The Korean Cafe

The Korean Café.

This is my new favourite place. I eat here maybe 3 times a week. That’s being shy; I would say it’s more like 4 times a week. The menu is longer than the Calais to Dover crossing and is as plentiful as the tabloids lies surrounding the close season transfer window. It’s reminiscent to that of an English Café. It has the cheap and ever so basic interior furniture. Its chairs are brown plastic and its tables are the cheapest form of artificial style wood (not sure of the technological term for shite, fake wood). It has cheap laminated photos of its meals, with deals of the day, soup of the day etc etc.

It has a small TV hoisted up centre stage, and it plays the daily soaps/dramas and new flashes. The cliental range from lonely middle age businessmen, to entire families. With of course your standard old men and bustling students swinging by for a cheap and cheerful feed. Having pretty much devoured every style of food in the area, and over-indulged in most of them at the same time, this has become a good, decent and trustworthy source of nourishment.

The picture you see below is what I ate about 45 minutes ago. The big bowl is called Bi-Bim-Bap. It’s assorted vegetables and rice with a fried egg slapped on top. The red sauce bottle is a delicious spicy number. With this, you flood the Bi-Bim-Bap and then tuck in. Supporting the main dish are complimentary sides. Some Kimichi, a garlic fried mushroom dish, some scented bean-sprouts, a small vege omelette and a roast nut and cabbage soup. Tantalisingly good from start to finish.

Cost: £1.50 all in.
Waiting Time: 2 Minutes max.
Customer Service: 10/10

So, as mentioned, I recently realised that this is the equivalent to the English Café. It’s the quickest and most standard form of Korean food. There are a few differences. I’m not saying one is better than the other, but will list a few simple differences.

Freshness – Korean Café doesn’t have any tins or packages in sight.

Smell – an obvious difference, but there isn’t much oil in these places, therefore no stench of greasy fat.

Cleanliness – Again with oil absent from this set-up it tends to feel a lot cleaner. No slippery greased up floors.

Tea – It doesn’t have tea. Need I say anymore. Points lost here.

Trashy Newspaper – The third aspect of an English Café (First being the fry up, second being the over-sized mug of tea) is the grease covered tabloid that is floating its way from table to table. Korean Café doesn’t have tabloid!

This time in four weeks I will have been in Balham, South West London, for a couple of hours. To be honest I’ll probably be sat on the couch watching Sky Sports News 24. I’ll probably be feeling a little strange and wondering what to do next. I’ll probably ask Dad to cook me some rice and let me hold some chopsticks or something. It’s going to be strange, very strange. But, I’m currently marinating myself in excitement about my three week vacation to my homelands. I can hardly wait……

Below is a sneak preview at my new apartment. 2nd Floor, window facing the blue van side.