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Please note, Jin's Kitchen was previously known as Wellbeing Kitchen. It now primarily serves takeaway. Time Out Food editors, MARCH 2020.
There's nothing flashy about this low-budget Korean café near Centre Point – it’s a simple setup, akin to a sandwich bar, with a handful of wipe-clean tables and a takeaway cabinet of salads and drinks. However, thanks to a busy chef tending to bubbling pots behind the counter, Wellbeing Kitchen offers a surprisingly long and diverse menu of Korean favourites, all a cut above in quality and flavour, plus some welcome Japanese interlopers.
Our soondooboo jjigae (£4.90), the quintessential spicy Korean soup with chilli-hot kimchi, fresh vegetables and tofu, had great depth of flavour, while duk mandoo gook (£4.90), a milky-coloured soup filled with discs of chewy rice pasta and ravioli-like dumplings, had delicious stock, and was a subtly seasoned respite from the fiery soondooboo. An impeccable rendition of Japanese chicken katsu (£5.50) boasted crunchy-coated meat and a sweetly spiced, earthy sauce, while hoe-deopbap (steamed rice with raw fish and vegetables; £6.90) featured generous strips of tuna and salmon sashimi, crisp vegetables and delicious seasoning. The only dud we tried was a carton of dry, grey beef bulgogi on rice (£5.50), which wasn’t a patch on proper versions.
Koreans believe their cuisine aids digestion, and the low prices here certainly won’t make you choke on your kimchi. Most dishes – and we’re talking giant portions – cost less than a fiver, even if you eat in. But cheap Korean food in this part of the West End is par for the course (even with the Crossrail development putting paid to St Giles High Street’s Koreatown). What really makes this spot different is the value for money: though quick, most dishes are prepared with care and attention. So much so that this newcomer is unlikely to be a flash in the pan.