We’re getting very up close and personal with the love for Korean pop music love in India, and its surrounding industry. Let super fans power your soundtrack, tell you how to talk and walk K-pop style, in the best that K-pop fashion has to offer. Read more here.
K-pop is exhausting. Whether you’re dancing or pining. Instant noodles are great comfort and though Korean ramyeon is taking over shelves at our local grocery stores, there’s more than just kimchi and barbecue on the menu. Use our list of Korean grocery shops and restaurants across a few India cities to fuel your love for K-pop.
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DELHI NCR
SHOPS
BG Food Mart
Walking through the doors of BG Food Mart is like stepping into a Korean convenience store in downtown Seoul. The shop stocks locally produced kimchi and imported cooking oils, sauces, pastes, noodles, rice, ginseng, cured and smoked meats and a variety of seafood. Plus, a multitude of instant ramyeon like Shin Ramyeon and Chapagetti and other sweet and savory snacks are displayed at the ends of checkout lines, begging to be the last addition to your shopping trip.
Where: 1A, Arjun Nagar, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi.
Call: 011-41003565
Timings: 9am to 9pm
Seela Korean Food Mart
Sporting long aisles laden with items en masse, this emporium makes shopping for Korean groceries very appealing. Apart from various kinds of home-made kimchi, Seela stocks ready-to-eat meals, microwavable sticky rice, tteokbokki or spicy rice cakes and essential Korean ingredients by brands like Ottogi, Nongshim and CJ.
Where: LG14, South Point Mall, Sector 53, Golf Course Road, Gurgaon.
Call: +91-0124-4202071
Timings: 9.30am to 9:30pm
Korean Shop
A simple website dedicated almost entirely to ready-to-eat noodle and ramyeon dishes–don’t forget to order the fire chicken noodles. You’ll also find bits and bobs for the home, a small selection of beauty products, and barley and brown rice tea, and instant coffee.
Where: Shop online at koreanshop.in or visit their office at Brics India Trade Pvt. Ltd., 21/3 and 4, Second Floor, Yusuf Sarai Main Market, New Delhi.
Call: 011-26191087
RESTAURANTS & CAFES
Gung–The Palace
A visit to Gung requires a suitable occasion or celebration. Once you enter, it’s a full-blown assault on the senses with over-the-top Korean interiors, traditional floor seating, K-pop in the background, and servers dressed in formal hanbok dresses. Start with classic Korean mung bean or chive pancakes, and to share, order the excellent haemul ramyeon, a hearty seafood stew. An a la carte dinner doesn’t come cheap, but you can also score a better deal on lunchtime takeaways starting at Rs 500 for a fried chicken omurice (omlette fried rice) to Rs 1,100 for a marinated beef bulgogi ssambap (Korean rice wraps).
Where: SCO 28, Main Market, Sector 29, Gurgaon; D-1/B, near Ashirwad Complex, Green Park, New Delhi; and B-4, Urbtech Matrix Tower, Sector 132, Noida.
Call: 011-33105663/011-46082663/+91-9910483900
Timings: 12noon to 3pm and 5:30pm to 10pm
Sibang Bakery
On your first visit to Sibang, a Korean bakery with two outlets in Gurgaon, you have to pace yourself before scarfing down a whole bunch of goodies on display. Apart from traditional pastries like red bean bun, rice doughnuts and the light-as-air castella (Japanese sponge cake), they also stock everyday breads, cookies and tea cakes. If you’re in the mood for something a bit more daring, we recommend patbingsu, the Korean shaved ice dessert with sweet toppings like chopped fruit, condensed milk, fruit syrup and red beans. If you choose to eat your order on-site, there is also an excellent selection of coffee and tea.
Where: DLF South Point Mall, Shop 108, 1st Floor, Golf Course Road, Gurgaon and DLF Mega Mall, 1st Floor, DLF Phase 1, Gurgaon.
Call: +91-9811268210/+91-9811297865
Timings: 10am to 9pm
Dal-Grak Café at the Korean Cultural Centre
If you’re new to Korean cuisine, then ease yourself into it at an affordable price at the Korean Culture Centre’s in-house café. Here you can learn to tell your bibimbap (rice mixed with veggies, meat and spicy sauce) from your kimbap (Korean sushi rolls), or keep it simple with Korean fried chicken or kimchi soup. They also serve excellent drip coffee, sweet potato milkshake, and shaved ice dessert patbingsu in five flavours.
Where: A-25, Ring Road, Lajpat Nagar IV, New Delhi.
Call: 011-43345000
Timings: 10am to 8pm
Midam
The year-and-a-half-old restaurant is one of the more affordable options for a Korean meal in Gurgaon. Private dining rooms come with tabletop grills and the typical Korean side dishes or banchan are immediately served–we are especially fond of the blanched spinach with sesame and acorn jelly. While we like to stick to grilled pork, they also do great kimbap rolls and mandu dumplings that go extremely well with their house-made makgeolli, a milky and lightly sparkling rice wine that tastes slightly sweet, tart and astringent.
Where: Lower Ground Floor, DLF South Point Mall, Golf Course Road, Gurgaon.
Call: +91-7838111002/+91-9871277807
Timings: 11.30am to 11pm
The Shim Tur
For Korean fare that’s cheap and cheerful, it doesn’t get any better than The Shim Tur in the backpackers’ district of Paharganj. A diamond in the rough, the place is a great spot for a bit of soju and tteokbokki, spicy rice and fish cakes served with coloured peppers and onions. The O-Jing Oh Dup Bap or squid cooked in a spicy gravy served with rice, makes for a comforting meal.
Where: 2nd Floor, Navrang Guest House, Tooti Galli, Main Bazaar, Paharganj, New Delhi.
Call: +91-9810386717
Timings: 10am to 11pm
Kori’s
More café than restaurant, Kori’s appeals to a younger audience of Korean food enthusiasts. It’s a great place for a quick lunch or evening snack. Their bestsellers include the Korean thali or set meal, better known as dosirak, in kimchi mushroom and jeyuk pork variations. For the uninitiated, a large chunk of the menu is dedicated to coffees and snacks like burgers, chicken fingers, and other fried fast-food. This is also a great introduction to traditional Korean teas make from barley, buckwheat, corn silk and red ginseng.
Where: R62/1, Humayunpur, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi; Tsampa Guest House, Aruna Nagar, Majnu ka Tila, New Delhi; and 108E, Humayunpur, Safdarjung Enclave, Safdarjung, New Delhi.
Call: +91-9899877893/+91-9999571130
Timings: 11am to 11pm
Busan Korean Restaurant
Another hidden gem, Busan is best known for its well-priced menu and home-style Korean fare. Vegetarians have a reason to visit on Wednesdays when they serve an all-veggie menu of kimchi stew, soybean stew and vegetarian bibimbap. Carnivores can feast on the jjamppong sujebi, a seafood soup with hand-pulled noodles or the classic glass noodle dish japchae. The restaurant also features more seafood options than most other Korean restaurants in the city.
Where: Ground Floor, House 9B, Block 10, New Aruna Nagar, Majnu ka Tila, New Delhi.
Call: +91-9560816905
Timings: 11am to 10pm
Hahn’s Kitchen
Hahn’s is as swanky as they come–well in a shopping mall anyway. The menu sports many culinary adventures–start with dogani-tang, an ox-bone soup or the makchang, grilled intestines of pig or sometimes beef over coal. Safer choices include delicious Korean pancakes, spicy fried chicken and haemultang or spicy seafood stew. All these dishes plus the extra banchan go extremely well with the top-shelf liquor and house-made rice wine, makgeolli.
Where: One Horizon Centre, Golf Course Road, Gurgaon.
Call: +91-124-2575600
Timings: 12noon to 12am
Seoul Restaurant
If you’re ever dining at Seoul Restaurant in Ansal Plaza, you must meet Jaslina Roy. The soft-spoken manager will take you through the large menu and recommend dishes based on your preferences over soju in grapefruit or original flavours. Bestsellers include jok bal or pig trotters, ori hungae or grilled duck roast, bossam or slices of boiled pork and sun dae gug, stir-fried pork intestines. Don’t skip on the house-style ramyeon and the seafood and chives pajeon (green onion) pancake.
Where: 3rd Floor, C Block, Ansal Plaza Mall, Near Siri Fort, Khel Gaon Marg, New Delhi.
Call: 011-41003848
Timings: 10.30am to 3.30Pm and 6pm to 11pm
The Bibimbab
A restaurant that’s almost entirely dedicated to the warm comfort of Korea’s national rice dish bibimbap and its variants. They don’t mess with the signature dish and only a handful of barbecue dishes, stews and sides are available.
Where: DLF South Point, Second Floor, Golf Course Road, Gurgaon.
Call: +91-9650275322
Timings: 11am to 11pm
Bings Café
Koreans generally finish their meals with a slice of fresh fruit–usually melons or watermelons. But Bing’s Café specialises in Korea’s favourite summer treat of patbingsu. Shaved ice is served with sweet toppings like chopped fruits, condensed milk, fruit syrup, and red beans. Choose from green tea, Oreos, watermelon, mango, coffee and even cheese flavoured bingsu. They also serve excellent Dutch drip coffee, a small selection of kimbap rolls and ramyeon and baked goodies like melon buns.
Where: Select City Walk Mall, 2nd Floor, Saket, New Delhi.
Call: +91-9971014608
Timings: 11am to 10.30pm
MUMBAI
RESTAURANTS
Heng Bok
For the longest time, Korean expats did one of two things to feed themselves: Bring in their pantry essentials+meat and seafood for a home cookout, or find a secret Korean canteen, hidden away in high-rise apartments. Indians had little or no access to these places and there was very little Korean cuisine in Mumbai, until Japanese restaurant chef James Biaka decided to capitalise on the missing market for Korean fare. The restaurant offers an extensive line-up of the most popular Korean dishes as well as a grill-it-yourself barbecue experience at the table, but mind you, it all comes at a hefty cost.
Where: 6th Floor, Above Shoppers Stop, Suburbia Mall, Linking Road, Bandra West.
Call: 022-30151380
Timings: 12noon to 3pm and 6pm to 12am
Origami Japanese and Korean Restaurant
Most secret Korean canteens first came up at Hiranandani Gardens in Powai in the early 2000s, but it’s taken years for the neighbourhood to finally get its own Korean restaurant. The six-month-old space also serves Japanese fare, but you can skip the fusion sushi rolls and swap them for Korean favourites like mundu gak or dumpling soup, japchae or glass noodles, matcha cheesecakes and soju cocktails. Don’t forget the best seats in the house are by the large floor-to-ceiling windows.
Where: Supreme Business Park, B Wing, Ground Floor, Hiranandani Gardens, Powai, Mumbai.
Call: 022-30151530
Timings: 12noon to 3pm and 6pm to 12.30am
Sun and Moon Korean Restaurant
What once started off as aunty Sunwon Hwang’s underground restaurant at her home in Worli is finally a proper restaurant behind Phoenix Mills. Once you take your shoes off, you’re taken to a small dining hall with comments and feedback scrawled across the walls. It’s all very basic and homely, the cutlery is mismatched and there are photos of the Hwangs everywhere. It’s best to leave the ordering to aunty as she knows best. The cold noodles bibim guksu and tteokbokki are on the spicier side, so we washed them down with cans of milky-textured makgeolli.
Where: H/8, near Mahalaxmi Industrial Estate, next to Marathon Era, Worli, Mumbai.
Call: +91-9833303048/+91-9967489675
Timings: 9am to 11pm
BENGALURU
RESTAURANTS
Hae Kum Gang
To do justice to the large portions at Hae Kum Gang, you need to gather the troops for your visit. We’re big fans of the jeyuk bossam, thinly sliced pork belly wraps, and the sogogi wanja, beef patties. Carnivores will love their signature samgupsal and bulgogi mixed and matched with six banchan served alongside. Reasonably priced lunches are also available for Rs 330 in variations like ramyeon and mandu, ramyeon and kimbap, vegetarian bibimbap or bulgogi.
Where: Paul Castle, No. 20, Second Floor, Castle Street, Near Brigade Tower, Ashok Nagar, Bengaluru.
Call: 080-49652616
Timings: 11.30am to 10.30pm
Arirang Korean Restaurant
This cosy spot offers traditional floor seating, regular tables and private booths for dining. The menu features dishes otherwise missing from popular Korean restaurant menus like the pulled pork with black bean seasoning–jjajangmyun, the spicy beef tripe hot pot called gopchang jeongal, and stir-fried octopus sizzler with blood sausage called sundae and bibimbap in a variety of options.
Where: 13, NK Enclave Building, Near Sathya Hospital, Chinnappa Layout, 4th Cross, Kammanahalli Main Road, Bengaluru.
Call: 080-41732581/+91-99161624002
Timings: 12noon to 3pm and 5pm to 10pm
Thran Korean Restaurant and Bakery
What started off as a home experiment for Mi Jung Jung in 2010 turned into a snug makeshift restaurant in Kalyan Nagar in 2012. The place is famous for its affordable, home-style dishes like soft tofu soup or sundubu jjigae, pork bulgogi and cheese ramyeon. Mi Jung Jung also runs a small bakery out of the restaurant with soft rolls filled with sausage and cheese, buns with red bean paste, twisted donuts, rice cakes and custard cream bread.
Where: 507, Ground Floor, 4th Cross, 2nd Block, CMR Road, HRBR Layout, Kalyan Nagar, Bengaluru.
Call: 080-42050685/+91-98808 00874
Timings: 12noon to 3pm and 6pm to 10.30pm
Soo Ra Sang
With a sweeping view of the airport this al fresco spot has a limited but affordable menu. Specials include barbecue beef tongue, daeji bulgogi, thin slices of pork loin marinated in a red chilli pepper paste, and samgyeopsal cooked at the table. You can even take away your favourite kimchi and banchan dishes and some cheesecake.
Where: Himalayan Inn hotel, 332, Indiranagar Double Road, Indiranagar, Bengaluru.
Call: 080-41303435
Timings: 12noon to 3pm, 6pm to 11pm Noon to 3PM, 6PM to 10PM
Hi Seoul
Also housed in a residential complex, Hi Seoul is a frills-free restaurant specialising in barbecues, stir-fries and stews served with rice. Fried chicken wings and legs in a spicy sauce go very well with soju. Other dishes are one-pot meals like squid deobap and ugeoji galbitang, a flavourful soup made from chunks of beef short ribs, Korean cabbage leaves and soybean paste.
Where: 309, 7th Main Road, HRBR Layout, 2nd Block, Kalyan Nagar, Bengaluru.
Call: 080-40934000/+91-9845771657
Timings 11am to 3pm and 6pm to 9pm
Snowo’ra
The hip café is devoted to the art of perfecting the Korean shaved ice dessert bingsu topped with mango, strawberry, chocolate, Oreo, dried fruit, custard apple and rose cream. They also do frozen sandwiches in the same flavours and frosted coffees.
Where: 772, Ground Floor, Peripheral Road, 80 Feet Road, Koramangala 4th Block, Bengaluru and Manyata Tech Park, G5B, MFAR, next to HDFC Bank, Nagvara, Bengaluru.
Call: +91-9739700066
Timings: 10am to 11pm
CHENNAI
SHOPS
Seoul Store
One of the oldest Korean grocery shop chains, Seoul Store first started trading in 1998, shortly after Hyundai set up their factory on Chennai’s outskirts. Now boasting four outlets in and around Chennai, it has the largest selection of Korean ingredients and knick-knacks. Most products like condiments, rice, noodles, cooking oils and pastes are imported from Korea. A wide range of ready-to-eat ramyeon is sold along with traditional Korean biscuits and snacks. Meat is imported from Belgium while spam and seafood comes from Korea. A small selection at every store is dedicated to electronics and cosmetics.
Where: Shop No.43 & 44, Ground Floor, 96, Kaveri Complex, Nungambakkam High Road, Chennai; Commercial Plaza, 1 & 2, Temple Green, Sriperumbudur, Chennai; 2/185, East Coast Road, Sakthi Vinayakar Nagar, Injambakkam, Chennai; and New 74, Old 58, 2nd Main Road, Near Grand Sweets, Gandhi Nagar, Adyar, Chennai.
Call: 044-43111797/+91-9087884683/+91-9841711797/+91-9841097975
Timings: 9am to 10pm
RESTAURANTS
Cheong Ki Wa Restaurant and Guest House
Mostly frequented by Korean clientele, Cheong Ki Wa stays true to the flavours of Korean cuisine with ingredients that are largely imported. Apart from the usual bibimbap-bulgogi-samgupsal fare, they also serve hearty stews like the gamja-tang, a spicy pork back-bone stew made from the spine or neck bones of a pig with potatoes, cellophane noodles, dried radish greens, perilla leaves, green onions, hot peppers and ground sesame seeds. Cold buckwheat soba noodles, ginseng chicken soup and spicy blue crab stew are some of our favourites.
Where: 21, KB Dasan Road, Teynampet, Chennai.
Call: +91-9789038354
Timings: 11am to 3pm and 5pm to 10pm
PUNE
RESTAURANTS
Café Maroo
Built almost entirely out of unfinished wood, Café Maroo is run efficiently by Korean expats. The extensive menu can be confusing for first-timers but our favourite picks include the seafood seaweed soup miyeok-guk and the jajang-myeon special, a beef noodle dish with lots of vegetables in chunjang, a dark brown sweet bean paste.
Where: Shop 1, A Wing, Laxmi Palace, CTS 801, Aundh, Pune.
Call: 020-32315203/020-60604521
Timings: 12noon to 10.30pm
K
A stylishly designed café, K offers an uncomplicated menu of Korean favourites. The noodles are handmade and broths are cooked for over 24 hours. One of their bestsellers is the special ramen, with fried chicken, thinly sliced onions, egg, bean sprouts and house-made noodles. They also offer set-menus to feed two to six people with rice, noodles, dumplings and soup.
Where: Shop D/11, Sai Heritage, Aundh-Baner Link Road, Aundh, Pune.
Call: +91-960770702/020-48611122
Timings: 12.30pm to 10pm
