On The Bab

This new Korean place has just popped up in the City, and though the website says it’s coming soon, it’s already open! So far I have tried the kimchi bokeum bab, the soup noodle with spicy pork, the buns with spicy chicken, the Korean fried chicken in the soy ginger flavour, and this combo box that is close to £12 but has a combination of the bibimbab with some of the small dishes. Overall, I think the food quality is decent, but I don’t love anything I’ve had more than the dosirak combo box I get at Ceena, another Korean lunch place nearby. The bokeum bab box was half salad, so the portion itself was quite small. The fried rice itself is tasty, but not something I would want all that often. The salads are always doused in a thick orange mayonnaise, which I find a bit too much. The soup noodle is a deep red coloured broth that makes you think it has no nutritional value; I was a bit scared to drink it, really. There weren’t that many toppings in there, and the noodles are thin vermicelli ones, so it’s not the most satisfying. The buns were ok, but they don’t let you do two different types of meat for the two buns, and I find it difficult to see that this is a main dish. It’s really more of a small dish priced as a main, and in my opinion definitely not filling enough. The Korean fried chicken is not crispy at all, and suffers from the same orange mayonnaise problem. This made me miss the chicken at Jubo, which was infinitely better in comparison! And the combo box is pricey, on par with some of the more expensive options at Ceena, and the bibimbab is decent but in my opinion not worth it to get it with the small dishes. That said, one of my coworkers is a big fan of the bibimbab. I am hoping they bring over a few of the menu items they have at other locations, like the soondubu tofu stew, the Korean style rice burrito, jap chae small dish, or the kimchi jeon pancake. I am willing to try new things, but this place has yet to bring out a clear winning dish!