Korean

Whenever I go into any restaurant I look around to see who is eating there. It was great when I walked into this Korean barbeque place, called Bi Won, which was filled with only Koreans. Grated this made ordering slightly harder, but Evan and I ordered a feast of yummy foods. He had a sautéed beef dish that had a really yummy a great spicy yet sweet sauce on it. I had a beef dish as well but mixed with glass noodles, which are slightly thicker slimy translucent spaghetti noodles mixed with lots of veggies and a side of rice, since you always need carbs on carbs. Granted I wanted to eat all of Evan’s, mine was delicious as well. There were many little side salads with things I could never tell you the name of. But some with bean sprouts and we each had fresh miso soup that was to die for. We also had tea that was legit flower pedals soaked in warm water, and too delightfully delicate for words.

This great food came from the 12,310 British residents born South Korea counted in the 2001 UK census and the 45,000 who have registered since then. This is the biggest population of Koreans in all of Europe, just surpassing Germany. The town of New Malden has about 20,000 of the Korean population in it and also has a large Japanese community. The style of eating Korean barbecue or Bulgogi (literally fire and meat) which refers to the roasting of beef, pork, chicken or other types of meat at the dinner table on gas or charcoal grills that are built into the table itself. There are different methods of cooking or cuts of meet, galbi or gogihui. Both are marinated in delicious sauces before being grilled. Along with most of these meals comes lots of small side dishes banchan to mix with the meat and carb. They contain green onions, fresh veggies, and can be wrapped in lettuce to create a taco like bite, with the fresh grilled meat.