On The Bab - Korean street food in Shoreditch, London

The girlfriend and I were strolling along Old Street in Shoreditch, London, looking for a Vietnamese restaurant when all of a sudden we discovered On The Bab - a Korean 'street food' restaurant.

I've been to plenty of Korean restaurants in my time, but this one - as a result of its 'street' theme - looked a bit different, so we decided to give it a go.

The menu is reasonably straightforward, with dishes divided into 'small dishes', 'on the bab' (rice, noodles or buns) and 'traditional'.  There is a fourth group too: 'special/comfort', which is what I opted for...  

With the so-called special dish - baek ban - I got soup (not pictured), rice, salad, kimchi and a choice of bulgogi beef, spicy pork, spicy chicken or vegetable fritters.  I went with the spicy pork, which tasted really good.  What I liked was that it was: soft, not too chewy, thinly sliced and spicy enough without it being overbearingly so.

As a personal preference, I would have preferred a bit more kimchi and the rice to have been a bit stickier, but I can live with that, as the pork was pretty good and there was plenty of it.

The restaurant is quite small and does not take reservations.  So it is very much more suited to couples and perhaps groups of up to four, who are after a quick meal and who don't mind dining in an informal setting.

Mr Men toilet sign...

Picture special: the wonderful food of Vietnam

Vietnamese food is fresh, fun, varied, generally healthy and full of flavours.

Last year, I was lucky enough to visit Vietnam for the first time - home to one of the greatest cuisines, in my opinion. I was mainly in Ho Chi Minh City, but also visited Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An. It's a great holiday destination with plenty to see and lots of things to eat, so I really do recommend it as a place to visit. Just be careful of the humidity - it's really something!

Whether you like noodles, rice, meat, vegetables, exotic fruits, and even baguettes, you'll generally find something you'll enjoy eating in Vietnam.

I'll keep the words brief, just feast your eyes on the food :-). I hope you enjoy the pictures, and please keep scrolling to see a rather strange scorpion at the end...

Banh hoi.

Mangosteen.

Rambutan.

Rice with steamed egg loaf.

Aubergine with fish sauce.

Banh xeo.

Spring rolls.

Left: flat rice noodles with meat. Right: a type of pork summer roll.

Part of a nine-course meal!

Another part of the nine-course meal!

Still part of the aforementioned nine-course meal. Glutinous rice.

Breakfast.

Pho noodle soup for breakfast.

Selection of pork, spring rolls, salad, king prawns.

Grilled pork.

Chinese dim sum.

Steamed buns.

Roast pigeon.

Steamed fish.

Noodle soup with kidney and king prawns.

Noodle soup with king prawns and pork.

New Malden: UK's capital of Korean cuisine

It's said that New Malden in south-west London has the highest population of Koreans in Europe. So this should make it a good place to find decent Korean food outside of Korea, right? Definitely.

The truth is, I've been to New Malden many times, as I love Korean food. This was partly why I went to South Korea last year, as mentioned in a previous blog post.

Along New Malden High Street, you never have to walk far before you find another Korean restaurant or supermarket. Our target this time was Yami.

We ordered a soup full of kimchi, tofu, mushrooms, pork and sausages. It was easily big enough to share between three people, along with accompanying rice and other side dishes. It's a great communal way to eat - very social - but this perhaps wasn't the best Korean soup I've ever had. It was still good, but I definitely prefer beef in my Korean soup - I'll know that for next time.

I love Korean pancake, so much so that I think I order it every time I go to a Korean restaurant. Here's our a seafood pancake (haemul pajeon) and kimchi pancake (kimchijeon).

Korean food features many side dishes as part of the whole experience. So here we have Chinese cabbage kimchi, sliced potato, carrots and cucumber. It's not as spicy as it looks!

My vegetarian friend ordered this dish consisting of tofu, vegetables, rice and Korean glass noodles. It might not look very exciting, but I'm told it was extremely tasty. Seeing as everything else was pretty good, I'm inclined to believe her.

Closest station: New Malden
Address: 69 High Street, New Malden, KT3 4BT

Orecchiette alla barese pasta (artichoke, aubergine, mincemeat and tomato) and garlic pizza

Il Bordello situated in Wapping High Street, London, is a fantastic Italian pizzeria and restaurant with tasty food and a great menu. I went there just before Christmas and I found that the quality of the food is high and the size of portions are generous, so you get what you pay for.

The garlic pizza had a lovely crispiness. Great for sharing.

The picture of the orecchiette alla barese pasta dish (artichoke, aubergine, mincemeat and tomato) looks quite small, but it was a good size and very filling. 

OK, so the picture of the monk fish doesn't look great, but it looked better in real life (blame my photography) and it certainly tasted better. The monk fish had a great texture and was almost sweet tasting. The fish was cooked in a mushroom and white wine sauce and served on rice.

I would definitely consider coming back again.

Address: 81 Wapping High Street, Wapping, London, E1W 2YN
Closest station: Wapping (London Overground)