Jihwaja — Restaurant in London

We (my partner) arrived earlier than our actual booking time. They didn’t mind it and led us to our table. The place is small but cozy. We picked our food and the portions are huge!! I have been looking forward to this experience since going to korea is still not within the reach. They also do have karaoke rooms where you can order food and drinks while singing!! perfect for group gatherings. The price is aligned with the portions they give. We ordered the four seasons chicken. so soft and juicy!! I loved the pickled radish (white cubes in the middle). Next was the Hameul Pajeon (Seafood Pancake) so tastyyyyyyyyy! you have to dip it with the soy on the side and it’ll enhance the taste. Then the Japchae (Original), they have the option of beef japchae if you want but I went for the normal one. It is a bit dry but you won’t regret it. It is stir-fry veg with noodles but they uses glass noodles not the normal noodles that you usually order on like chinese takeaways. Last but not least, my favourite Jjajangmyeon (noodles with black bean sauce), I always have the instant noodles that I buy from Asian supermarkets and I have been wanting to taste it like how it is in Korea (I know it is much better when it is actually in Korea) and I just did through this restaurant. I love it so much. Be warn that they uses thick noodles and it can be a bit heavy to eat it on its own. The sauce was amazingggggg - was wondering maybe it is good to pair up with rice too. Maybe??! You can also bring home if you have any food left (If you want). so I do recommend this place for couples and even group of friends. Hope you’d enjoy your experience at their place. You need to book first so you can...

Jay Rayner wrote a glowing review of this Korean restaurant, praising its 'filthy' Korean fried chicken. Apparently, KFC at its best! Who doesn't want fried chicken that's so dirty, it's good!?

Well, filthy it was but for all the wrong reasons.

We started with the Jihwaja Hansang, a sharing platter with a little bit of everything off their menu. It was a massive plate topped with what seemed like reheated frozen party finger foods from a Korean version of an Iceland supermarket. Everything tasted bland and flavourless. The jeon was mushy. The mandu deep fried and greasy. The beef galbi was like sliced pieces of shoe leather. Overall, a disappointing and borderline disgusting plate of food.

Then came the chicken. It was an entire bird, battered and fried. I was expecting perfectly crisp morsels but of fried chicken tossed in a spicy, sticky sauce. Instead, we got a mass of badly chopped up chicken pieces dumped on a plate. The first piece I tried to bite into was the chicken neck. Yes, the neck. I'm Asian and have eaten a lot of iffy things but this was just bizarre. All the other pieces were covered in soggy coating that just slid off the meat. The sauce had no flavour whatsoever. I ate because I was hungry but seriously, it was some of the worst fried chicken I've ever had.

There was very little redeeming about the food. They should be embarrassed to be serving this stuff up. Even the average places in Soho puts this place to shame.

Save your money and go...

A Korean restaurant with 4 dining tables inside and 7 karaoke rooms with 2 bars and 1 toilet.

They have really nice food here , very decent plating size especially their platter option, bigger than we thought! This will definitely make you full!

We came for the dinner and I would say the dining area can be abit small and alittle humid too. It was pretty cramped for us as we had 7 people in total, it is ideally better to come in smaller groups for dinning part.

I only wished they had more toilet facilities and a better system for it , they have 1 toilet with 2 doors , 1 you must lock when you step in and the other is up to you if you have a friend inside or not ...Meaning if you want to wash your hands , it will be unavailable until the person is done with the toilet.

Also employees tend to rush around often and are unaware of themselves barging into you whether you're sitting or standing up. It would happen quite often to us.

Overall I still liked the venue itself.

How to order: -it is table service (no barcode needed) -they have the call button for assistance if unable to be reached -pay bill at the counter once...