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

The wonderful food of South Korea

I recently came back from South Korea. While I didn't know too much about the country, I knew I liked Korean food, so off I went.

Quite simply, South Korea is a fabulous country. I visited Seoul, Busan and Jeju Island - all quite different but all with great food. Good food is easy to find and, compared to the UK, it is very affordable to eat out.

While pretty much every meal comes with kimchi (fermented vegetables), there are plenty of other dishes that should appeal to most people.

Seafood fried rice cooked at the centre of the table. Doesn't look anything special, but it was my first meal in the country and it cured my hunger.

Beef bulgogi in soup with noodles, mushrooms and spring onions. Very tasty!

Ice cream with red bean, rice cake and shaved ice.

I visited a soju shop (a type of alcoholic drink). This is an example of the pots that are used to make soju.

Korean BBQ is fun and very social. This was a pork BBQ. Once the meat is cooked, it's wrapped in the leaves and other sides then dipped in sauces.

Kalguksu - or knife noodles - taste quite similar to other noodles I've had, but are distinct because of their unique shape.

Always good to eat at food markets with the locals and watch people make things from scratch. Cheap and tasty.

Most Korean meals come with side dishes to go with the meal. I miss the soy bean sprouts (as opposed to the much more common mung bean sprouts in the UK).

Crab soup - literally loads of them! Unsurprising given that we were in Busan at the time - a city known for its seafood.

More seafood action from Busan. Lightly cooked squid.

This one was special - look at how many dishes there are! They just kept coming and coming.

Noodle soup from Jeju's Noodle Street.  

Another Korean BBQ, but this time with beef.

Cold noodles, chilli sauce, pork and egg.

A large piece of bread drizzled with honey and with some ice cream on top.

And finally...another Korean BBQ! But this one makes it in because of the mixed egg on the side of the grill. The heat slowly cooks the egg and becomes a nice accompaniment to the meal. Not something I had seen before...