Six months after the start of the national lockdown, when we’d been starved of food, companionship and conviviality for half of the year, the one-night pop-up event at Crispins in Spitalfields, featuring Korean chef Suhyung Lee, was like an oasis in the desert. Yes, there was the prospect of some interesting Korean-inspired dishes – we’d […]
Category: Life & Leisure
CHAGOK CHAGOK: Korean Tapas, Tea and Natural Wine
We had a lovely time at be-oom tea room in Exmouth Market earlier this week. Sooji was good enough to tell us about the upcoming event at their tea room next weekend. Looks like a unique opportunity to explore some interesting flavours. CHAGOK CHAGOK: Korean Tapas, Tea and Natural Wine be-oom | 27 Exmouth Market […]
Hallyu Con 2020: an online celebration of Korean pop culture
Hot on the heels of KBCE’s Chuseok-themed online event in September comes KCCUK’s hallyu-focused online festival. Hallyu Con 2020 Sunday 4 October 2020, 3pm Livestreamed on the KCCUK YouTube Channel Free Calling all UK and Europe-based Korean culture enthusiasts! Are you keen to join the ultimate celebration of Korean pop culture? This one-day online event, […]
An introduction to be-oom tea shop and garden
와우! be-oom is a new addition to London’s tea scene, serving hand-picked Korean teas sourced from small farms in the Boseong and Hadong regions. They also sell tea ceramics and run Korean tea tasting and tea blending events (see Facebook page for dates). Their tea house in the vibrant Exmouth Market offers a peaceful ‘garden’ […]
The annual Harvest Fest moves online
Congratulations to the organisers of the annual Korean Harvest Fest for putting something so enticing together in these difficult times. The Chuseok celebrations organised by Korean British Cultural Exchange have moved online this year. Plans for screenings in the heard of Koreatown (New Malden) have had to be shelved at the last minute because of […]
The World Korean Food Festival 2020
We just found out about this fortnight-long food event in New Malden in September via a post on the KCC’s Facebook page. After a frantic bout of messaging various Korean contacts to get further details, I received a copy of a kakaotalk image, which is embedded in the post below. As you can see, it’s […]
Suhyung Lee popup collaboration dinner at Crispin’s Spitalfields
Two years ago Suhyung Lee, along with Yujung Kim, gave us a memorable experience in the form of a pop-up residency in a Marylebone restaurant. LKL review here. This September he is collaborating with Crispin’s head chef, Naz Hassan, in a one-night-only event in Spitalfields. Don’t miss it: Suhyung Lee x Naz Hassan Collaboration Dinner […]
How not to sanitize your cash
There’s a lovely item in today’s Korea JoongAng Daily about a report by the Bank of Korea (including the above image) on how people have been attempting to disinfect their banknotes to protect themselves from Covid-19. Putting them in the washing machine and then the tumble dryer, or microwaving them, is not recommended. “The central […]
A fun addition to the smallest room in the house
Even as lockdown is gradually relaxed in the UK, we need to be reminded to be on our guard, that Covid-19 is still a threat. The nice folks at Koryo Studio – an affiliate of the travel company that brought us Dan Gordon’s series of feature-length documentaries on North Korea – have commissioned a work […]
Korean food under lockdown
As the UK Covid-19 lockdown was announced back in March, what was one of the many concerns for me? The fact that I wouldn’t be able to go to a Korean restaurant for a samgyeopsal feast for the foreseeable future, obviously. So I began to plan for second best. While, somehow, samgyeopsal always tastes best […]
The mysteries of the Abies Koreana
Around 17 years ago, on a trip to Ashwood Nurseries in the West Midlands with the in-laws, I sneaked an unauthorised plant onto the trolley, much as a child might sneak a bag of sweets into the shopping cart on a trip to the supermarket. On my stroll around the nursery grounds, I had seen […]
RASKB Online Lecture: Practicing Korean Traditional Archery
In 1899, the visiting Prince Heinrich of Prussia expressed his astonishment to Emperor Gojong at a traditional archery demonstration. The Prince, hailing from a militarized Prussian culture, sought out demonstrations of Korean martial arts, and Archery was the most impressive among the arts demonstrated. He was familiar with Turkish and Hungarian Archery of Europe, which […]
Celebrate the lunar new year at Whitehall Historic House
Are you looking forward to celebrating the start of the Year of the Rat? Try out some family-friendly traditional Korean New Year activities at Whitehall Historic House in Cheam, courtesy of Sutton Cultural Services. And when you get home from there, why not try cooking tteokguk? Maangchi’s recipe is dead easy and tastes great. I […]
A review of the Korean cultural year 2019
A review of some of the highlights and trends in the Korean cultural year, primarily in London but also with half an eye to anything we might have seen elsewhere in the UK. The review is a personal one, inevitably skewed towards the events we managed to get to. Introduction This time last year I […]
Son Heung-min’s astounding goal against Burnley
It’s already been called the goal of the season. Son Heung-min’s goal against Burnley which contributed to Spurs’s 5-0 home win on 7 December was magical – a solo effort that starts just outside his own box and ends, after a run the length of the pitch, with a shot inside the Burnley penalty area. […]
The World’s First ‘Active’ Greenhouse
The greenhouse is an ancient invention, dating back 2,200 years. Modern ‘active’ greenhouses are distinguished from older ‘passive’ ones by the fact that they allow for the adjustment of air and soil temperature. Previously, the first such greenhouses were believed to have been built in Germany in 1619, using a stove to regulate air temperature, […]
Making and Sharing Kimchi Project: the 2019 Kimjang Festival
The culmination of many months’ preparation is here. Kimjang: Making and Sharing Kimchi is a project made possible by money raised by National Lottery players. It involves recording, archiving and distributing 20 authentic kimchi recipes and personal Kimjang experiences from North, South and Chinese-Korean residents, and hosting an annual Kimjang Festival on New Malden High […]