Alternative Name: 아사달
Rating: 4/5
Address
227 High Holborn,
WC1V 7DA
Phone
020 7430 9006Type of Place:
The Holborn branch of Asadal (there's one in New Malden too) is situated right on the Westminster/City boundary, in an area rich in business hotels and poor in regular ordinary residents. That tends to give most of the institutions in the area an international feel and Asadal is no exception -- you'd go here for dinner during a business trip or lunch during a family holiday but you wouldn't really go on a date here.
Food:
All your Korean staples are here -- and they're here in force. Quality is high -- sengsunjeun is made with crisp fresh white fish, bibimbap comes in the good kind of hemispherical stone bibimbap bowl, and bulgogi is marinated the way it should be. There's no particular special personal touch, just very workmanlike and serious production of the major foci of Korean cooking.
Spiciness is just a shade below the normal level, I'd say -- probably because of the high proportion of non-Korean diners. It's not a problem, though; it just ensures that everyone can find something they like.
Atmosphere:
The place is smart, in the way that the restaurant of a large international chain hotel is smart. There's a general impression of right angles. Lighting is bright. The effect tends toward the reassuring but unromantic, which exactly suits the business model.
Service:
Now, here there have been some issuse. Asadal has a huge staff but in all the times I've eaten there I've never had the impression that they quite know what to do. They're Korean, they're nice, they wear hanbok and are generally pretty good on an individual basis, but this whole restaurant seems to be haunted by an intermittent group incompetence whereby food just sometimes doesn't arrive. This doesn't really bother me since I tend to use Asadal as a quiet spot to relax -- I imagine if you had a large group on a busy day, it could become an issue.
Unique Point:
Asadal has had to struggle hard to avoid blandness -- its tactic has been to import a large amount of really quite interesting Korean historical artifacts and leave them scattered around the restaurant in a rather haphazard fashion. How much this adds to the dining experience is unclear, but the effort is appreciated.
The real uniqueness of Asadal is that it's cool, quiet, and spacious, and NOTHING else right on top of High Holborn has that going for it!
ed hardy