Korean food is growing as a world favourite in ethnic cuisines. Now there’s more reason to love each occasion you’re in the area of the LG Twin Towers: a cheapo set meal that just can’t be beat at lunch and dinner. In the same vicinity as the Starck-designed LAN Club, this bistro version of the other Ai Jiang Shan branches features modern design with pottery and lots of stone. A window seat gives a city view that makes this even more of a bargain.
Pictured sets make ordering a cinch and prices vary between 38RMB and 48RMB for a large tray full of bowls like a painter’s palette. The banchan, Korean side dishes that are usually gratis and bottomless are individual and built for one. Baechu kimchi, the red-chilli-fermented cabbage pickle, the national dish of Korea, can be a little too fresh. For the uninitiated, Ai Jiang Shan Bistro’s version is a gentle introduction to food which you may love or hate.
A varied menu offers something for everyone, including vegans, but not the raw, crunchy crowd. Dolsot bibimbap (38RMB), a one-bowl meal comes in a blackened stone basin and should arrive screaming hot while the rice slowly burns a golden crunch on an oiled edge. A sesame-scented colour wheel of slivered vegetables is as simple as it is good, but the rice fizzles instead of sizzles. With no crust, it’s just another rice bowl and an annoying mishap.
Another tray appears; this time, it’s a beef and kimchi stew, boiling away in a hot lava-coloured soup. In time, the final set of our triplet arrives and it’s a similar bowl of mushroom rice. This one sings the right notes, as the rice is gently stirred to reveal a golden-brown crisp crust. A spoon gently breaks into the yolk of an egg and leaks yellow joy. The gild is a dollop of gochuchang, the spice paste that differentiates bibimbap from an ordinary bowl of vegetables over rice. There are many more mains to choose from and it’s worth trying each, one meal at a time. Lillian Chou
Serves up some of Beijing's best cheap eats