Earlier this year we noted the sad demise of Centre Point’s K-Town at the hands of Crossrail, as a handful of long standing Korean restaurants located on St Giles High Street were forced to close — including Assa, Po Cha, Seoul Bakery and Woo Jung.
We are happy to report that at least one has since resurfaced, with Po Cha quietly arriving on Lower Marsh near Waterloo station in the last couple of weeks.
It replaces Marsh Ruby, a popular but notoriously rude Indian restaurant, and has a similarly basic and functional appearance to both its predecessor and its original incarnation. We’re not sure if more work will be done on the site or if the bare wood panels that line the walls are all the polish its likely to get. Either way, we’re glad there’s not too much shine — great Korean food at low prices was always this restaurant’s appeal and it remains that way.
Waterloo Signs Mou With Korean Research Institute
We tried a selection of dishes from the laminated pages of the extensive menu, which spans soups, salads, big pot stews, rice dishes, BBQ, fried noodle dishes, cold noodle dishes and a small selection of Chinese food.
A plate of homemade kimchi (£2) is suitably pungent, crispy and tongue-tingling with an abundance of vinegar, chilli and garlic making their presence felt.
A pretty patterned plate hosts dumplings (£4) with pleasantly crisp pan-fried exteriors and juicy burst-in-the-mouth middles filled with the piquant, saline flavours of pickled veg.
Find Korean Therapists And Psychologists In Waterloo, On
Fried chicken with cheese (£8) comprises chunks of chicken in a slightly sticky sauce with grated cheddar on top — a staple of Korean restaurants. It’s a tad too sweet for us but the tender cubes of well-flavoured chicken thigh are markedly better than usual for cheap and cheerful Korean restaurants.
BBQ sliced pork belly (£8) is soft and melt-in-the-mouth, with a light, tangy and well-balanced sauce — it’s the most delicate dish of the meal by a long stretch.
The Korean classic rice dish Bibimbap (£7.90) is a great example of its kind. It arrives at the table — as is customary — still sizzling in a hot stone bowl, adorned with a raw egg yolk which gets lightly cooked as we stir it into the rice. A choice of toppings include bulgogi (marinated beef), pork, seafood and tofu; we opt for raw beef, tossing it against the edges of the hot bowl to sear the outside while leaving the centre succulently rare. The meat isn’t as tasty as we’d have hoped for but it's not too detrimental to the big-flavoured spice and pickle-laden dish as a whole.
Review: Korea Town's Po Cha Reincarnated In Waterloo
Our verdict? There are better Korean restaurants to be found in London — mainly in the ‘Little Korea’ community of New Malden and the surrounds — but since the demise of K-Town central, London's offering has been distinctly lacking. Po Cha is back and ever so slightly better than ever — Centre Point’s loss is Waterloo’s gain.Galbi in Waterloo has been one of our little saviours during the zombie apocalypse - outdoor seating, purdy bonsai garden and healthy delicious food.
Galbi is in the Crown Square Shopping Plaza, which is a wee nugget of greatness with about half a dozen little restos, a couple of which have outdoor seating. Unfortunately this culdesac is a bit hidden and doesn't get the foot traffic it deserves, the crowds tend to gravitate more towards the shopping/eating areas of Dank Street to the North and Gadigal Avenue/Zetland to the south.
We seriously dig on Galbi's banchan, it always has an abundance of veggies (we are veggie fiends), and one or two dishes of something fried or sweet to balance it out.
Drinks Menu At Bapjo Korean Restaurant, Waterloo, London — Bapjo
Our favourite dish here so far is the eel bibimbap - $19. The eel is much like in Japanese cuisine, coated in a sweet sauce to balance the fishy flavours, it works so well in bibimbap..
The bibimbap is loaded with veggies and purple rice, it's super healthy and super yum. We always walk away from Galbi feeling quite full yet healthy, a nice feeling.
This is the dish that lured us in - Al bibimbap $19. We loved the fish roe but it does get lost in all the other flavours when mixed together.
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Al tang - $18. Spicy fish egg soup. Those white firm meaty hunks of whatever that hold the fish eggs have a lovely texture and a funky flavour that we are yet to acquire a taste for.
Galbi Korean Charcoal BBQ is the Crown Squre Shopping Plaza, at6/5 Potter St, Waterloo. Corner of Bourke Street, just look for the big white Toyota dealership that has been there forever.
OT - one of the many great little pleasures of living in the Newtown area is the art display window of the Newtown School of Performing Arts. A recent favourite was this recreation Charles Burton Barber's Suspense, which Shawn will pretend he knew of and didn't google it.
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