Busan BBQ at Bread Street Kitchen

I love frequenting posh restaurants and pretending that I belong there with the cool and successful crowd. I also love eating great food. Last Thursday I got to do both and a fine evening it was!

Busan BBQ, are a husband and wife team that are introducing their brand of Korean street food through pop-up venues across London. I was lucky enough to attend their event based at Bread Street Kitchen, one of Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants. I was chaperoned through the beautiful restaurant and down a staircase. I immediately feared that I was being escorted out of the premises through a backdoor. This normally happens when I try to enter fine establishments.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I realised Busan BBQ’s event was in the downstairs bar. My first faux pas came immediately when I picked up a cocktail menu, oblivious to the fact it was being read by a group of people. I apologised profusely, and after making sure the drinks were free, I offered to buy them all a drink. There were 4 cocktails on offer and by the end of the night I had tried them all several times. My favourite was the Hawkeye Cocktail, which included soju, chartreuse, lemon sugar and green tea. This was refreshing, tasty and really did go down a treat. After a day in which I lost one part-time job, realised I had to move out of my flat and didn’t make the semi-final of a writing competition- I was ready for several Hawkeyes.

When I tasted the Busan Burger, a 28-day rare breed British beef burger, dunked in soy bulgogi sauce and topped with mustard pickled onions, my terrible day seemed like a distant memory. The burger had a really distinctive and tasty flavour and the spices left my taste buds tingling for a few minutes afterwards. It was the food equivalent of an expensive, smoky whisky. My favourite was the sweet and spicy, pork belly bun with gochujang sauce. It was delicious and the lovely soft bread buns were provided by Chelsea’s Bluebird Bakery.

I chatted to the co-owner, whose passion for Korean food was infectious and it came across in the quality of the food, drink and general atmosphere of the event. After severe more Hawkeyes and one final fruitless scan for Gordon Ramsay, I happily exited and managed to catch the last train home.

If you like Korean food I’d definitely head down to try Busan BBQ on one of the following dates:

·  Thursday 9 Oct: Merchant Sq, Paddington, 10am-3pm

·  Saturday 11 Oct: Bread St Kitchen, 4pm-9pm

Email:    [email protected]

Twitter: @BusanBBQ

Website: http://busanbbq.co.uk/

Written by Martin Stocks | @Stocks1986

Read Martin’s comedy blog: How to Man-Manage your Manager in a job you hate