LONDON - Korean restaurants are beginning to pop up in London's center as British people are increasingly being exposed to Korean cuisine - or "hansik" - and more Koreans visit the United Kingdom. No longer restricted to New Malden - a southwestern suburb which is the closest thing London has to a Koreatown - Korean restaurants have gone central and can be found in the busiest of the shopping, tourist and business districts in the city.

They are not, however, that prominent. This is hardly an explosion of the Korean Wave and the restaurants would probably only be noticed if people were looking for them.

Compared to other types of foreign fare, Korean food is the choice of a minority of restaurant goers in London. Italian, Indian and Thai would typically top the list of foreign food, and unfortunately for Korea's national pride, Japanese food is much more popular in the United Kingdom than hansik.

Take the location of Asadal, for example. It is probably the most well-known Korean restaurant and was one of the first to open in New Malden. It now has a premises in Holborn, in the Bloomsbury district of central London, but it is overshadowed by the number of Japanese restaurants in the area.

Tucked between a newsagent's and a Costa coffee, the entrance to the basement restaurant could be easily missed by the hundreds of commuters who rush past it everyday.

<scRIPT language=Javascript src="/khjs/banner/article_340.js"></scRIPT> Asadal stands as the sole Korean restaurant on a street of numerous lunchtime eateries and coffee places that provide Londoners with a quick caffeine fix. This is on the edge of some major tourist attractions - about 10 minutes' walk from Oxford Street and not far from the British Museum. The restaurant is also on the same block as the London School of Economics and Bush House - the site of the BBC World Service - and the area is flooded with students and workers looking for a feed at lunchtime. The options include Italian, sandwiches, a pub lunch and Japanese. There is a plethora of Japanese restaurants: Fusion Japanese, Sushi Hiroba, Bento Box and Samurai Sushi & Bento, all within 50 meters of Asadal.

Despite not being well-known, for those who do know it, Asadal is highly regarded. The stairs leading down to the basement open out onto a sleek, wooden-furnished restaurant. The neutral decor has been spruced up with Korean oddments - a samulnori drum, large wall fans and photographs of Korea's most famous temples. The dim lighting and muted colors, and the relaxing classical guitar music playing in the background, all make this a posher option than a quick grab-and-go lunchtime snack.

At 9.50 pounds ($14.80) for "dolsot bibimbap," this would be beyond the budget of most students in the area, and is more suited to business lunches or evening dinners for people with more time to enjoy the pleasant atmosphere of the restaurant. It is frequented by many Korean customers, tourists as well as cosmopolitan Londoners.

While Asadal is the lone Korean restaurant in this area, there are clusters of Korean restaurants beginning to sprout in other parts of the capital city. Near the British Museum are two - Bibimbab Cafe and Bi Won - as well as a Korean mart nearby.

Under the shadow of Centre Point tower, which, as its name suggests marks the geographical center of London, there is a street of mom-and-pop style restaurants hidden away near the West End theater district and moments away from the hectic shopping area of Oxford Street.

Here the clientele is more likely to be Korean, forming a kind of subculture that is emerging in London. At Woo Jung, Korean pop music plays in the background and the menu caters for all styles of Korean food. Also on St. Giles High Street are Assa, Po Cha and Seoul Bakery. The restaurants are smaller and Seoul Bakery, which has the most interesting window display, is packed even outside of regular meal times. Its prices and "bunsik"-style offering of kimbap and smaller meals is favoured by younger Korean tourists or students who cram into the restaurant to experience a little taste of Korea in the heart of this bustling metropolis.

One restaurant that has more of a mix of local Londoners is Tohbang. Situated on Clerkenwell Road, on the eastern side of central London - a once run-down area that has now turned trendy - more English people are likely to be found here trying Korean cuisine. Tohbang has a lively, friendly atmosphere, and at lunchtime it is packed. The clientele here is a hip, young professional crowd of friends sharing lunch together rather than the business or tourist meals you would see in the busier parts.

Like Asadal, Tohbang is a more obscure lunchtime option for most Westerners, and it is unlikely that locals would stumble across this place by accident and have an unplanned experience of Korean food. It seems that Westerners would only come here if they had some connection, either if they had been to Korea, or they have a Korean acquaintance who could introduce them to the food.

Rena Paek, Tohbang's owner, explains that the most popular dishes for Westerners are the traditional Korean barbecue dishes, such as bulgogi or galbi. Another favorite is the "dolsot bibimbap," a sizzling crockpot of rice and vegetables that are stirred together with a dollop of chili paste.

The popularity of bibimbap could be in part because it is suited to the different style of ordering. Koreans would typically order food for the whole table for everyone to share, whereas Londoners are used to ordering their own separate dishes. This is not just because of Western-style individualism, but because there is an aversion to sharing saliva and potentially spreading germs. When it comes to ordering starters, English people typically want their own, which could cause a problem when they order a "pajeon" - a kind of pancake cooked with spring onions and seafood - because it is usually large enough to feed two or three people.

The menus in restaurants in London are typically more varied than they would be in Korea to cater for Western individual tastes, and also to cover the spectrum of Korean cuisine for Korean visitors. This differs from Korean restaurants, which tend to specialize in one type of cuisine, where people decide beforehand what kind of food everyone wants to eat together. With such varied menus, more ingredients have to be ordered and more dishes have to be made from scratch. This inevitably is going to be more expensive to prepare and slower to serve than in restaurants in Korea.

The different ingredients, however, in London are noticeable. The meat used in Korean restaurants here is of a better quality - perhaps something that is prevented in Korea by restrictions on imports of foreign meat - and the vegetables are fresher. The carrot, cucumber, radish and spinach in Asadal's bibimbap is more colorful than its Korean-based counterparts. The choice of chicken, beef or pork strips that are added into the rice dish have a richer flavor than you would expect to find in Korea. Likewise, the pork that is added to Tohbang's "kimchi bokkeumbap" is more succulent. Paek, Tohbang's manager, explains that all the ingredients are fresh; the kimchi at her restaurant is home-made and the chef prepares new side dishes everyday.

Among the row of Korean restaurants near Center Point, Woo Jung's soy bean paste in its "doenjang jjiggae" also tastes fresh. It has a pungent smell - and taste - and is like the home-made version you would expect to find in Korea. It is debatable, however, whether this would appeal to Westerners who have not tried Korean food before.

Tohbang's Paek argues that Korean food is not popular in London because English people have not been exposed to it. She says it is not because English people do not like hansik. "Customers who come here and try it for the first time always come back," she says.

She argues that Japanese food is more popular in the United Kingdom because it is more trendy. "Korea is not that well-known in general," Paek points out. "People know less about Korea than they would about Japan," she adds.

Some Korean restaurants, such as Little Korea, have piggybacked on the popularity and knowledge of other Asian food by being in the Chinatown district and also serving Japanese dishes. This may no longer be necessary for other Korean businesses, as Korean food and culture is becoming better known in the United Kingdom.

"Korean food is becoming more popular in London - English people are becoming more willing to try different food," says Paek.

There is typically a hesitation for first-timers to Korean food because they are unsure what to order or how to eat the dishes. This is quickly overcome once a Korean friend introduces them to the food, or a waitress assists them with reading the menu and showing them how to eat it. As more British people experience Korean restaurants, they are then more likely to bring other people to the restaurant so that they, too, are exposed to Korean cuisine.

(jane.cooper@sugimedia.com)

By Jane Cooper/Korea Herald contributing writer