ajft

Another one bites the dust.... Korean Home-town Cooking has closed. A tiny shop, bright right fluorescent lights, half a dozen cheap tables and excellent food — I had a soft spot for the place since it first opened and the owner sat me down and gave me a pot of tea and a snack to help make the wait for my take-away meal more bearable. Closed, and in its place — and in its premises with the old decor — there is now Soban.

What better day to try them out then. Or perhaps not! Tonight was their very first opening and the two waiting staff didn't seem to know where anything was, and seemed in great danger of crashing into each other as they frantically hurried back and forth in and out of the kitchen. Placing my order I was told it would take half an hour or so — not good — that's double the wait we used to be told. “You go for walk,” accompanied by vague hand-waving towards the door. Even less impressed, it's around 8°C outside and starting to rain, but maybe if I go and walk around the block for quarter of an hour it'll make them less nervous.

Sure enough, it's half an hour until my food arrives, many smiles and wishes of good luck, and off back home.

Sadly uninspiring. How can anyone provide Bul-go-gi with no Kim-Chi? It all looks — and tastes — like generic bland shopping-mall food-court Asian food.

We'll have to give them another try in a few weeks once they're established.