When Sudhakar and I first came to Bangalore, eating out always meant somewhere on MG Road, Brigade or Residency. Maybe it was the novelty of being in 'Bangalore'. I guess after a while, these areas just lost their charm for us and we finally began to look for newer areas to visit for meals out. Its really been a while since we ate a restaurant on MG Road, I think the last being Au Bon Pain. Sudhakar's Singaporean colleague discovered this place. Its called Seoul and serves Korean food - did we need a better excuse to check it out? 

Now when we went hunting for this place, we did not know its name, so first we did a drive-by and luckily spotted it. The restaurant is right next to what used to Bangalore Stores and is now a pretty intimidating Joy Alukkas. The restaurant is on the first and second floors and has a small seating space of around 4 tables on each floor. We went to the second, it was brighter and offered a decent enough view of what's left of MG Road. 

The cutlery laid out looked authentic enough. The Koreans use steel chopsticks and are perhaps the only Oriental nation to offer a spoon as well for soups and broths. This was all there. The menu we got said Continental and Korean. But when we asked for French fries for junior we were told the Continental Chef is yet to join work. And so Korean it was all the way. 

Sudhakar asked for a Sydney Sider as a drink. This is an apple/cranberry based drink and was quite nice. Kimbap had to be on the table and we opted for the pork version. This came with vinegar/soya sauce and a generous dollop of wasabi. A word of caution, the wasabi here packs a mean punch and I mean seriously mean - more like hitting your head on a pole if you stick it out of a speeding train. The kimbap here too was made with processed pork, just like in Jin's Hut/Oriental Wok (same owner I am told) in Kammanahalli and am not really sure if this is way its supposed to be. Nevertheless, we really liked it. 

For main course, it took a bit of work to decide on what we wanted. Some of the dishes we wanted were available only as vegetarian options. Finally Sudhakar settled on a Chicken Bibimbap and I decided to go for the Seafood Pajeon (pancake). The bibimbap is a complete meal in itself. You get a deep bowl of sticky rice around which is assortment of vegetables, boiled and pickled (here it was carrots, spinach, zucchini, sprouts, spinach and mushrooms). You also get shredded chicken. The center portion of the bowl is covered with a spicy tomato sauce and an egg done bullseye. Along with this comes a soup for the rice. We were asked if we wanted it spicy to which we said. I suggest you DON'T do the same. The meal was great and you need to be really hungry to finish it. 

Sudhakar went there once from office. He had the Tteokbokki. Traditionally this is a street food item, that did reach a glorified status in Korean cuisine. Its basically rice cakes that is stir fried with veggies like carrots and mushrooms in a thick sauce. There are several variations to the dish. Sudhakar found the rice cakes a bit chewy and the sauce on the sweeter side. More of an acquired taste is what he said.

Seoul is no Hae Kum Gang or Soo Ra Sang. But what you eat here will be satisfying enough. Spice is something you will have to discuss with the wait staff. Its a decent place to come to if you work in and around MG Road and you want something different from the run-of-the-mill office stuff. It can serve as a decent enough introduction to Korean food. The meal came to around Rs 1000 with a soft drink thrown in as well. No desserts as of now. They have a really nice and clean loo.