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Category Archives: Food & Drink

Westminster Council in bulgogi clampdown

08-Aug-08

Westminster Council in bulgogi clampdown

When did a Korean barbeque last blow up in YOUR face? We live in dangerous times, and fortunately there are people whose job it is to protect us. A couple of weeks ago my big brother was staying with me, and I thought I’d introduce him to Korean food. So I took him to a place just off Piccadilly and ordered my usual. Yukhae, pajeon, galbi and kimchi chigae. A nice table-top barbeque is as good a place as any to start with Korean cuisine. Sometimes when dining solo or with just one other person I’ve had the problem where the restaurant can’t be bothered with the fuss of the table top barbeque and cooked the bulgogi in the kitchen. But as ...
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Kie-jo Sarsfield’s kimchi recipe

24-Jun-08

Kie-jo Sarsfield’s kimchi recipe

Cabbage Kimchi (Baechoo Kimchi) Ingredients: 2 Korean (Chinese) Cabbage Korean Mooli (White Radish) or Mooli Korean Watercress (not English watercress) Spring Onions Korean Chili Powder (100g) Salted Anchovy Sauce (half cup) Salted Baby Shrimps (2 tbs) Sugar (1 tsp) Finely Chopped or Crushed Garlic (5 tbs) Finely Chopped Ginger (3 tbs) Sea Salt (100g) Water (20 cups) Method: Trim the cabbage and with a knife, slit the cabbage heads lengthwise, and split into two by hand. Dissolve the sea salt in the water (15%) and let the cabbage sit in the salted water for 3 hours, turning them from time to time. When the cabbage is salted (the leaves will look like they are slightly wilted) rinse the cabbage under cold running water 3 or 4 times and then drain in a colander. Leave until the kimchi ...
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Kimchi in Metroland – Korean Cooking with Kie-jo Sarsfield

14-Jun-08

Kimchi in Metroland – Korean Cooking with Kie-jo Sarsfield

It was a sunny Saturday morning. Louise and I found ourselves speeding through the leafy countryside of Buckinghamshire on the way to the Chalfonts, towards the end of the Metropolitan Line. We were to be the willing guinea pigs for Kie-jo Sarsfield’s Korean Cookery classes. The taxi was waiting for us at the station, and five minutes later we were welcomed at Kie-jo’s front door. From the kitchen, the very welcome burbling of a coffee percolator could be heard: I was feeling rough from the Yoon Band’s gig the night before. Even more encouraging, the table had been set for lunch. We tucked into the coffee. Waiting on the kitchen table were some carefully prepared recipes and instructions for what we were ...
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The craziest pub in London?

13-Jun-08

The craziest pub in London?

In a corner of Bermondsey, right by the river, is one of many traditional East End boozers. Outside: picnic benches, barrels to put your pint glasses on, hanging baskets of flowers, and a view towards Tower Bridge (right). Inside, it's cosy. High on the wall, a TV showing the footie (left). Oak paneled walls. In the 1970s, episodes of The Sweeney were apparently filmed there. It does pub food. Sunday roasts. Fish and chips. Steak. Vinegared whelks. You can't get more London than that. Take two. Let's read that again. Whelks with noodle salad in a spicy vinegar sauce. Hmmm... Poussin stuffed with rice and boiled in a broth of ginseng, dried jujube fruit, garlic and ginger. Sound suspiciously like samgyetang? On the walls, ...
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Korean Links in Manchester

06-Feb-08
Beccy Kennedy, PhD candidate in contemporary Asian art at MIRIAD, and LKL's visual arts correspondent, writes to remind us that London is not the only place in the UK to get your fix of Korean culture. If you don't already live here and have ever felt like paying a visit to Britain's birthplace of the Industrial Revolution and Indie/Rave music scene, then this springtime may prove to be an exceptionally fruitful opportunity. There are two major Korean cultural events taking place, which alongside the popular Koreana Restaurant ((40a King St West, Manchester, M3 2WY, 0161 832 4330)), and Seoul Kimchi foodstore ((275 Upper Brook Street , Manchester, M13 0HR, 0161 273 5556)), should be enough to entice you to take a ...
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Grow your own Korean vegetables

12-Dec-07
Louise has been browsing the magazines for possible cures - or replacements - for our sickly abies koreana. Browsing the Royal Horticultural Society's periodical the other day she found an interesting feature on Korean vegetables. A local Korean who grows Korean vegetables in his New Malden allotment was featured. For those who want to grow their own Korean vegetables, the most useful thing in the article was a short list of on-line resources where the seeds can be ordered. The links are given below, together with the article itself. Links: Main article in the RHS Garden Magazine Not very good instructions on how to make bulgogi Sources for seeds for Korean vegetables and herbs: Chiltern Seeds in Cumbria (tel 01229 581137) Arne Herbs in Bristol (tel 01275 ...
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How to make kimchi

02-Oct-07
I came across this while browsing YouTube the other day: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyTVVJ76z7M[/youtube] Does anyone have any variants on this recipe? For example, I heard from one trusted source that some people grate pear or apple into the mixture. Update: Try Kie-jo Sarsfield's kimchi recipe. I've tasted it. It's great.
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Indian Summer? Try Indian boshintang

17-Aug-07
And in the second of today's frivolous links, here's a story from Associated Press. An Indian politician has allegedly proposed solving India's stray dog problem by shipping the creatures to Korea. One cynical wag has suggested that there would be howls of protectionist protest... Links: Indian Politician: Ship Stray Dogs to Korea, Hindustan Times via Fox News, 16 August
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Tripe, black pudding and a communal sing-song…

17-Jul-07
...but this is no East-End boozer. Jennifer Barclay reports from Saturday's Korean Food Festival The softly spoken Mr Kim tells me he thinks Korean food is the most highly developed in the world, while standing over the searing hot barbecue cooking galbi, beef marinated in 17 different ingredients. His white t-shirt somehow manages to remain immaculate, although he is slinging steaks onto the grill all day. 'French food is seen as the best in the world. The French, they have 170 different cuts of the cow, of beef. Koreans, we have more than 200. Close to 300.' An impressive fact, although I wonder privately if it is a good thing to eat that many parts of a cow. The thinly sliced meat tastes ...
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Stuff your face in New Malden

07-Jul-07
Bastille day will give you the opportunity to sample Korean food washed down with British beer. Maybe there will be some soju available as well. Saturday 14 July sees the Korean Food Festival come to the Fountain Pub (left) in New Malden. Details as follows: 12:00~7:00 pm (Opening Ceremony 12:15 pm) at 120 Malden Road New Malden Surrey KT3 6DD (Fountain Pub) Organised by KORSA (the Korean Restaurants & Supermarkets Association) Hope the weather's a bit better than the festival in Kingston last week. Links: Samuel Cho's site for a full-sized photo of the dumplings
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A listing of Korean food stores

25-Jun-07
Sitting at the counter when I ordered my lunchtime chicken katsu curry bento box at my local Japanese takeaway the other day was a copy of Eat-Japan magazine - a brochure promoting all the Japanese restaurants and food shops in London. The brochure also has a directory of some more general oriental food stores. I list below the ones which look like they do Korean groceries, and I'll update the list as people tell me of more (thanks for the Manchester one, Beccy). In London / New Malden Centre Point Food Store 20-21 St Giles High Street London WC2H 8LN Tel 020 7836 9860 Tube Tottenham Court Road www.cpfs.co.uk Hanna Supermarket 41 Store Street London WC1E 7DB Tel 020 7636 4118 Tube Tottenham Court Road, Goodge Street Jin Mi Food 127 Kingston Road New Malden Surrey KT3 3NX Tel 020 8336 ...
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Get plastered and win a holiday in Cheju-do

12-May-07
Not any more, though. Reports of a rather fun "drinking culture" competition hit the presses this week. The story even made it into the free newspaper handed out in the London Underground. Battered by criticism from the media and civic groups, Goesan's county government decided to stop awarding its "Drinking Culture Prize'' to its county employees who boosted the local economy the most by drinking at bars. Ahn Byung-hoon, an official of the county in North Chungcheong, said yesterday the county government will abolish the prize, which it introduced on May 1. Three county employees were awarded for drinking heavily in local bars for more than 20 years. They were given a three-day trip to Jeju Island and a plaque for what the ...
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British-owned culture cafe opens in Bucheon

30-Mar-07
Thanks to Peter Orange for letting me know about an interesting new venture in Bucheon (부천): Cafe Nicolia, run by British / Korean couple Nicholas and Lia Young. From their website, it looks like a version of Seoul Selection, but obviously with more food and, I'm guessing, fewer books. On my rare visits to Seoul Selection I've thought that they could do with something slightly more substantial to sustain you than a cup of coffee - so maybe Cafe Nicolia is it. Only you have to head out to Bucheon for it. The cafe features: a range of English language books, travel guides, popular international magazines and newspapers for sale and for customers to dear in the cafe. In addition, customers ...
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Pet/food

18-Jan-07
To celebrate my impending arrival in Seoul, a controversial topic prompted by a chance conversation with a work colleague in Hong Kong, where four men were recently jailed for slaughtering two dogs for food. The Letter from China blog helpfully provides extracts from the relevant Hong Kong law banning the practice: Dogs and Cats Regulations (Chapter 167A), the Laws of Hong Kong Regulation 22(1):- No person shall slaughter any dog or cat for use as food whether for mankind or otherwise. Regulation 23:- Any person who contravenes regulation 22(1) or (2) shall be liable to a fine of $5000 and to imprisonment for 6 months. Further background coverage is provided at EastSouthWestNorth. Another link on canine cuisine, unrelated to the Hong Kong story, is here, ...
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Korean alcohol consumption

07-Nov-06
It's always nice to know that people are occasionally reading the stuff I write. Aidan Foster-Carter was prompted by my post on the Asian craze for fine wine to trawl his compendious archives, and he forwarded me this interesting piece on Korean alcohol consumption. Though out of date, it does confirm that when it comes to wine, the South Korean market is starting from a very low base. For Business Asia (Economist Intelligence Unit [EIU], Hong Kong, December 2001 Bottoms up Korea's avid drinkers and smokers offer a market opportunity - but not without risks Heading a foreign business association can be a routine, even dreary task. Not for Jeffrey Jones. The president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AmCham) recently starred ...
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Kaya in top 10 unusual restaurants

12-Oct-06
In last Saturday's Times, in The Knowledge listings supplement (7-13 October), there was a list of top 10 unusual restaurants in London, as ranked by Square Meal. Kaya, 42 Albermarle Street, is in the list. This is something of an oddity among the ranks of sleek, modish Mayfair restaurants, but it's well worth seeking out for an induction to authentic Korean cuisine. Tuck into excellent renditions of classics such as seaweed soup, beef and ox tongue barbecued at the table, and jellyfish and seafood in a mustard sauce. Don't stint on the side dishes either, as the rice, noodles & broths all add to the experience. It's only recently that Square Meal has recognised "Korean" as a separate cuisine, so maybe that's ...
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The Asian fine wine craze

04-Sep-06
The FT's rather silly How to Spend It magazine had a feature this weekend on the growing popularity of fine wine in the far east, particularly the top Bordeaux. The main picture accompanying the article was of a glamorous young woman sipping a glass of red, purportedly in a fashionable Seoul wine bar. The article commented on the growing connoisseurship in Asia, with wine merchants being grilled about the relative merits of Francois Jobard, Coche-Dury and Comtes Lafon. So there is a very high level of knowledge allied to massive spending power. Other drinkers don't bother with the research and go for the name. The wines you find right at the bottom of a restaurant's list: These people will limit themselves to drinking the ...
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Cooking in the danger zone (2)

26-Jul-06
Not much to report on this programme. Nothing sensationalist. The most interesting thing was that the BBC crew was shadowed by a Korean TV crew who were interested in how the Beeb were going to portray the dogmeat industry. And there was a beef farm where although the cattle weren't free range they seemed fairly comfortable in their pens and were played soothing music. The dogmeat stew looked very appetising, but the presenter refused to eat it in front of the Korean TV cameras for fear of being seen to condone an unregulated industry. And it wasn't these unpleasant looking things that the presenter ate, as trailed on the BBC website, but the more prickly-looking sea cucumbers. Overall less irritating than most ...
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Cooking in the Danger Zone

18-Jul-06
Following on the success of zany TV series like Holidays in the Axis of Evil (the DPRK show was rather good, I thought), and mindful of the sadistic pleasure we take in watching minor celebrities eating kangaroo testicles in jungle reality shows, TV execs are now going to treat us to "Cooking in the Danger Zone". South Korea will be getting a programme all to itself. I'm not sure whether it's because the temperature has increased since Kim Jong-il's 4 July fireworks display, or whether the series just has a catchy title and South Koreans eat all sorts of things that Brigit Bardot wouldn't condone. Other countries in the series include Afghanistan, Uganda and China. Visit the BBC4 web page here, and ...
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Is Samphire available in Korea?

04-Jul-06
Samphire is this decade's rocket. Ten or 15 years ago, no-one had heard of the peppery salad leaf. At one yuppy dinner party in the early 90s I recall having eaten it boiled like spinach (can't remember what it tasted like), and you could only get hold of it by growing it yourself. Now it's everywhere. Samphire (strictly, marsh samphire -- also known as glasswort, salicornia herbacea, I think) today is similarly unavailable. You can get it in fishmongers sometimes, but how many fishmongers are left? Otherwise you have to harvest it yourself from your local saltwater marsh. And retro-cool cookbooks swear by it. Anyway, as it's barbecue weather I bought some tuna from my local fishmonger on Saturday, planning to marinade ...
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Koreans masquerading as Japanese (and vice versa)

14-Jun-06
There's a presumption that when you go to an ethnic restaurant the staff are going to be from the country whose food is on offer. Of course, it's not always the case. The first counter-example I came across in respect of London Korean restaurants is Young Bean Kwan, where I can often be found stuffing my face at the all-you-can-eat-for-£8.50 lunchtime buffet. That place is run by a Brazilian Japanese. More recently, at the place where I sometimes get my lunchtime bento box (Noto, at the bottom of Bow Lane) I was surprised that everyone behind the counter was talking Korean. I was told by people in the know that this is not unusual, and that in fact loads of ...
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The world’s biggest bibimbap?

25-May-06
From the Chosun: Students make Korean traditional dish bibimbap, an assortment of vegetables and rice, for 1,000 people during a spring festival at Ewha Womans University, which marked its 120th anniversary on Wednesday.
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Korean boffins develop space kimchi

13-May-06
What would we do without the Chosun? In preparation for the journey into space of the first Korean astronaut in 2008, scientists are working on a way to make kimchi without having the little friendly bacteria turn into space aliens. The solution is gamma radiation, plus special packaging to ensure the red juice doesn't squirt everywhere when opened. Update 17 Oct 2006, from the Chosun again: Space Kimchi Poised for 2008 Launch Traditional Korean delicacies kimchi, gochujang (red pepper sauce) and ginseng are being made ready for their launch into space. The Ministry of Science and Technology said Sunday Korea's first astronaut will be eating Korean space food which Dr. Kim Sung-soo of the Korea Food Research Institute is developing. The plan is ...
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Eric promotes Spam

03-Apr-06
Not the unsolicited email, but the processed pork luncheon meat so ridiculed in the Monty Python sketch. As Rowan Pease said in her recent talk on the hallyu in China, the only way for stars and studios to make money out of hallyu is via celebrity endorsements; but it's certainly puzzling that such a (to a Brit) tired and unfashionable product should be singled out for a glamour-makeover by pop singer Eric from Shinhwa. Having said which, I highly recommend fried Spam for brunch, along with fried eggs, potatoes and brown sauce. Certainly more dependable than the poor quality bacon and sausages you get in most greasy spoon cafes in London. Maybe we should get Britney to give Spam a ...
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