On the Bab - Korean Casual Dining in London

On the Bab is a popular Korean casual dining restaurant serving Korean street and home-styled food. It is opened by restaurateur Linda Lee who has over 12 years of experience in London running restaurants. On the Bab itself has 4 outlets. Vain Pot recommended the place to me because I told her I wish to try somewhere the locals frequent. There was already a queue when we got there attesting to its popularity. (you got to forgive the shaky images because it's the first time I'm using my new Olympus PEN E PL 8 to take food at night)

We started our meal with the Yangyum Chicken which apparently is the highlight of the restaurant. Fried chicken is a classic Korean dish. I picked the Garlic Mayo which Vain Pot tried before, she said it is the best among the choices. I felt that the chicken was well fried and the sauce was really well concocted. It definitely gave an addictive kicker to the dish. As much as I enjoyed the dish, Korean Chicken in general rarely appeals to me, just feels like junk food. Having said that, I'm pretty certain Korean Chicken fans will be lapping this up just like Vain Pot did!

The On the Roll (Spicy Pork) appealed a lot better to me. I liked how the rolls were sliced thinly making each mini roll bite size. There's a good mix of vegetables typical in all Korean dishes with the spicy pork giving very good balance to the dish. I like how the crunchy rice rolls felt really light when I ate them and this meant I can consume more without feeling excessively full. I felt a little bit more Korean with every bite.

The Soondubu Jjigae is another very traditional Korean dish. It's a stew made up of tofu, seafood and egg. The weather was around 8 degrees while I was enjoying this meal so you can imagine how comforting a bowl of hot stew feels. Again, I'm typically not a fan of tofu stews in Singapore but this particular one saw me cleaning the bowl. The soup had mild spiciness and it's power packed with flavour. I love how the tofu and egg is cooked till creamy you can just slurp it up. In chilly London, having this stew simply added warm and fuzziness to our dining experience.

Covent Garden's On the Bab is not only known for food but also for its drinks. Vain Pot and I both had Soju Cocktails and it made the meal more satisfying. I'll certainly recommend this place for a good catch up with friends as this place offers not only comfort food but also a decent selection of drinks to chill out.

On the Bab (Covent Garden)
36 Wellington Street London, WC2E7BD

Guksu Restaurant

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! Today is 初一. What am I doing in front of the computer?! I've done my rounds earlier today feasting on everyone's pineapple tarts and trying to convince myself that the $23.20 I paid for my "Best Pineapple Tarts in Singapore" is worth it. Mentioned I bought Kele Pineapple Tarts last week. After my first round of tasting, it appears to be! Kele is less overwhemling in taste and the pastry and pineapple strike a better balance.

I paid Guksu Restaurant a visit sometime last week to satisfying my craving for Korean Jeongol. Met Fat Fat who works nearby and she very kindly gave me a treat. Aptly for her name, we agreed next round of meet up we should exercise instead of eat.

The Budae Jjigae ($39.90) which we settled for is suitable for 2-3 pax. The set comes with instant noodles, luncheon meat, pork ham, chicken sausage, kimchi, bean curd, and golden mushrooms soaked in chicken broth. The original menu is beef broth but we managed to get it changed. Generally, in this weather where it rains almost everyday, it's a very suitable hot stew to warm you up. If you are going to ask me how much more special is Guksu's processed food compared with other places, I honestly will tell you it's pretty much the same. I find this more in terms of comfort food rather than because it's prepared in a far superior way to others.

One highlight of the set is the complimentary 2 piece chicken the set comes with. Guksu Restaurant is known for pretty awesome Korean Chicken according to research. Do note that the chicken doesn't come cheap. Fat Fat (who can't take spicy food) very cleverly chose the spicy flavoured chicken which taste awesome. The chicken is fried till crispy and the sauce is fiery spicy which can make the chicken very addictive if you like spicy food. I didn't list any prices this time round because Fat Fat gave me a treat and I forgot what was listed on the menu.

Will I be back? Yes! I will be back next round to try the other version of korean chicken which I have a very good impression of. There's original and soy sauce left to be tried. I can probably find comparable stews elsewhere but it's not so easy to find equally awesome korean chicken. Most places are over-hyped.  This is a perfect place for your korean fix when you are in the heart of town and want easy access to mrt and parking (love the parking at Suntec).

Guksu Restaurant
#02-385, Suntec City Convention Mall, 3 Temasek Boulevard 

Mak's Noodles & Ice Lab

December, January, February has always been intensive months for my stomach every year. There's a lot of feasting due to the festive mix of Christmas, Birthday and Chinese New Year. And thanks to my Hong Kong trip this year, I quite reached my quota with the body insisting on light food like porridge. Hence the trip to Mak's Noodles was done with the intention of having some good authentic porridge like they do in Hong Kong at other Michelin starred wonton mee outlets like Ho Hung Kee. Ironically, I would only return to Ho Hung Kee for their porridge. As it turns out, I went to the Centrepoint outlet and was disappointed to find out that congee is only available at the West Gate outlet.

I have never eaten Mak's Noodles before despite visiting Hong Kong 4 times. Hence this meal is really to find out what all the fuss is really about. Given that Mak's Noodles originated from Hong Kong and that Hong Kong wonton mee is more popular for their soup base version, we pretty much picked all the soup dishes.

We settled for Wonton & Dumpling Noodle Soup ($8.50) and Wonton & Beef Tendon Noodle Soup ($9.50). My conclusion after my third attempt trying Hong Kong wonton mee is that it's not my thing. I still prefer the local dry version tossed with chilli or sweet sauce, garnished with char siew and vegetables. To be fair, the wonton are big and the prawns are fresh and crunchy. The dumplings are also rich in flavour and Mak's Noodles spared no expense on the ingredients. The beef tendons based on fussy pot's feedback is really tender. (I don't really eat beef so I didn't try) Above all, the noodles were springy and crispy. That said, I didn't like the soup base which I feel is an acquired taste. Besides the noodles, we also ordered a double boiled soup with shrimp roe ($3.50). While the soup is light and the shrimp taste is present, I just feel the soup didn't measure up to other type of better tasting soups in Hong Kong. Being a strong advocate that one of the wins Hong Kong have over Singapore is their boiled soup, this one left us thirsty after the meal which leaves me to question how much MSG was added. 

Mak's Noodles is worth a go if you wish to try authentic Hong Kong wonton mee without the aeroplane. I can attest that their rendition is exactly how Hong Kong Michelin star wonton mee taste. While I probably won't be back for wonton mee, I will be sure to pop by Westgate to try authentic Hong Kong congee which I so sorely miss. 

Mak's Noodles

176 Orchard Road Centrepoint #01-63/64

(The Westgate outlet has a wider menu)

Today feels like try foreign food day. Mak's Noodles offer really small portions, so it's almost certain there will be room for desserts. I picked Ice Lab, which is opened by Korean actor Shin Jung Hwan. It was impeccably decorated and you feel like you are in Korea because of the Korean staff serving you. 

We picked Mango Bingsoo ($19.30) as it is one of the recommended flavours and I've eaten Mango Bingsu at Nunsaram at Orchard Central and Snowman Desserts (the one who started my love for Bingsu) at Nex thus it'll be easy to compare. This one is by far the worst! In my view, whether a bingsu tastes great is based on the milkiness of the milk shavings, if the fruits and ice cream blend in with the milk shavings and the sauce that goes with it. The one at Ice Lab tasted like mango ice kachang with kiwi randomly added into the mix. The milk shavings was sweet ice with nothing that give me indication they are milk shavings if I never ate bingsu before. To top it off, the kiwi tasted sour and fussy pot totally didn't touch them after one bite.

I probably won't be back again if I want my bingsu fix. I'd rather walk a few more steps and satisfy my bingsu craving at Nunsaram where I first convinced Fussy Pot what the fuss over bingsu was about. Please please please don't make this your virgin bingsu experience if you haven't eaten Bingsu before. It's not a good representation of good bingsu. 

Ice Lab

#01-01/02 321 Orchard Road