Simya | Fulham’s Best (and Only) Korean Restaurant
After the closure of Hamgipak, Simya is now the only Korean restaurant in Fulham.
So it’s lucky that it’s really, really good.
You’ll find it just up from the North End Road Market, and the space very much feels like it’s straight out of South Korea itself – it’s a simple, unfussy sleeve with wooden furnishings and white walls painted with traditional scenes of Korean food preparation and agriculture …much of which delightfully seems to revolve around the act of pounding a mass of white rice with gigantic hammers. You know, classic stuff.
The menu is filled with all of the Korean classics including bibimbap, tataki, and a loooot of kimchi. Which is unsurprising when you consider just how centrally important the stuff is to Korean cuisine. Over in South Korea, it’s essentially eaten with every meal. Here, they make their own, and you can get it as a starter or a side dish, in some kimchi fried rice, paired with pork belly in a spicy stew, or loaded up into geon spring onion pancakes, among other things.
Besides that, there’s also some classic spiced Korean fried chicken, sizzling bulgogi BBQ, and their signature dish: dolson bibimbap. It’s served in a satisfyingly hefty, scorchingly hot stone bowl filled with rice, vegetables, and anything from pork, to tofu, to sesame-marinaded steak tartare topped with a salted egg yolk. And if you want to push the boat out? Get the two person BBQ. It’s built into your table, and they’ll simply bring you a myriad of different ingredients (beef, seafood, veggies, etc.) along with a plethora of side dishes, to roast to your own liking atop it.
To drink, there’s all the sake you could want, plus Korean beer, decidedly non-Korean wine (it’s mostly French), and some rarer umeshu plum wine too. It’s rather sweet, but acts as a fantastic way to top off the meal.
NOTE: Simya is open now. There are no bookings, and you can find out more right HERE.
Simya | 345 North End Road, Fulham, SW6 1NN
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