Kimchee // Korea

The other day I went to Kimchee: a Korean restaurant in Holborn.

Despite having eaten at numerous Asian restaurants in my lifetime and tasted a variety of oriental foods, I'm pretty sure that Korean cuisine was still a new taste experience for me.

Admittedly I don't know much about Korea at all - besides bits and bobs about Kim Jong-Il and Gangnam Style... which is a pretty eclectic combination.

ph: kimchee.uk.com

The restaurant has a stylish setting with an open plan kitchen so that you can see your food being prepared, and long dark wooden tables which contribute to a lively atmosphere and community feel.

I would suggest coming early to the restaurant, particularly if you're a large group as spaces will fill up quickly and you may have a wait otherwise.

To start off, my friend and I ordered a sweet and sour prawn starter,

Followed by one order of pork bulgogi, and one chicken bulgogi, with accompanying rice,

And a special-made chestnut ice cream to finish.

The starter is a bit bigger than expected, but no complaints there! The prawns were delicious. Unfortunately for me my friend ended up hogging them so I didn't get to have too many.

I'd never had bulgogi before, but it was beautiful.

The meat is full of flavour with a bit of a spicy punch, and it comes with an extra optional fruity and spicy sauce which is also lovely and adds even more to the taste.

The chestnut ice-cream was also new for me. It was very nice and a good way to refresh and cleanse your mouth after the hot flavours beforehand.

The dishes were served quite artistically on special wooden plate / box and a pot for the rice.

Those kind of touches just help to add even more to the experience, especially as for me food is not only a means to stop a rumbly stomach but also an enjoyable pastime.

And even though I keep desperately trying to persuade myself to stick to a diet, food will still always be better than how thin feels. 

It seems like some people on Tripadvisor didn't enjoy Kimchee like I did. 

Oh well, I say give it a go anyway - particularly if, like me, you haven't tried Korean food before.

It is a must to try anything new you come across!

After all, (and I'm sorry to be one of those douches but...) #YOLO

Pork bulgogi

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Pentatonix

I recently discovered the band Pentatonix - they're an a capella group of five vocalists originating from Texas, who found fame and popularity for their music after winning the third season of an American singing contest: The Sing-Off in 2011. 

The members are:

Scott Hoying - identifiable by his height and strong jaw line, Scott appears to be one of the best singers of the group, with a very nice tone to his voice.

Kirstie Maldonado - the only female of the group, she certainly holds her own amongst the guys and her voice is an essential component to the band's harmonies.

Mitch Grassi - at 20 he is the youngest member and has an impressively high range for a guy.

Avi Kaplan - from the videos he seems to have a smaller musical role in the band, though he simultaneously may be one of the more popular band members - maybe because of his bass beatboxing or the fact that he looks a bit like Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters.

Kevin Olusola - brings the cool factor and is just a bit of a legend. He gives the a capella band the backing music with his unique blend of dynamic beatboxing and occasional cello music. He graduated from Yale no less.

The quintet derives its influences from pop, electro, dubstep, hip-hop and reggae. Their songs consist of fresh covers of well-known tracks in a style reminiscent of Glee - indeed the band first got going in an attempt to win a competition to meet the cast of Glee. The music videos themselves are a bit cheesy; there's little arty filming, most of the time it's simply the five musicians standing together and singing rather intensely to the camera - Avi's facial expressions in these are pretty funny - followed by a friendly thank you chat to their viewers. However, their styling and fresh a capella style helps to refine the cute cheesiness. 

This is one of my favourites from Pentatonix, as it's a cover of a song I really like and also features the talented Lindsey Stirling:

This vid shows off Pentatonix's angelic voices:

Pause at 0:50 for an example of an amusing Avi Kaplan face.. I can understand why some people think he looks like Howard Wolowitz from The Big Bang Theory.

And Kevin on his own, because I just love the combination of a classical instrument and urban beatboxing - I never thought much of the cello before as it didn't seem capable of many nice melodies but he shows a varieties of ways in which it can be played:

This makes me want to get out my violin and start playing it again.