Annyonghaseyo?: Ran

58-59 Great Marlborough Street
W1F 7JY
020 7434 1650

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, August 20th

The Victim: Connie

The Damage: 25 quid each

Connie was cooking dinner for Al, Louise and me, but Al and Louise couldn’t make it. So rather than force Connie to slave away just for me, we met up at Ran. I was excited because it was the one-year anniversary of my trip to Korea, and I hadn’t had any Korean food since.

I love Korean food. Although admittedly, my last night in Seoul, I wandered the streets, looking for a hamburger and fries. (Which I found! And it was delicious.) In particular, I love how you get the little side dishes for free before your meal.

Not so at Ran. They must have realized that most westerners would take advantage of this custom. So we had to fork over 4 quid for our kimchee and mysterious other pickled foods…although our little dishes were super tasty and I don’t regret it.

Now, I definitely heard some people there speaking Korean, but I also could swear I heard some of the staff "xie-xie-ing" (Chinese for "Thank You") each other. I wanted to ask where everyone was all from, but didn’t.

I enjoyed an OB beer. I’m curious if this beer would be mocked considerably in my country. Regardless, it was delicious. I later switched to Hite.

We ordered bolgogi, which is marinated beef that you cook up at the hot plate at the table. Then, you make little beef tacos by wrapping the beef in very nice lettuce leaves, adding a couple of drops of mysterious sauce. Delicious. Connie got the tofu soup–it has a particular name, which escapes me. Suffice it to say, it’s served in a red sauce. Connie said it was good, but she’d had better.

To end our meal, we were served two very nice slices of watermelon, which was a cute touch.

The Verdict: I like a place where I’m one of the few westerners. The lighting is a bit bright and harsh, and 20 million different people waited on our table. But it was delicious and different and I’d go back, for sure.