October 05, 2005
We're turning Ko-re-an (I really think so)
There's been a transformation of the Korean scene in London in the last few years. Pre IMF, Koreans had taken over New Malden, an unattractive and inaccessible town on the outskirts of the city. It still has everything from Korean supermarkets to Korean hairdressers, travel agents, estate agents, bakers. Naturally, New Malden was hit pretty hard during the IMF period. My impression is that as Korean money flowed back into London post IMF, much of it didn't go back to New Malden, but was directed toward the city centre. For a long time there were a very limited number of Korean restaurants in Zone 1, but today I know of at least four just in the expensive streets around Soho. London Eating shows 14 in central locations, and there are quite a lot missing from that list. There are three Korean supermarkets around Bloomsbury, including the large Centre Point Food Store near Tottenham Court Road tube station, at the heart of retail London. That store forms part of a little cluster of Korean-ness which includes three eateries, one of which we were in last night. This particular establishment was the first to demonstrate that there's good money in going for the cheap 포장마차 look: people will actually pay more to eat in a place that looks like a run-down Seoul indoor 포장마차 (sadly I doubt whether UK law would ever permit an outdoor one). It was copied by the 한강, which converted its 노래방 basement into a rather nice 포장마차, so realistic that you really could believe you were in Seoul. (Even the racial mix of the clientele is realistic!) I must get a photo of it next time I'm down there.
Anyway, the upshot is that these days you can have a complete Seoul-style night out in London, and that has to be A Good Thing. There's just one downside; the prices are astronomical. The going rate for a bottle of soju is ten pounds (이만원)! Last night we thought we'd try Lemon Soju for a change, as I hadn't had any since 1998, which was a snip at £9.80 (이만원)... turns out it was half soju, half flat lemonade, with half a lemon dropped into the teapot it arrived in. Ah well, another few years, with a bit of help from Park Ji-Sung no doubt, this country will "get" Korea. Things are certainly going in the right direction.
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