 |
| Grilled bibimbap - Cơm trộn nướng (55.000VND) |
I came across Little Seoul in an attempt to satisfy my craving for Korean food. Several years ago I often went to Dae Jang Kum on Nguyen Tat Thanh street, but unfortunately it has been closed, perhaps due to bad location and lack of demand (it is now a snail (ốc) shop!).
From the outside Little Seoul looks quite small but it is actually spacious inside. I love all the wooden furniture and low seating style - very Korean/Japanese. Don't worry, you won't have to kneel..there is some space under the table for leg resting. The menu is written in Vietnamese, English, Korean and Japanese. The staff is very friendly too. They even say out loud "welcome" and "thank you" (in Korean) when you enter and leave the shop, exactly as what they do in Korea and Japan. The name of the restaurant is a little confusing: "PIZZA - Korean food, Japanese food" written on the plastic sign in front of the restaurant, "Korean food" written on the door and "Little Seoul" written on the bill?!
What I love about this restaurant is that they don't change the taste to suit Vietnamese style like many other restaurants that sell foreign foods do. The kimchee that they offered for free tasted very similar to those in Japan. I ordered grilled bibimbap, grilled beef and the famous TteokBokki.
- Bibimbap was really good. Everything was in appropriate portions and blended well with each other. What "grilled bibimbap" differs from normal bibimbap is that it is grilled (of course) and thus has a crispy layer of rice beneath.
- Grilled beef was even greater, absolutely loved it. However, given the relatively high price, it should have been offered in larger amount.
- TteokBokki was a let-down though. The rice cakes were too soft and big. The sauce didn't taste like what it was supposed to -was not very well-seasoned and not hot enough. (*Update (May 2012): they seem to fix this and it is very good now)
Although Little Seoul claims to be a Korean restaurant, more than half of the menu is for Japanese food like sushi, okonomiyaki, ramen, and so on. I'm not a big fan of Japanese food so did not order anything. Just took a quick glance of the price instead... quite acceptable, around 100,000VND for a set of sushi (~10-15 rolls).
Overall, Little Seoul is a very good restaurant. It has been open for more than 2 years and hopefully will survive over the long term. Will definitely go back!
 |
| Little Seoul restaurant |
 |
| Kimchee (free) |
 |
| Grilled beef - Bò nướng (75.000VND) |
 |
| TteokBokki - Bánh gạo (45.000VND) |
________________________________________
Where: Little Seoul Restaurant - 51 Quang Trung
*Update (3 May 2012): Moved to 139 Nguyen Chi Thanh
View Larger Map
.png "Instagram"){kind=small}
