Ran Restaurant

This always has been and still is one of my top choices for Korean. A little pricier than other places, but it will never let you down. The chapche and tijimi are absolutely sublime and the barbecue meat is well marinated and tasty.

The staff are usually ready on cue, although sometimes you can be waiting for a while when it gets busy...

The beauty of this place, besides the constant standard, is the function room at the back. It is perfect for groups of 10 or so, which always makes it one of my preferred choices for gatherings both in private and business.
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akichi2910 - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Sunday, June 22, 2008

Having never tried Korean cuisine before, I was excited to try something new. I wasn't disappointed.

I went with a friend who had been to Ran on many occasions who was very familiar with the food. I got introduced to dishes like kimchi pancakes and beef sashimi and loved it!

The staff were polite and friendly. They were attentive when cooking our food on the bbq grill at our table.

It's not an intimate atmosphere nor a buzzy one. "Flat" is the only way I can describe it. However, don't let that put you off because the food is delicious although a bit pricey.

Be prepared to master Korean chopsticks. Something I was a bit rubbish at, even though I've used Chinese chopsticks all my life.
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SS - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 6
Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Just a general comment on free side dishes, the funny thing is Korean people do get them for free in most restaurants in London, this gets to a silly point when you are a mixed table, where I've been told we wouldn't have free panchan since we are not a "full korean table".

I thoroughly recommend the restaurants in New Malden, in the so called korean town things are different, and you get trated very well since it's not in the center, and food is great.
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Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Saturday, February 02, 2008

Went to Ran for an interesting business dinner. It was just okay.

For three of us, we ordered the haemul pa jun, chap chae, the large mixed grill assortment, rice, and some namul and kimchee (this is the first korean restaurant I've ever been to where the panchan does not come with your meal!).

The pa jun was actually pretty good, full of squid and scallions with a tasty sauce. It was nice a crisp on the outside, a bit batter-ey on the inside chock-full of filling.

The chap chae was good tasting but almost the smallest portion I've ever seen. Maybe two small handfuls of noodles, some beef, onions etc. The little bit was well seasoned although the noodles were a bit mushy.

The meat assortment was a variety of different meats that were well marinated. They didn't use the built in grill in the middle and instead brought out one of those portable gas burners that you sometimes see at Chinese hot pot restaurants. On top of the burner, they put something like a cookie sheet. The problem with this setup is the metal doesn't get hot enough and instead of a nice BBQ char on the meat, it basically stews in it's own juices. If we wanted braised beef, we probably would have tried something else. Definitely a negative. The portion size was also on the smallish side.

The service was quite good, attentive but not overbearing.

Overall, the food we had was decent but not a great value as the meal was over 90GBP for 3 people with a smallish amount of food and 3 bottles of beer. The deal breakers were lack of panchan (and not great variety that you could even pay for) and the sad excuse for a BBQ grill.
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KC
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Wednesday, November 28, 2007

A friend from Stratford-on-Avon wanted to try something that he couldn’t get at home so, after a quick search, I plumped for Ran. As it happened, I’d been there a couple of years ago with a Korean PhD student and a visiting academic from Seoul and had a very good meal then. It was busy, even though it was a Wednesday night, and we found ourselves stuck between two couples on a table for six, but we soon got used to that. My friend volunteered to go ‘veggy’ for the evening and we started off with ‘traditional cabbage’ kimchi (£2.20) and a selection of namul (£4.50), including spinach with sesame seed, which were all delicious and lasted us throughout the meal. Starters were rice cakes with chilli (£4.95) and mung bean soufflé pancakes (£6.95). The rice cakes were mouth-sized tubes of rice paste served in a sweet red pepper sauce which was very satisfying and yet quite unusual. The pancakes were tasty and a good complement to the rice cakes. For mains we had a dolsot bibimbap (£7.95), which my friend thought was fabulous, and a spicy soft tofu chige (£7.95), which he thought was bordering on being pointless, although I thought both dishes were very good. Altogether, with a bottle of Australian Reisling (£19.75) and a beer, the bill (including service) came to £65.25. The service throughout was very friendly and attentive and we were even asked how we managed sitting rather closer to other diners than we might have wished. No wonder Ran is so busy, it delivered a memorable meal, efficiently, in comfortable surroundings and at a price which seemed reasonable.
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Justin Dillon - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Thursday, November 08, 2007

Great food, incredibly attentive staff and great value (for London at least). The barbeque meat was delicious and the staff were always there looking after us (hasn't always happened in the past). As for the dolsot bibimap with ribbon beef sashimi, so good, we had to order a couple of extra bowls afterward to keep the boys happy.

Only strange thing, everyone had finished and gone by 10.15 - but it was a tuesday. Thoroughly recommend to anyone wanting Korean in London
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Olly Dixon
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, October 24, 2007

I had booked a table at 9 but when we arrived we were told that the table wasn't quite ready, we were happy to wait and ordered a couple of beers. The manager was incredibly apologetic and told us the beers were on the house.

Less than ten minutes later we were seated at our table.

The waitor was very helpful and checked that we knew we had ordered raw beef for our starter (we did know and were looking forward to it).

Our starters arrived quickly with our mit banchan, it's a little disappointing to always have to order & pay for the mit banchan in London restaurants when in Korean restaurants abroad, you get the side dishes for free.

I can't fault the food, it was delicous. The service was polite and efficient.

Finally, a Korean restaurant in central London that is well worthy of a second visit
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Melanie
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 8
Monday, September 03, 2007

Very good service (they allowed us to sit and order drinks 30 minutes before evening opening time) and the food was excellent. The portions were a bit on the small side but I suppose that for the price of what i ordered (Chicken Bul Go Gi) I shouldn't have expected too much as it was one of the cheaper items on the menu.

I'll be going back to Ran and would definitely recommend it to anyone craving Korean.
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Glenn - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Thursday, July 05, 2007

I can't say enough good things about this restaurant.

First, the food is amazingly yummy. I don't know much about Korean food, but I do know when things taste good- and not only good, but unusual, different, and varied, with layers of different flavours.

We had to start - sashimi ribbon beef - a raw beef dish that looks like a big brain, flavoured with korean pear and egg, and korean flatbread with spring onion and seafood. Both were totally unusual (to my western palate) and also totally delicious! We also tried traditional cabbage kimchi and also spinach kimchi - both yummy.

For mains we had the barbecue - cooked on our own table, of bilgoggi beef and scallops. We also had a side dish of cold noodles - who knows what was in them, but they were spicy and gorgeous! Each bit of food was tastier than the last. I was in food heaven, especially because, not only was the food gorgeous, but also amazingly tastyl

The second compliment I must give Ran is on their service. We were greeted in a very friendly manner, and, because I had never had Korean food before, I asked a lot of questions. Our lovely and charming waitress was only too happy to explain the cuisine, and how Korean people normally put together a meal. She helped us create the perfect menu - but in the most unobtrusive way possible. She gave us some ideas, and explained the structure of a Korean meal, and let us make our choices. Also, when it came time to grill our own food on the table, she showed us how to use the lettuce leaves, add spring onion, appropriate sauce, etc. This was really nice because totally foreign cuisine can be intimidating - am I eating things all wrong? And with Korean food, there are so many different little tiny pots of sauce etc., it's nice to see what usually goes with what. Added to that, the order and timing of each dish being brought out was impeccable.

The wine was wonderful, and I assume the place is authentic Korean because the place was filled with Korean diners.

There was a 12.5 percent service charge added, but we changed it to 20 percent, we were so pleased.

My only complaint is very minor - the Billy Joel music throughout our meal.

Highly recommended, I can't wait to go back.
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Michele
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Superb food. Just about the only Korean restaurant in central London that provides side dishes at no extra charge at lunch.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Friday, May 25, 2007