Nara Restaurant

Surprisingly authentic and tasty Korean food. I wasn’t sure what I expect when I went in – there weren’t many people in the restaurant when we went in at lunchtime. The front of the restaurant was empty and all the diners were in the back. Not a very effective marketing strategy if you’re trying to draw people in.
Anyway, we had bibim bap and a few other dishes and they were all very good. And this is from someone who has eaten plenty of Korean food. Service was good and cost was reasonable. I would definitely return.

I’m not a fan of Korean food, but it is growing on me.
The décor of a lot of Korean restaurants is nothing special, similar to a lot of Vietnamese restaurants. Close quarters, small, tiny tables, quiet dining.
Nara fit the same vein, but with the addition of one absolutely hilarious waitress who playfully used the whole night to playfully insult a member of our group, I began to be sold and understand why Korean food is becoming so popular.
I had a cinnamon drink Soojungkwa which was lovely and came with pine nuts. Delicious.
As a table of 5 people we ordered a host of dishes. Eating Korean food really needs to be as a group to get the best experience and try more dishes. We ended up with delicious raw chilli squid, seaweed, Bimibap, pancakes, some BBQ’d meats plus a lot more I can’t even remember, less pronounce, and were extremely full by the end. The quality or everything was excellent, and the hoisin/​chilli sauce made everything just that much better.
At around £25 per head, it’s perfectly decent as a group activity as inevitably you’ll be going home absolutely stuffed. I would definitely visit Nara again.

Yakiniku or Korean Barbeque has long been one of my favourite meals. Though I haven’t had the opportunity to experience it in its native Korea, I have traipsed around Japan sampling various forms of its Japanese equivalent. Understandably, I was extremely excited about having my first yakiniku meal since I left the land of the rising sun well over a year ago.
The food in Nara did not disappoint. The meat was well seasoned, and quite tasty. The various appetizers we ordered to share such as the cucumber kimchee and sesame spinach was great. The chijimi was so good, we ordered a second dish. The jap chae, though delicious, came as a very small portion… maybe a third the size of what is shown in the picture on the menu.
All in all, the food was very enjoyable and is quite on par with a lot of these foods I’ve had in the past.
However, the whole experience was marred by the wait staff insisting on cooking our barbeque meat for us. Not only were we quite used to doing this by ourselves, but having a waitress leaning over our table for long periods of time kind of killed the atmosphere and conversation around the table until she left us alone. This also meant that we had to eat at the pace in which she was cooking the meat (which was far too quickly for our liking) and we also found that one of the waitresses did not know how to wait until the grill was HOT before putting meat on it. She also flipped the thing way too often ruining the colour and sometimes overcooking the meat. We asked her if she would allow us to do it ourselves and she complied… only to be replaced by another waitress doing the same thing. The food was still delicious, but it could have been better if they had allowed us some autonomy instead of their constant overbearing presence.
Perhaps cooking our food for us is what justified the 12% service charge they tacked onto the end of our already substantial bill.
I highly recommend Nara for beginners in the art of Korean BBQ, but for those looking to do some tabletop barbequing themselves, look elsewhere.

Oooh I love Korean food! I think of it as being a bit like Japanese food… but with far more spice and meat! Nom nom nom…
We arrived here at about 9pm after a mini pub crawl… so didn’t have to wait for a table. I didn’t order anything particularly crazy as we all just fancied some yummy spicy rice and meat. The dolsot bibimbap was lovely (but the egg on top was cooked rather than raw — le sigh), the jap chae was sweet and tasty… and all of the kimchi dishes we munched were spicy joy.
We ordered a couple of the bbq dishes, but it was quite strange to have the waitress at the table cooking it for us. I’m used to doing that myself! While they turned the meat, we had a good chat… and it seems that all the Korean people we chatted to hate London. That made me sad, but I guess they must have missed the best bits so far. :(
I did study some Korean at university, but I’m ashamed to admit all I can remember is some simple greetings, how to order beer/​wine and how to read hangul. However, I didn’t forget how much I love bibimbap, jap chae, kimchi, kalbi and almost everything I have ever tried from Korean restaurants. Nara didn’t let me down. It was just as yummy as I had hoped. Kamsahamnida.

The set menus here offer excellent value for money, and includes a soup, main and dessert of fruit for less than £10.
The kimchi pancake was a bit on the greasy side but a good portion size and there were a good selection of drinks including a rather nice ginseng tea.
Staff speak adequate english and the toilets are clean.

I was terribly upset when I came here to eat Korean food… Not only is the Korean food overpriced, but they don’t even give you the authentic kind of Korean food you MUST HAVE! They didn’t give side dishes, but kimchi and it was so strange they told me they don’t serve it. I thought that was ironic. Oh well… We’ll see next time…

This place was NOT easy to find off google maps. It shows as being on Shaftsbury, but it is actually kind of this weird diagonal off shoot (that I guess is technically Shaftsbury?) Just a warning, leave some time to locate.
Anyhow, very solid. I normally judge all Korean restaurants by Jap Chae, but seeing as funds are a bit limited at the moment, I had to just get one thing (you mean I can’t be a total porker?!? WTF finances?!?) I had the Bi Bim Bap, which was probably my SECOND favorite thus far in London (Li Ko might come out on top by a small amount of crispy bottom-​of-​the-​stone-​bowl rice measurement)
My friends all liked their meals as well. I’d try it again if I were in the area, for sure.

Solid Korean BBQ in London… great place for a group — bbq right at the table… be warned you will wreak of bbq… but its well worth it.

Wow. Such an unassuming little place on a backwater in Soho, but it blew my socks off. Had the 19.50 set meal ‘A’, but they kept on and kept on bringing so much food, I was genuinely worried of turning into Mr Creosote from ‘The Meaning of Life’. Good quality, flavourful, generous proportions and friendly and attentive staff. I’d have given them a ‘5’ if the a/​c was working. Tricky having a restaurant with gas burners at the table, without some kind of aircon. Hot food. Hot service. Hot Peeps. Give it a try. But just wear a swim-​suit. Or ask politely if you could have a table in the fridge. Lovely.

good samgyupsal, bibim nengmyun was sub par but decent. price was great– would come back

The dolsot bibimbap here is kickin’ rad (and will come with the proper raw egg if they think you know what you’re doing) Their lunch deal is about £6 and comes with meal, pickles and some fruit. Fantastic place. Try the kimchi stew if you fancy something a bit different.

Great food, good service, warm and quiet atmosphere. Yummy Bi Bim Bap and tofu soup (Soon tofu). Great value for the money. Wide variety menu including BBQ and bulgogi. We noticed a lot of Korean people eating here ;-).

Twice I’ve been to completely authentic Korean BBQ restaurants with Koreans who have spoken to Korean waitresses in Korean, and those two times I’ve had a range of bizarre foods covered in bizarre spices that I’ve somewhat enjoyed… my hesitation only because of my unfamiliarity with the food and not because it wasn’t very good (I was told by the Koreans it was, very much so.)
In comparison, then, Nara seems way to easy to like to be authentic. I’ve had the beef and and the pork lunch specials and both plates were satisfactory enough, in that covered-​in-​sweet-​ish-​sauce, easy-​to-​eat way that asian food can often be. The accompanying soup and sides (sprouts, seaweed and pickled. er. pickles) are similarily good. but not. exotic. or weird. I know it’s a strange complaint to have but there it is.
Also, on my first visit, my rice did not appear with my dish, so I had to get up and harass the waitresses who were flustered and panicked by this event, the kitchen somehow bungling the whole rice-​cooking business and suddenly there was a massive rice backlog to fill restaurant-​wide. Not to say this is a usual event though.
So for those who want easy to eat Korean themed food, it’s well priced.

Had a big plate of fresh sashimi for £15 as well as a few other dishes. Very friendly staff who actually held our baby for us while we ate (we arrived during a quiet spell). I definitely plan on going back and checking out some of the other dishes — especially a BBQ.

When I lived in London my friends and I frequented this place. According to my friends from Korea, some of the dishes here are comparable in taste to restaurants in Seoul. It is also quite cheap, a whole table of food shared between four people comes out to be about ten pounds each. Also, it is one of the few places in London that offers the small side dishes for free.
The dishes we often ordered: bulgogi, bi bim bap, bosom, chapchae, and kimchi jjigae. The dishes are quite sizable although have decreased over time.

Not the worst, but definitely not the best. Dirty, but without the pretense. Cheap, but not exactly worth it. Play it safe and go to equally dirty Thai Cottage down the road for the good stuff.

Ich schreibe hier nur über die set lunch Gerichte. Abends war ich (noch) nicht im Nara.
Das Nara gehört ganz klar zu meinen Lieblings-​Koreanern. Es bietet zudem extrem gute japanische Küche! Die fixed lunches mit um die 7.50 Pfund bieten ein exzellentes Preis-​Leistungsverhältnis. Wichtiger ist jedoch, dass sie qualitativ wirklich hervorragend sind.
Besonders gut gefällt mir, dass man im Gegensatz zu vielen anderen Restaurants, nicht nur ein paar sondern viele verschiedene Hauptgerichte zur Auswahl hat, weswegen ich auch immer wieder dort hin gehe. Mein Favorit ist und bleibt nach vielen Besuchen Bibimbap.
Unter der Woche kann es hier sehr voll werden, samstags aber findet man in der Regel sofort einen Platz.

Good value lunch sets during the week between 12 — 3pm; it often gets busy at this time.
The lunch sets comprise a main dish, salad, soup and rice. I used to rush down to Nara after morning classes with my friends to eat their lunch sets — I recommend the bulgogi (marinated beef with peppers and onions) set!
It is also busy at dinner times but much more expensive as you get to cook on the tables and have a wider range of dishes to choose from.

Good cheap basic Korean food. There are some REALLY expensive Korean places around, and this one is a breath of fresh air because the food’s just as good, but the prices are much more acceptable. There’s also lots of Korean people eat there, which is a good sign. Go for the Bibimbap, and the seafood spring onion pancake thing whose name escapes me. Oh and barbecue some of your own meat at the table too. Yum.