Attached to the Millennium Hotel and Conference Centre, and barely a minute’s walk from Gloucester Road station, you’ll find Korean Grill Kensington. Lovingly referred to as KGK, this restaurant strives to give visitors – hotel guests and the general public alike – an authentic introduction to Korean BBQ. I’ve not had Korean BBQ cuisine for years, so thought it was high time I took a visit and, spoiler alert for this review, the food at Korean Grill Kensington didn’t disappoint.
The venue
KGK is an intimate restaurant, holding 46 covers. The traditional decor, laden with illustrations of crane birds and intricate dividers, was in contrast with the modern tunes that played out as a soundtrack to my meal – I liked this though. Each table in the venue had an in-built tabletop grill; despite dining fairly early on a mid-week evening, a few diners were seated when I arrived, and the scent of the cooking food from other tables welcomingly wafted towards me.
A selection of groups occupied the tables around me: dates, groups, and even business meetings. The cook-it-yourself aspect of Korean BBQ could even be a great interactive experience with kids of a certain age (mind the heat and fire though!). The menu had a helpful ‘how to’ guide on its first page – though you can simply get the staff to cook your meat in front of you, if you wish.
The food
When staff seated me at my table, I did wonder why the table appeared to be for four people, when there were just two of us dining. Well, my question was answered once the food started coming out of the kitchen! I was dining on the Chef’s Feast Menu, and wow, the side dishes to accompany the meat just kept coming; we needed that table space for the numerous accompanying dishes. Namul, bibim noodles, jeon, japchee, yuzu salad, pickled radish, steamed rice…
Now, I’ll get onto the meat shortly, but I must give props to all the little dishes that surrounded the grill first. Every dish was packed with flavour. Even the little amuse-bouche of cherry tomatoes and grapes were well seasoned – I knew I was in for a real culinary treat from that moment onwards.
The soup of the day (beef) looked so simple, but the flavours were extraordinary; a spicy, umami, moreish taste. Aubergine is often a hard-to-nail veg, but here, it was extraordinary. Cooked soft and beautifully, there was not a lick of slime, but rather more of the umami flavour. Even my dislike of tofu was momentarily shelved at KGK. The spice levels were spot on, and as I said earlier, it was clear everything had been seasoned well. Despite being small dishes, there were many of them, so we had more than enough to pair with the meat.
Now for the main event: the barbecued meat. Korean Grill Kensington’s Chef’s Feast Menu promises premium cuts of the day, and for us, that was a rib eye steak, a flat iron steak, and some short rib. Oh, and some sizeable tiger prawns too. After cooking the prawns (which were large and juicy, FYI), our expert waitstaff then used beef fat and rosemary to grease the grill, before cooking each piece of meat to perfection. This was intimate show-cooking at its best; I thoroughly enjoyed watching the meat sizzle and the flame shoot up every so often. The outcome was truly delicious. Special shout-outs go to the melt-in-my-mouth rib eye steak, and that short rib that was almost buttery. I chose to pair my meal with green grape soju (a Korean-style sake), which was nice and sweet. I loved the glassware too.
To conclude, Korean Grill Kensington is a great way to experience the traditional flavours of Korea here in London. While the service is reserved, the flavours are loud and proud – everything was delicious. The visit has reignited my love of Korean BBQ.