After hearing its name mentioned across the web I decided to try some food from the Kimchi Cult stall for a quick afternoon snack in London.
Kimchi Cult are a mobile stall and tend to move around a lot, so after working a few hours in one place they move elsewhere for the rest of their day. For my visit I went to the rather rock’n’ roll Black Heart pub in Camden Town where Kimchi Cult currently reside from Tuesday – Saturday during late afternoon/evening hours. They work 5pm – 9pm from Tuesday – Thursday and noon – 9pm on Friday and Saturday.
The menus are all on display at the tables and if you want to order the Kimchi Cult food you head straight to the open kitchen counter and pay there. Purchasing drinks is separate and you have to pay at the bar.
As I had arrived rather early (it had just opened about half an hour ago), the food preparation by the polite chef in the kitchen took some time but I was in no hurry and patiently waited for my food for about 20 minutes. Since I was unsure of the portion size I thought I’d play safe and just order one thing for today. I opted for the Dak Galbi burger which is a chicken burger with lettuce, tomato, ginger coleslaw and kimchi hot sauce. That cost me £6.
Unfortunately my photos turned out rather badly because of the lighting indoors and I forgot to use my camera’s flash due to slight excitement from seeing yummy food. However the burger itself was a surprise. The bun is huge and manages to hold the chicken and the vegetable filling rather well, plus it was wonderfully soft.
The tomato and lettuce in the burger complimented the tender chicken thigh rather well. It lessened the spiciness of the kimchi hot sauce. The ginger coleslaw was very light and tasty and I didn’t find the ginger flavour too strong at all. A nice touch.
Combine these fillings with the soft bun and it turned out to be a delightful lunchtime snack. Of course, like with many burgers, you have to watch out for the small chicken pieces or loose lettuce and tomatoes when they fall out accidentally while you munch away.
OVERALL:- A very pleasant first time experience at Korean style fast food. I definitely want to revisit Kimchi Cult to try their well-known Kimchi Burger but also dive into their “sharing dishes” such as the Kimchi Cheese Fries, which sounds adventurous.
I highly recommend visiting Kimchi Cult’s official website for HQ mouth-watering zoom-up photos of the food. You can find some photos on their Twitter account as well, along with constant updates on their locations and opening hours.
Official website / Twitter / Facebook
