twenties, I learnt hangul so I could read recipes and identify the correct ingredients in speciality shops. It was dining out on Korean food, however, that most informed and honed my palate when cooking at home and continues to do so.

From barbecue to jjigae and seolleongtang to naengmyeon, I’ve acquired plenty of favourite dishes and more than a few favourite eateries. From someone who declares that samgyeopsal with yukaejang and soju will be her Last Meal, here is my selection of the best Korean restaurants in London.

Best KBBQ value for money

Sarang

Sarang means love in Korean, and to say that I love this north London restaurant is nothing short of the truth. This was my local for three years after I arrived in London, a place I would take myself to with a book and enjoy a cold Cass lager and a bottle of soju on my own.

Predominantly a BBQ restaurant, Sarang’s menu includes all the popular Korean dishes, making it great for those new to the cuisine and the hangul-literate alike. If you’re solo dining, my recommendation is to order a jjigae (stew), guk (soup), or a dupbap (rice dish) in hot stone dishes; my favourites are the classic kimchi jjigae, galbi-tang (beef short rib soup), and yukaejang (spicy beef soup). The jjigae and guk are accompanied by a side of rice, you just need to order a side of kimchi or modum namul (pickled spinach, bean sprouts, and radish).

When dining with a mate, split a BBQ set. My favourite is set C with beef galbi, beef bulgogi, spicy pork bulgogi, and spicy chicken bulgogi. At £29.80 per set, it’s a bargain. The sets come with lettuce, pickled onion, and pa muchim (shredded spring onion salad). Complete the meal with side orders of rice, kimchi, Cass lager, and a bottle or two of soju.

Golders Green, NW11

Best for Korean comfort food

Imone

If you didn’t know, New Malden is home to some of the best Korean food in London, and Imone is worth the journey to the outskirts of the city. This food is as good as any Korean auntie could make and rightly so, for Imone means ‘aunt’s place’ in Korean.

You’ll want to dine with someone at this über casual, family-run restaurant. My recommendation is always bossom, or steamed pork belly slices, served with white kimchi. Pair that with a side of rice, and a jjigae or guk – it’s all good, from the yukaejang to dolsot udong to (my favourite here): the gamja-tang, or pork back bone soup.

The tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) are pillowy, the gimmari (seaweed rolls with rice noodles) are crispy, and the soondae (Korean blood sausage) perfectly completes the holy trinity of street food (I lied, eomuk would complete it; if you know, you know). Order until your heart’s content, wash it down with soju, and take your time.

Try not to eat all the banchan (small side dishes) as soon as they arrive at the table.

New Malden, KT3 | Imone Instagram

Best modern Korean food

Miga

Miga is a multi-generational family business, with Hyun Sang Ko cooking dishes inspired by his grandmother’s recipes, and his children running the dining room. Miga is about simplicity and understated elegance, from the plating of the dishes to the white interior with walnut accents that evokes a hanok, or traditional Korean house.

The menu is moreish, it’s impossible to order just one or two dishes. Past menu highlights include the sea bream in soy vinaigrette, steamed tofu with pan-fried kimchi, soy-braised short ribs with pear, carrots, and shiitake mushroom, and sliced brisket with perilla seed aioli and a salad of leek and baby leaf greens.

Order the seolleongtang (ox bone broth), oie (cucumber) kimchi, Cass lager, and soju. You’re welcome.

For atmosphere, food, and service, it doesn’t get much better than Miga.

Hackney, E8 | Miga Instagram

Best Korean restaurant post-trip to Korea

Gamnamuzip

Probably not one I would recommend to someone completely unfamiliar with Korean cuisine and dining style (then again, maybe it’s the perfect introduction for the right person), but definitely my recommendation for folks with a hansik craving post-trip to Korea.

Gamnamuzip specialises in large pots of bubbling stews and soups, and the first meal I had here with my partner and mates was the gamja-tang – pork back bone soup with potatoes. Accompanied by six banchan and steamed rice, my table let me take the lead as I effortlessly pulled meat off bones (it fell off it was so tender) and spooned out bowls of broth (feeding people in this way is one of my love languages) – the staff kept us right, topping up our pot with more hot water so we could continue to enjoy the broth long into our meal.

The atmosphere, the dishes, the flavours, even the late opening hours will remind a love-stricken traveller of Korea. The Angel restaurant has one of the best lunch deals around: gamja-tang or another main with four banchan (small side dishes), and a bowl of steamed rice for £12. Read that again: Twelve pounds.

From its bright green exterior and stripped-back interiors to its steamed-up windows and crackin’ broths, Gamnamuzip is easily one of my favourite restaurants in the city.

Angel, N1 | Gamnamuzip Instagram

Contemporary KBBQ in central London

Majang Dong

People will fight me over the best place for KBBQ in Chinatown/Soho. There are great places in the neighbourhood, so I welcome a passionate debate about who has the best portions, the best prices, the best atmosphere. But I’m throwing Majang Dong into the ring.

The butcher’s cut meats on display make for inspired ordering, and whilst you can select cuts à la carte, I’m forever a fan of splitting BBQ sets with my mates. I combine one set with beef short rib, onglet, and pork belly with another comprised of brisket, marinated short rib, and spicy chicken – and to hell with it, order a few extra cuts and pile the table up with banchan because that is how you BBQ.

Other favourites include sharing jokbal (pig’s trotters) with extra kimchi, tteokbokki, pajeon (savoury Korean pancake) or mandu (dumplings), cold spicy kal-guksu in summer (noodle dish), and something hot in winter, like the gamja-tang or soondubu jjigae (tofu and seafood stew).

I forego the bright blue cocktail in favour of Korean beer and soju. Always.

Soho, W1D | Majang Dong Instagram

Korean fine dining

Sollip

I’m not usually a fine dining kind of person, much preferring the unfussy, casual affair of tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurants and eateries, and even the messiness and chaos of street food, but every once in a while, I’m reminded why fine dining is an experience.

Sollip is a Michelin-starred, husband-and-wife-run restaurant in London Bridge offering delicate seasonal menus of Korean-inspired dishes. It’s simple, poised, and with risk of sounding dramatic, sublime. Everything about Sollip, from its dècor and plating to its atmosphere, is understated modern elegance, evoking something like a contemporary art gallery in Seoul or Jeju.

There is a 4-course lunch menu (£78) and a 7-course dinner menu (£152), with the current tasting menu featuring brown crab with courgette flower, blood orange, and Thai basil; nurungji (crunchy Korean scorched rice – one of the best textures on earth) with celeriac and aromatic perilla seed oil, and strip loin with black bean and salsify.

I’m not much of a wine drinker and opted instead for the Lee Gang Ju soju and an order of Damsol – a Korean pine liquor that was botanical and herby and exactly the sort of thing I gravitate towards.

London Bridge, SE1 | sollip.co.uk

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