Korean food in Naru

Yesterday as part of Valentine Day's celebrations, my husband planned a trip to see the exhibition on Tower Bridge and also a Korean meal. More on Tower Bridge in another post.

He booked a table for us at Naru Restaurant on the Shaftsbury Avenue which we reached after a bus adventure from the Tower Bridge. The restaurant was three fourths full and the waitress showed us to a cosy table for two. Mostly there were couples, except for a large group of youngsters.

The ambiance is nice with a lot of light to see your way around, which I prefer way more than those dimly lit places where you cannot even see what you are eating! They had cleverly used a mirror to make the place look bigger than it really is. The decor is nice and light, making the place intimate and warm. The waitresses are very helpful, attentive and friendly.

Now the food-- for starters we ordered:

Jap Chae, now this glass noodles stir fried with assorted vegetables was what attracted us to Korean food in the first place. In Oxford a Korean friend of ours had made this for a party and we loved it, so we had her Jap Chae as the standard. This Jap Chae did not disappoint us either. It was good, made with fresh ingredients. I felt I could finish the whole plate and ask for some more. But it is pretty rich, so it fills you up quickly.  One small thing which I felt was that it had too much pepper in it.

Tuk San Juk which are deep fried pork dumplings. Now dumplings if not well made can taste horrible with the dough thick and stretchy and the filling inside all dry and non juicy. But these were just right with the dough light and crisp and the filling inside was juicy and very tasty. I would have finished all of it by myself if the Jap Chae was not there.

For me it was the usual Jasmine tea.

My husband chose an Aloe drink...it tasted like a drink made with cucumber, only sweet. It was our first aloe vera drink and by the end of the meal we were both thankful for it.

For main my husband ordered a pork stew which came with multi grain rice and the fiery red sauce in the next photograph. The stew was hot (we were duly warned) and flavorful, filled with veggies and tofu but sadly there was not much of pork visible. Maybe they had cooked the pork so much it had dissolved into the stew. It tasted very different from anything either of us had ever had before. I think next time we would give it a miss.

This fiery red sauce was awesome!

I ordered this crunchy fried chicken in a red sauce, served with lettuce. This was awesome. It was hot, slightly tangy, very firm and a winner. I did not know how to eat this with the lettuce, so made little bags with the lettuce, put in the chicken pieces in them and had them. The lettuce added a crunch and also slightly brought down the heat. We both loved this chicken, next time we go to Naru, this would definitely be reordered.

By the end of the meal, we were so full, that we skipped by the green tea ice cream which we were planning to order. It was a great meal and made our Valentine's day special. We cannot wait to go back there.

I loved the ceramic dishes and pots in which the food was served. I was meaning to ask the waitresses whether they were from Korea, forgot, next time.

Only drawbacks are the loos. Women's loos were clean but super small but my husband said men's loos were stinking, so much so that he doused himself with anti bacterial gel after coming back. Which is a pity for a restaurant otherwise this good!