Olle

Subsequent to filling our dessert bellies up on triple chocolate at SAID dal 1923 on my birthday, my brother and I stopped in at Olle to get our savoury on. Since visiting South Korea in 2019, I have gained an admiration for two Korean dishes in particular: The dolsot bibimbap (a delicious and vibrant warm salad with a fried egg on top), and tteokbokki, surely one of the greatest of street foods ever conceived, consisting of rice cakes in a hot and spicy sauce.

Naturally, with this visit to Olle, a South Korean barbecue in London's Chinatown, I wanted to try both. Sadly, luck was against us. Though we ordered Topokki and the Vegetable Dolsot Bibimbap, only the Bibimbap arrived (I'm fairly sure the diners across from us got our Topokki gratis). Ah well. Though slightly galling, it was probably best that we only had the bibimbap given this weekend's eating.

While the gochujang sauce supplied with the bibimbap was welcome, the overall dish just did not transport me back to South Korea. There wasn't the freshness one would associate with a good bibimbap. The rice punch I had to drink was excellent, but the bibimbap was a poor approximation.

Value for money? £20 for Bibimbap and two drinks. No.

Would I return? No.