Korean: Woo Jung

Woo Jung
59 St Giles High Street
WC2H 8LH
020 7836 3103

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, October 20th

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £8.50

The Background: It's Saturday, so I'm on Oxford Street shopping, getting my eyebrows done, looking at shoes, etc. And now I'm hungry. I really feel like sushi, but after racking my brain for quite some time, the only sushi options I can come up with are Yo! and Itsu. I vaguely remember that there are some Japanese restaurants north of Oxford Street on Wigmore or something, but after wandering for a while, I can't find them. So I head to Centre Point.

I forget now if I told the story about Team China from the office who used Centre Point as their landmark for everything. And now it's mine too!

Polo looks closed, but that's okay because I've been there before. (I am not, unlike some people, a creature of habit. K&A, for example, can go to the same restaurants all the time. Not me.) Woo Jung is open and has a decent crowd, so I step inside.

The decor, to be honest, is nothing to look at. And the service, also to be honest, doesn't seem to speak much English. Asking where the toilet was took forever. And toilet shouldn't be a hard word. (The toilets, by the way, were not the best.) But the crowd--in the maybe six tables--is mainly Korean, which I suppose says something.

They come and take my order and I go for the recommended Korean pancake (there are two on the menu and they recommend the first one).

The Food: It arrives and it's sorta red. It's served with a side of soy sauce with scallions and maybe even some chillies in there. I take a bite and it's GREAT. Nice and crispy on the outside, a little spicy, a little doughy, a little vegetable-y. I like it.

Until I get to the middle, and it's a bit undercooked. It's like eating raw dough. Delicious raw dough, but dough nonetheless. Hmmm.

The Bill: £8.50 for free cold tea (barley tea), a pancake, and a beer (Hite). Not so bad!

The Verdict: Maybe I'll go back. I don't know. I wouldn't send people here. They would think I was weird. Maybe I am a little.