Dinner at Bibigo in London

 

As a Korean born food writer, a food blogger and running Korean home food cookery occasionally, I always looking for some new  Korean restaurants in London.

I had eaten a few new Korean restaurant recent years, I always left the restaurant with a slightly disappointment by nothing much different than the other. 

Korean food is quietly popular to the young 30 something generations in recent years and now its popularity is established, needs something different Korean restaurant here in UK.

Like Nobu made Japanese  and Hakkasan group made Chinese( Cantonese ) , Korean needs that 

 

Korean restaurants desperately needs a person or backers with vision and patience, I regard the restaurant is not only for eat also social gathering with experience through dinning. Mind you first of all food has to be a star

 



I have had heard of Bibigo a few weeks ago, and it is in heart of West End. I had to try, they took over from old eatery,  Ssam and changed name, Bibigo,  means mixing, like Bibimbab means mixed vegetables rice, meat and sauce. Well it is quite catchy and easy to pronounce for the name.

 

Bar

 

I decided have a go, took my daughter, Catherine who is a new foodie in our family and write for the magazine.  Bibigo is situated in  a few minutes from Liberty, Great Marlborough Street. We arrived at 7:00 PM since it was Wednesday, fairly quiet,  3 tables were occupied.
 It looked much different than Ssam, deco was changed to better, friendlier and casual but smart , At the back of the room I could see kitchen through glass, as soon as I stepped in , I noticed well stocked bar with bright yellowy light, it is unusual for the Korean restaurant.
 I liked it which means you can have drinks at the bar while you are waiting  or just wanted drinks and light snack on your own.

 

Mandu

Bossam

 

We ordered  Korean dumplings ( Mandu) and fried baby squid. Mandu came with crispy plain thin pancake on the top with micro salad , I thought it was baked Parmesan cheese on the top of dumplings.  Looked very interesting and gives crunchy texture with steamed dumpling, what a good idea, I might borrow this idea  at home. Fried squid were crispy but cut too small .

Pajeon was excellent, thin batter, thinly cut spring onion and seafood. It was best I've had in London.
 

Bossam was the must have dish for me. Meaty ,tender belly pork was so delicious, also beautifully presented as well. All Bibigo meats are from Ginger Pig farm,which means quality meat!!

If I only I could be able to have with oyster, it would have been authentic Bossam but even without them it was a well balanced delicious dish.
 

 Beef & Asparagus Sanjuk

 

Sanjuk ( skewered beef and asparagus) was like a mini beef steak, when chef  Kim told me they are actually sir loin steak meat, marinated in bulgogi sauce and grilled, a tasty dish for the main course.
But next time I would like to have as medium rare after all it is like a mini beef steak.
 

Bulgogi was perfect indeed, just melt in your mouth, balances of saltiness and sweetness were just right.  

 

Bibigo offer lunch set menu for £9, Dinner set menu is £12, how good is that! I certainly try when I am in shopping or  out in theatre or opera.
 I am glad that Bibigo offering something different than most of Korean restaurant and also tasty, stylish food. They even serve very English dessert like Eton Mess. Catherine had Korean green tea ice cream, she loved it.

The Russian bar tender makes excellent and very generous size of Bloody Mary according to Catherine but if  you like milder one, ask him easy on Tabasco, it was quiet hot for me.

I hope this kind of Korean restaurant will pop up in London time to time. Needs variety style of Korean eatery in London like in NY.    



Visiting Blue House ( Residence of the President of S. Korea)

Blue House in Seoul

 

I was very lucky to have had  a chance to tour BLUE HOUSE, last October when I was in Seoul. It was a beautiful Autumn day, with clear blue sky.  A rare chance to be allowed to in the Blue House as a family of the senior civil servant. All complicated checks of security we were on the ground of this mini palace.

 

Blue House is called because of blue roof tiles, personally  I do not like any coloured tile on the Korean traditional house but this huge House did not seem too odd and a good name for the Nation's President Residence. I bet one senior civil servant thought about this name after White House, as Blue House, Well, I am wildly guessing.

 

Blue House is sit on the foot hill of mountain, it is not a big park and not as big as Kyungbok Palace , old  and a few modern buildings and traditional houses are dotted around.  It was very well managed park, well designed garden and pond, old pine trees were magnificent.

 

 We could see the President's private living quarter by distance , I have heard that ex President, Lee likes to ride bicycle on this road to the office every morning. 

 

When we were inside, we could see real a cabinet minister's meeting room, it just looked like a mini UN conference room, every desk with  computer and microphone were set , nothing like I used to have seen Downing Street, our own Prime Minister's cabinet meeting room on TV, it was very spacious .

Sadly we were not allowed take any photos.  I can imagine how European Government would be envious of this power room.

 

All rooms were so elegantly decorated , Foreign Dignitaries Greeting and Banquet room ( Youngbinkwan) was very impressive, deep yellow colour room looks very grand for the occasion.

 

My favourite house was Outdoor Dinning House for the foreign guests, it is on the hill of  park.

 The Traditional house with garden and a few big persimmon trees , it just like the my father's village house, very charming and welcoming house.  

I cam imagine many historic lunches may have had served there. I just loved the simplicity of it.

Compare with the official Grand Greeting Room (Youngbinkwan), this house had more cosy and intimate , friendly feel to it.

 

Planting Persimmon trees is a clever idea,because persimmons are  symbol of ordinary people's a comfort fruit in Korea.

They were strikingly beautiful against blue Autumn sky.   





Outdoor Dining House

Full view of Blue House

with family

 

The very Best Burial spot in the Country.

 

I was told one spot on the hill, next to Outdoor Dinning House is The Very Best Burial Spot by the Chinese Pengsui theory. A huge urn like ceramic jar is there on that spot.

Certainly looks a Perfect place to be, looking down at the city of Seoul. protected by Mountain in the back, Sun drenched spot, it looks the part. However nobody, buried yet so far.

 

I was glad to be able to see this grand House and very proud of my Old Country , Korea! 

 

Now, new Lady President, Park is in this Residence, I wonder how the house character will be changed in the future.

I am sure New President  have no problem to settling in her old childhood house.   

Korean Home cooking in March

 

WE celebrated The year of Snake with friends and now Big full moon day is near, 24th of February.

In Korea we do have another mini feast for the biggest full moon day, glutenous rice with 5 grains , and a lots of vegetable dish ( namul, 나물) and steamed fish and clear soup.

I love 5 grained and sticky rice , slightly salty ( this dish needs a little salt) with winter vegetable, delicious!!  certainly I will cook this at home.

 

Well now the Spring is near hope we can cook something new. I love Korean spring herbs, wild sage, wild tiny onions, spring vegetables so on, but unfortunately I can not get here.

I love smell of wild sage , specially soup with small clam with soy paste, when I eat this, I know the Spring has arrived.

 

March Korean Cookery Dates are:  2nd, 9th. 16th. 23rd.

 

Do contact me at kiejosarsfield@ hotmail.co.uk

 

 

 



Winter comfort Food . Ox tail and cheek stew and Yukgaejang

When the weather is cold like this Winter, everybody like to eat heart warming comfort food, we are a Anglo Korean house hold , I make both of comfort food, English and Korean, soup or slow cooked stew, using cheap cut is the key because they are not only economic also have full flavour I am looking for.

Oxtail and cheek stew

Korean spicy oxtail and leek soup ( yukgaejang)

 

We all love ox- tail stew with dark beer or red wine, but I recently tried new my recipe for this, mix with ox cheek, it was truly revelation for us. Certain super market butcher section is selling ox cheek now,  I thought I will try with ox tail, both need slow cooking and more interesting to add different texture of meat , most of all very cheap and full of flavour.

I do not use carrot for the stew , found carrot makes stew a little sweet,
2-4  celery sticks( chopped).  2 medium size white onions( chopped0. 5-6 garlic clovers and crushed. ginger ( your thumb size, chopped). 100g chestnut mushrooms. 2 ox cheek meat, 3 big oxtail pieces.
2-3 cups of Red wine or a bottle of dark beer .  1Tsp Worcestershire sauce, 1tsp of tomato puree. 2 bay leaves, 1tsp dried thyme or fresh thyme. half of dry chilli

Thick bottomed caster iron stew pan, 1tsp of rapeseed oil and heat up, fried all the cut vegetables and set aside.  Cut fat off from the oxtail, in a big bowl 3Tsp plain flour, salt and pepper mix. add meat and shake to be coated .
Add oil (1Tsp) , heat up and add meat to brown, little by little. add vegetables, chilli, garlic, ginger bay leaves, thyme and pour water. When stew is boiling add wine or beer, boil for 4-5 minutes first, add tomato puree, Worcestershire sauce boil, season with salt & pepper.
Put in the low (120c) oven for 3 hours to slowly cook. take out and stir , if stew is dryish add 1cup of boiling water and put it back to oven at 150c and cook another 45 minutes and serve with boiled barley and savoy cabbage leaves.
I boiled cabbage leaves in the salted water for 2 minutes, make sure not boil too long.
Barley is cooked onion, 1 garlic cloves 1Tsp olive oil, for more than 1 hour, make sure soak before cook. Add chopped parsley on the stew and barley.
Meat is so tender, fall off the bone and texture and flavour are rich and delicious!!

For our Korean Winter comfort food is Spicy leek soup made with Ox-tail. adding sliced tube rice cake and eat with rice and kimchi of course.
My family love this heart warming Korean soup, Yukgaejang as I do !!

 

KCC UK 5th anniversary VIP Dinner

Korean culture centre is situated perfect place near Trafalgar SQ. I still remember when it was opened, I could not believe the location; it simply could not get any better that this. The centre sits in the middle of an arty part of London, nearby institutions include the National Gallery, Royal Academy and the West End theatres. It is the perfect location to promote Korean culture to UK.

KCC UK promotes Korean Culture so successfully in art, literature, film and language. Korean film has developed a vast following here in UK already. I think weekly free film night was a good foundation along with Korean film makers have received lots of award from various film festival.

 

Korean Culture is not as widely well known as Chinese or Japanese, but Korean culture certainly has as long and deep roots as Chinese and Japanese. However, in my opinion I can say our culture is quietly elegant and has more understated charm. But since KCC UK opened UK citizens are in love with Korean Culture it seems.

 

KCC UK 5th Anniversary Dinner on 30th of January at Corinthia hotel was a grand occasion with distinguished guests in arts. I feel very privileged to be invited with my husband.

 

Chef Mr. Kim's menu were carefully created and beautifully presented. I had a long conversation with a lecturer of Cordon Blue in London , we found endless things to talk about food.

 

Starter was Pumpkin soup with cream and herb on the top, it was from our old dish, Pumpkin porridge made more watery soup with a few red beans and pine nuts and cream on the top. It was excellent idea, not too sticky and light, without rice balls in the porridge. Perfect for the starting a meal in Winter month.

2nd was Roast Rice cake with beef and wild mushroom was from another old dish Tteokjjim .

Roasted tube rice cake is eaten  around Luna new year , this is another old dish made modern twist by chef Kim. it was sophisticated rice cake dish fit for the occasion. Slightly chewy rice cake with thinly cut beef and wild mushroom on the top was a good combination.

 

Roast rice cake

Roast rice cake with beef , wild mushrooms

Small dish called Hongshi with Plum wine Granate dish was a very nice for the pre- dessert dish, Hongshi means ripe persimmons, Persimmons is a signature fruit in late Autumn and Winter in Korea.

Every village house has a few persimmon trees , you can often see bright orange coloured persimmons on the tree in the late Autumn, they look so pretty against Korean blue Autumn sky.

All Koreans have fond memories  nice about this. Persimmons are very sweet when they are ripe, we used eat with spoon or put on the plain rice cake like honey. when I had this dish I feel suddenly very homesick.

Main course was Roasted fillet of Cod with Sangsun Jungol mean Cod Fish Stew. It is also very famous Winter dish, Cod Stew. crispy cod skin , perfectly cooked cod with vegetable and light fish broth , clean taste, delicate cod flavour was well balanced main course.

It looked more like French fish dish than Korean hearty stew, Chef, Kim created another Korean old dish made fit for the modern banquet.

 

Dessert was Pear Tart with barley and Sugunga Ice Cream. It is the most clever creation for me, because this desert concept comes from Korean eating habit, since Korean Cuisine has no Sweet dish in the end of meal, Chef Kim took our custom, serving pear and dry persimmon punch flavoured with ginger and cinnamon in the Winter

Sugunga is Cinnamon punch made with dry persimmons stuffed with walnuts. it is very refreshing after hearty  meal. I thought Chef, Kim's this creation was very clever.

 

It was a perfect Korea meets West moment!   Finally this menu has shown different side of Korean Cuisine, more sophisticated side, not serving Kimchi or other well known spicy dish were Chef, Kim's intention. I may say, he showed us other side of Korean food beautifully.

Vegetarian Dish, Tofu , slow cooked kimchi with spring onion is well known Kimchi Jjigae and for the Main course , the most famous dish, Bibimbab with namul and gochujang looked very tasty and an excellent dish for the Vegetarian.

Pear Tart with barley and Sugunga Ice Cream

 

Lamb wing shank stew

 

 

These cold snowy days , we need hot healthy, uncomplicated  comfort food for our dinner, A steamy pot of stew is always welcome in this freezing weather. Our garden looks just like a white Winter land.  I had to be at home as our drive way is frozen, luckily I had a lots of food shopping on Friday, 18th of January.

 

Prefer lamb shank is too expensive at the moment but I found cheaper , wing shank of lamb, I have  cooked before with red wine and tomatoes and a lot of vegetables. I decided make spicy stew more like curry taste but not too strong. it was greatly received by our family.

It is a good for the long slow cook in the oven, looks very tasty. Accompany with green salad and rice or cooked barley would be a healthy option.

The weather carries on like this , no doubt I will cook this lamb shank stew again.

 

500g Lamb wing shank, 1 onion chopped, 3 celery sticks chopped, 2 tsp chopped garlic, 1tsp grated ginger, 1 dry chilli, Curry spices( cumin, coriander seed, 1 cinnamon stick, curry leaves).

 

Heat oil in the big wok, fry lamb to brown and put in the sewing pot, cook all chopped vegetables and add to lamb,  tin tomatoes, spices, garlic, ginger. pour water ( no need stock, because lamb bone on the meat will make up ) until just cover the stew.

Cook in the low oven ( 120c) for at least 3 hours) first and higher temperature( 160c) for 40 minutes.

Meat will fall off from the bone, you can take off bone and add chopped coriander and serve.

Delicious and very comforting!!

 

 

 

Lamb stew in the pot

Lamb stew served with rice



Trip to historic city Jeonju, Korea

 

My visit to Korea in October 2012 was planned to attend Jeonju ( city in south west) International Fermented Food Expo.
 Well, when I arrived from Seoul, actually it was more like City market day with  fermented salted fish stalles and local food exhibition but I have not been this historical city and most famous bibimbab is born here, my 2 sisters and I decided tour the city and taste famous Jeonju Bibimbab.
 

Jeonju is Lee sungyae, founder of Lee dynasty, was born here. Still you can visit his house.

South west region ( Jullado) is well known for farming,  having good rice farm and rich sauce of vegetables and fish , seafood as well. Specially Jeongu Bibimbab is the most famous dish.
The story goes, 29 ingredients are needed for the Jeonju Bibimbab but this might be for the Royal court in olden days, Lee dynasty era


 Hanok village ( traditional Korean house village) is very charming and can stay in  house with family who lives there, experiencing olden days life must be quite something . But unfortunately I could not get a room , all fully booked with Jeonju Festival guests.

Food show from Jeonju catering college was very impressive, young and enthusiastic students try to make their marks here, the food ,they made were had quirky and modern twist, displayed beautifully.
Talking to these wannabe young chefs, I thought Korean food will be safe by these young chefs and will develop as  a well regarded international cuisine. It was very comforting to know.

Move to Temple food section. Korean temple food is totally organic and vegetarian food. Temple food is a phenomenon In Korea as the most healthy food.They look fantastically photogenic and appetising , certain stillness like zen quality but I can not say they are the most healthy food!!
this temple food exhibition inspire me to develop recipes.

I discovered new dish, Jeonju's speciality, cabbage pancake, so simple and delicious. Slightly salted cabbage ( Chinese cabbage, Baechu) leaves , dip in the pancake batter and shallow fry, but surprisingly, a tasty snack.

I bought a few jars of salted seafood ( jetgal) with spicy sauce , oyster, scallops, sea squats known as Mungae, which is my second favourite after oyster ( has very special sea muddy flavour), they were all delicious with hot steamy rice, but sadly I could not take to home in England!!!

We, my two sisters and I took taxi to see Hanok village and famous Jeonju Bibimbab restaurant ( recommended by KTO), loved Hanok village being in the central of city, a few minutes  walking distance, we entered restaurant. ordered bibimbab set menu. They brought 10 different Banchan ( side dish) and clear soy bean sprout soup and sauce.
Well!! they looked fit for the King! according to our taxi driver Jeonju bibimbab needs 29 ingredients to make properly, but modern bibimbab which we had  9 - 10 ingredients . I do not know I could be able to taste all 10 ingredients let along 29.
it was delicious, I loved different wild mountain vegetables and clear soup were a good match!

I had a chat with an American and a French tourist, they seemed very impressed by food and city itself.

My initial disappointment was vanished at the end of our visit, Jeonju. Loved experience of local food and culture, they inspired me a few new recipes I am going to cook !
I should travel to Korea and take different region and city but distance and travel cost prevent me.

Jeonju bibmbab set mealTemple squash kimchi

Lady monk at Temple food

I need a sponsor or win a lottery to fund my travel perhaps!

Travel to Jeonju : take train or Express bus from Gangnam Express Bus Terminal. takes only 3 hours and cheap, can be done as a day trip. I am so glad I did this trip !!