Korean Kitchen

The City of Espoo has little to offer when it comes to restaurants. Thankfully now and then new promising newbies pop up. To celebrate our daughter coming home from her globetrotting adventures, we visited Korean Kitchen (Piispansilta 9, Espoo).

I am not really familiar with Korean food. When my husband visited Korea for business, I learned that Koreans use metal chopsticks instead of wooden ones. My first Korean meal at a restaurant in Helsinki was a total fiasco and almost turned me off the cuisine forever – I won’t even go on to describe it. Thankfully I’m game for trying again though!

You can visit Korean Kitchen in the midst of your shopping at the Iso Omena mall in Matinkylä, Espoo. The entrance is outside, so you will have to venture out of the mall for a few meters. It is not a big restaurant but because it’s more of a ‘dine and go’ type of place, you will be sure to get a table.

I have visited the restaurant twice now and at least both these times it’s been customary to order and pay at the counter and then find your seat. The restaurant has an alcohol licence, so you can have a beer or glass of wine with your meal if you wish.

Underneath you can see the noodles in Hoisin sauce with prawns which I ordered. Do go to the counter to top up with peanuts, fried onions and chili. Often, if you order a dish with prawns in Finland it means two little prawns sitting on top of the dish. Here that is not the case which has been a lovely surprise! If you do not want meat or fish, you can always substitute these for tofu.

Next, the big portion of Bibimbap. It consists of beef, shrimp, roe, egg, carrots, cucumber, rice and cilantro. Lovely fresh ingredients. You mix it all together and then enjoy. Very tasty indeed.

Third, Korean rice cakes with prawns. Our children and I thought that this was the best one of the lot – I will order it next time. As I was unfamiliar with the dish, I was a bit puzzled about the mention of rice cakes as this looks more like pasta. Google told me afterwards that these “cakes” are actually made from glutinous rice flour.

All dishes come with kimchi on the side. Kimchi is interesting – fermented raw vegetables with seasonings. I’m not exactly sure what to think of it. I will always try a bit but so far, it’s not a favourite of mine or something I really crave.

On both times I’ve visited, I heard the customers calling out to the kitchen “thanks for the food, it was delicious”. If you have the chance – go try it yourself and let me know what you thought. I’ll be back for sure.