56 St. Giles High Street
WC2H 8LH
020 7379 3781
Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, September 5, 2007
The Damage: £10
The Victim: Me, myself, and I
The Background: Tube strike. Hair appointment in Central London. Bus not moving. Too many people on street. Keep. Bumping. Into. People. Arrrggh. Must get away from madness. Must get out of the way until city calms down.
Well…now it is 7 p.m….I could have dinner somewhere…
And well…Team China did tell me about Centre Point and the restaurants around there.
Hmmm…Korean. I love Korean. Did I mention that I love Korean? This place looks fun…
The Entrance: Hello! Hello! Welcome! Welcome. Where would you like to sit?
I take the bar. I ask for tea and they bring me COLD tea in a 1/2 pint glass. This wasn’t what I was expecting but it is PERFECT. Because I am all hot and worked up from the madness on the street. And they keep bringing me refills. It’s fantastic.
I like my seat at the little bar. There are about 8 seats that wrap around. I can’t really see what’s going on behind the bar, but I can talk to the server and otherwise observe. The place is packed with a student crowd. (All two other tables, that is. Maybe three tables. I forget.) I hear lots of Korean. (Or well, I hear lots of “chuseyo”s and “gamsamnedas.” Maybe they too, like me, just like to throw around the random “chuseyo” and “gamsamneda.”)
The Food: I debate the pancake. I love love love Korean pancakes. But I sorta want some spicy tofu soup. The guy behind the bar tells me both would be too much, so I stick with the soup. It arrives in a cool eartheware type of bowl. And it is indeed spicy. It’s got a good amount of tofu in it and a great amount of seafood. There’s a whole little crab in there. And two shrimp. And 5 clams. I am somewhat regretful because it’s a bit hot out and this hot and spicy soup is just making me hotter, and plus I learn later that I’ve got the flu so I’m even hotter than normal. (And hence all the extra crankiness.) But that doesn’t prevent me from enjoying the deliciousness.
The Verdict: My new post-Oxford Street hangout. Love it. Love them. Gamsamneda.
6 comments
Sounds excellent.
Your sense of sponataneity and adventure puts us to shame.
We’re always going back to the same places (currently The Ambassador in Exmouth Mkt).
Though we did go to Arbutus this week.
I agree wholehartedly ,,, I was there last night ,,
blimey ! I can’t remember the name of the thing I had ,, it is something like bimbang ? it contains rice , a fried egg , beef and somw veg ,, it comes in a very hot pot .. also had the tofu soup ,,,
I liked the atmosfere and for 2 people (and each we had a drink ) we paid 24 quid ,,, so value is good too !
I will definitely be coming back ,,,
Thanks for your recs – you were right…again! My friend and I just went the other night and loved ‘The Polo’. We shared a massive beef and kimchi soup for £15. We put a serious dent in it but there was still so much more…next time I will share it with a party of 10. Also had the seafood pancake and while it was tasty…the seafood was missing.
Hi Chicagoan–glad you liked Polo. I need to get back there soon! Sorry about the pancake though…that’s weird. Did you ask them about it?
“blimey ! I can’t remember the name of the thing I had ,, it is something like bimbang ? it contains rice , a fried egg , beef and somw veg ,, it comes in a very hot pot .. also had the tofu soup ,,,”
That’s called Bi Bim Bap. One of my favorites — particularly the burnt rice at the bottom of the stone bowl if you get it that way (“Dol Sot Bi Bim Bap”)
So, after reading the comments I figure that I had a Bi Bim Bap with Seafood. This was the first time I’d ever eaten Korean food and The Polo was the first choice after I read about it on your blog. GREAT recommendation. Have to try the pancakes next time.
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