Arang

My first Korean restaurant in the UK, for a surprise birthday party. I have heard some good things about this place, so I was definitely looking forward to comparing this with the Australian Koreans.

Food

They had these Korean drinks on the menu, so I decided to give them a try. The Rice punch (£1.50) was very likeable, with a wok-fried rice flavour. The Cinnamon punch (£1.50) was also refreshing, but a bit medicinal tasting.

There were lots of choices on the menu, which we took a long time to debate, but we needn’t have bothered, as they strongly pushed us to have the set menu. That was fine by us as it saved us thinking, but what was not acceptable was the awful food.

These were what we were served, among others. (oh, and they can’t spell English either).

Appetisers:

• miso soup - very nice, but they can’t really get that wrong, can they?
• Kim Chi -Koreas famous preserved cabbage spicy pickle - a bit spicy, and again, yum. I was hoping they would bring some rice though.
• Suk Joo Namul - Midly seasoned green bean sprouts - yum
• Moo Namul - Thinly sliced white radish freshly seasoned - quite sweet and not too crunchy
• Oi So Bae Gi - Preserved cucumber spicy pickle - again, yum
• Shi Kum Chi Namul - Seasoned spinach - a tasteful and healthy side dish - as usual, my favourite
• Kak Doo Gi - Pickled diced white radish - the hottest and one of the best dish of the evening

After a good start, I am afraid things went downhill, and didn’t pick up again until the bbq.

Entrée

• sauce O Jin O Pok Um - Fried squid with vegetables & red pepper paste sauce - nothing really wrong with this, except they don’t give you enough seafood and this more resembled Chinese food cooked for Westerners than any Korean food I’ve eaten.
• Sweet & sour pork - This was becoming more Chinese as we speak. The pork was fried and didn’t taste of anything. The whole thing was covered in a sickeningly sweet sauce, so it was good that they hardly gave us any.
• Tang Soo Sae Woo - Shrimps battered, deep fried & covered with sweet and sour sake sauce - I was really disappointed when another dish with the same woeful sauce arrived. No wonder they wanted us to order only the sets, they just need to throw in different ingredients into the same old sauce.
• Yeon No Gui - Grilled salmon with terriyaki sauce - was the best of the entrees, but only because the other dishes were not up to standard. This was at least edible…

We deviated from the set menu here for a special request, the pork and oyster with kim chi wrap, which was interesting and quite nice! So maybe their food is not so bad afterall if you avoid the set menu. Still….they were the ones who steered them towards it, so I blame them. My mood didn’t pick up for the 2nd entrée, the Mo Deum Chun - Assorted meat, fish & vegetables, pancakes with sauce , which was cold, uninspiring, and all the meat and vegetables taste the same.

At last, the BBQ:

• Bul Ggo Ki - Sliced & Marinated beef - nice, but as the waiter didn’t leave us tongs, overcooked
• O Jing O Gui - Fresh squid with seasoned soya - quite tender
• Sei Woo Gui - Prawns with special sauce - big and juicy, but we had 3 to share between 6 people
• Pei Zhu Gui - Fresh scallop with seasoned soya sauce - again, overcooked because of the waiter. We wanted to cook it in the shell, but they deshelled it for us for no reason at all

We ended with Fruits, a half orange slice that was extremely sour and a couple of grapes to share amongst four. As you can tell, I was not impressed. As the evening wore on, I just got more and more annoyed at their antics. I won’t be coming back.

Rating - 2

Atmosphere

There were a few of us, so we got a “private room” at the back of the restaurant. This really just meant we couldn’t see anyone else and they couldn’t see us, but we could hear everything from the outside, including a very loud rendition of happy birthday.

This meant that we couldn’t observe what the other tables were doing, but the room itself was quite small, so we couldn’t really move around, and because of the noise, we had to shout to get heard. There were three grills built into the centre of the table, but no exhaust fans, so either they have not many barbeques or they have a very strong exhaust fan. Or the fact that they turn the air-con so it’s like 5oC in there might have something to do with it.

Rating - 0.5

Service

This was definitely below average, especially from what I’ve come to expect for Korean service. Maybe it’s because we were in a group, since reviews I’ve read always say their service is great. Let me explain. They virtually forced us to order the set menu because it would be easiest for them, so we did, and they still couldn’t get it right. People got all different food and more importantly, different amounts, even though we all got the same menu, as they suggested. I had to ask them several times for missing items, and they just said they were busy, but did eventually deliver. I wonder what would happen if I didn’t ask for it? The food distribution was extremely uneven. For example, we got ½ a plate of meat between 6 people, whereas 4 people got 1.5 plates.

Other unforgivable behaviour:

• spilling sauce all over one of the girl’s designer jacket and bag, and then having to fight to get the dry cleaning bill paid for
• carrying the hot used BBQ grill away, without even a drip tray or anything, while we were sitting there
• not leaving any tongs for us to cook our meat, so we had to use our chopsticks (which were wooden and not silver!!)
• not telling us how to eat anything or what anything they actually deliver are
• not letting us pay by credit card separately, and then after we convinced them we couldn’t pay the bill otherwise, took a long long time before we settled the bill

Rating - 0

C-factor

£28 p.p including service (really should’ve asked for the service back). It doesn’t sound like a lot, but the quantity we got were so tiny, I am sure all the boys, if not the girls, left hungry. Not to mention the very revolting nature of the food. At least it meant I didn’t pig out. Oh how I miss Strathfield Korean, right at my doorstep.

Rating - 0

Brownie Points - 2.5

Info

9 Golden Square
London
W1F 9HZ
Phone +44 (0) 20 7434 2073
Website