Once I’d scooped out the sea-urchin flesh from its black spiky podball, there was little else to surprise me at this Korean dinner in Ladbroke Grove. Yes, the raw sesame leaves with their incredible citrus turn were beautiful wrapped around the steamed pork belly and oyster. And the fried rice cakes, shaped like the polystyrene bits that stop clocks from breaking, were very tasty. But this fishy flesh with texture like soft egg scramble in poisonous spines was most thrillingly dangerous, even wrapped in disarming seaweed and rice. I was tasting chef Stevie Parle’s new Korean menu at his West London restaurant Dock Kitchen.
The restaurant was a little hard to find, hidden down on the canal but just look out for smoothie god Innocent’s headquarters and then you can’t miss it, with its giant glass façade lit like a golden greenhouse. Stevie has just returned from an intense four-day food-finding trip to South Korea to ‘find the spirit of the place’ rather than recreating dishes 100% authentically. ‘Korea has always fascinated me as a destination,’ he says, adding that Korean food is enjoying a popularity surge in the UK, what with its fermented baseline and trendy kimchi.
‘I have a bit of an obsession with fermentation,’ says the young chef. ‘I went to Korea to see first-hand what authentic Korean cuisine was like and incorporate that into the Dock Kitchen menu.’
We also tried raw beef on slivers of pear with egg yolk and sesame oil, although the oil did dominate the other flavours. The grilled onglet, however, was exceptional, having been marinated in rice wine. And the dessert of yuzu icecream with black sesame snaps was nice and creamy – these are the kinds of things that will feature on his Korean menu launching in early February.
Stevie usually changes his menu every three weeks, often based on recent trips abroad to such places as Italy and Sri Lanka. Apparently, staff at the restaurant can bid to take a Dock Kitchen-funded trip abroad to seek out local ingredients and culinary tricks to bring back. I’m going to put in a request to go as the diver for more sea-urchins next time, hope they take me.
The Korean-themed menu will run for three weeks at Dock Kitchen from 3-22 February at £45 per person. Diners can also take advantage of a special three-course version of this menu – plus a glass of wine – on each of the three Mondays, for £24.50.
Dock Kitchen
Portobello Docks
342–344 Ladbroke Grove
Kensal Road
W10 5BU
Tel: 020 8962 1610
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Seoul Food at Dock Kitchen, Ladbroke Grove