Glasgow Living Part 29– Bibimbap Korean Restaurant, City Centre

Readers… It’s feast or famine over here at What Claire Did.  We did 2 restaurant reviews in quick succession after not doing any for ages and there’s another lined up for next week.

I am all over this one though.  I love when something new opens in Glasgow.  But not just a new restaurant. Something that’s actually different.  And Bibimbap is ticking all of those boxes with its genuine Korean menu.  Fast service, lots of kimchi, and the most amazing dumplings. The restaurant’s also got a fan base from Asian international students living in Glasgow AND has a Korean chef heading up the kitchen.  Bibimbap is the real deal.

We rocked up last Thursday night to a full of atmosphere, busy restaurant with foliage on the walls, umbrellas hanging from the roof and some sweet neon signs and lighting around the bar.  The restaurant was busy – full of a young(ish) crowd tucking into the Korean delights and some amazing cocktails mixed behind the bar and delivered to the table.

The problem with the menu… there’s so much choice.  I wanted to eat everything.  I love Asian food at the best of times, so when something new rolls into town, I’m usually keen to try the whole menu.  That said, we held back, asked for some recommendations of things to try and kicked off our night with a couple of cocktails. I went for a gin based Kibun whilst Mr WhatClaireDid went all naked with his Grouse, trying the Nunchi. Cocktails are between £6.50 and £9 – around average for a city centre venue.

Then we were onto the food. The food comes as its ready, hot, fresh and straight to the table for you to dig into. We started off with the Korean fried chicken – a small to share (£4.50) which for two was more than enough.  The highlight here was the yum yum sauce.  I’d never tried anything like it before. It was AMAZING. We also tried two small plates – the pork dumplings and the potato pancake, which I could only describe as Korea’s answer to a tattie scone.  It was so good.  And fried.  The dumplings were also brilliant.  I do think though that if I was on death row, I’d probably order dumplings for my last meal.

For the main event, Mr WhatClaireDid went for the Bi Bim Bap – the restaurants signature hot stone pot with rice, beef and vegetables topped with a fried egg.  He thoroughly enjoyed it. Although we’d suggest you go hungry as the portion sizes are massive.  A bowl would easily fill you up without the need for sides as well.

I went wok fried – trying the stir fried marinated beef with salad.  I also went for a fried rice on the side, because who doesn’t love fried rice?! The beef was soft, tender, full of flavour and came served with lettuce, to make  beef lettuce wraps. If you were doing low carb, this would be more than enough for one without the rice as well.

For a new opening – the front of house team have got the place running like clockwork.  The food came quickly, it was piping hot and although it’s freshly cooked, there aren’t massive wait times for the dishes to come from the kitchen.  It’s been a while since we’ve gone to somewhere and though “THIS IS REALLY GOOD” but we’ll definitely be back to Bibimbap.  It’s a little taste of Korea in Glasgow city centre.  And I’ve still a lot of the menu to sample….

Bibimbap is on West Nile Street, a short stroll from Glasgow Central Station.  You can find out more by visiting their website or following their ultra sleek Instagram. 

Disclaimer: we were invited to Bibimbap to review their new restaurant. Any opinions expressed are my own.