Bi-Won

We went here for lunch and I will not go back, the chicken was greasy and had no flavor. The prices were above average 2.50 for a glass of water. You can get better value for your money at another Korean establishment.

I would like to give this place 4.5 stars. It’s good! Very tasty bibimbap, fantastic chicken deriyaki (their spelling) and the lunch sets come with lovely miso soup and vegetable sides. The service is unobtrusive but pleasant and certainly for lunch the prices are fine. I really like that the dolsot bubimbap came properly sizzling and with a little bottle of gauchan to add to taste. Why 4 rather than a perfect 5 — I don’t think it’s a meal I’ll be talking about for ages — but the next time I’m in the area, I’ll be back!

I would definitely recommend the barbecue here, they really have some amazing meat dishes perfectly suitable for grilling. Especially the pork belly and all of the beef dishes are a little bit of heaven on earth (and I used to be a pescetarian). I would always order side dishes such as letuce and kimchi as these are my favourites but I’m looking forward to tasting their others as well — to sum it up: south korea in London, close by British Museum if u wanna make a day out of it, enjoy! ;-)

Bi-​Won is a pretty good Korean restaurant in the heart of London. It has a homely, fast charm. Food comes in generous portions, served by friendly staff.
The BBQ is great. Just what you would normally expect from a k bbq place — big servings of meat, bbq’ed to perfection on a gas grill. The bulgogi is great, as is the pajeon and the soups. A real gem — this place isn’t as good as Korean places in New Malden but for central London, it is a real gem.

There are so many Korean restaurants in Bloomsbury, and each has their specialty. Bi-Won’s is best for japchae, the savory mung bean noodle dish with bulgogi beef and/​or mushrooms. There are grills on some of the tables, but I’ve never seen them used — usually the barbecue dishes are cooked in the kitchen. The waitstaff are friendly but a bit slow, so if you’re in a hurry it’s best to go pay at the till.

Came to BiWon when all of the other Korean places near TCR were closed down. Good value lunch specials, very tasty, yummy pickle condiments. I recommend the bi bim bap!

Food was quite good. Unfortunately, when there was a minor dispute regarding what we ordered versus what we expected, management was uncompromising. The client was treated as wrong. This is clearly a management issue.
Best advice is to avoid this establishment. There are far more accommodating restaurants in this area.

This place is a bit hit and miss — on some occasions the food has been tasty and wholesome, though the last few times I was there I was left a bit dissatisfied.
A few weeks ago I had the tofu jegae, which didn’t taste as yummy as it did last time…
It’s never really packed in here, so getting a seat has never been a problem for me.
The food is your usual Korean food (Bibimbab, Pajeon, Yukaejjang, etc…) so no surprises here.
The staff are quite friendly, providing you make conversation with them. Coming here did give me the chance to practise my Korean language skills, which I haven’t used in a while!
All in all, a decent restaurant.

Quick glance:
+ authentic taste
+ unassuming décor
+ friendly waitress
Full review:
I visited Bi-​Won for a late Sunday lunch with a friend. The restaurant has about 10 tables or so on the ground floor, with mostly Korean diners gathered around a couple of the tables.
The restaurant is sparsely decorated, but it is filled with warmth and courtesy exuded by the friendly waitresses.
I had the bibimbap from the lunch set menu, which came with three sides including kimchee. For some reason it didn’t come with raw egg though.
The service is a little slow at time despite it not being very busy when we visited. It’s a good spot if you want somewhere quiet to catch up with a friend or two over a long lunch.

Great little Korean restaurant, out of the hustle and bustle the atmosphere is quaint and chilled… very friendly
Be lovely for a romantic meal for a first date
It’s also good for lunch/​dinner times, they don’t rush you out the door
Average price for a main is £6−10
The dishes are ok portions you’ll get full on them but mostly a one person per portion
The food is well flavoured and authentic
As for alcohol I believe it’s just a selection of sake, beer or plum wine
I have ordered
The kimchi rice cakes
Noodles and meat
bibimbap

Superb! Im not new to Korean food and this place is realy good. The portions are quit big, we had seafood pancake and beef bbq menu for two and it was enough for three. Good service and value for money.

Tried this place last night and it certainly fulfilled its role of a reasonably priced late meal after a long day. The service was fast and the staff very friendly and helpful, but sadly, it just didn’t have a great deal of wow factor beyond that. The dishes were all pleasant, but I think we could benefited from a little more beef in the beef option and there wasn’t a great deal of flavour to be identified. Perhaps, had we arrived earlier in the evening, we may have had a better experience, so if you do try it I would suggest seeking recommendations from the staff on specials etc before you order.

Bi-​Won had a very homey atmosphere, if not a bit shabby with their tiny wooden chairs and tables. It’s not super shiny or glam and you can see a small kitchen on the ground floor where they bring the dishes/​refill your drinks — it reminded me of a tiny canteen one might find in a small household. Still, an overall, pleasantly well-​kept dining area.
With its Unilocal profile picture featuring a bowl of Jajangmyeon (black-​bean noodles), ordering that as my dish was a given (seafood Jajangmyeon to be specific), and also a cup of Ginseng tea — because why not? Although the other tea orders came in a pot, the ginseng tea was only one cup for about the same price. It tasted pretty much like instant Ginseng tea so I probably wouldn’t pay extra for it again. As for the noodles, it was pretty good. No exaggerated adjectives to describe it other than that. It was very heavy on the black bean paste and seafood vegetable bits. Not too salty and thick chewy noodles. Because Bi-​Won gives off a very authentic ambiance, and because I’m not an expert on Jajangmyeon, I’m going to assume it was a pretty authentic bowl of noodles as well. Really, you either love the style and taste or you don’t. My friend ate less than half the bowl while I pigged down most of it.
The service was not bad but not great. After bringing out the dishes, the waiter kind of just forgot about us or didn’t check up on the table. It wasn’t a very busy night either with only about three parties total including mine. Also, this was on a Saturday night!
All in all, my experience was just «A-​OK» however, your experience may vary if you come on a busier night or just have a strong Jajangmyeon craving cause it’ll surely hit the spot for you. Also, affordability of the dishes help too :) I would totally come back and will try some of their other dishes next time I’m in London.

Very friendly, fast service. The food was ok.

Tucked away off on a side street, Bi-Won’s charming exterior brought us in. Once we entered the friendly owner, coziness & quaintness, and classic Victorian details made our decision to do takeout instead of dining in a little difficult.
I can see why this place gets 3 stars, the grilled chicken and bibimbap were standard.
Their jajangmyun, however, was awesome! The owner said it was their signature dish. I’m no expert on black bean noodles but this was really good! A thick flavorful sludge of black bean sauce made of chicken and veggies (typically pork but Mrs G wanted chicken). Nice balance and it was delicious over the springy noodles that came with cucumber and sesame seeds.
Instead of getting the usual 4 – 7 dishes of banchan, we received miso soup that was packed with seaweed, scallions, and tofu. More cloudy and flavorful than the Japanese style. (
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Everything came out to £22.
Solid 3.3 — good prices, good value, and good décor with some great jajangmyun.
Now I’m on a mission to find some excellent jajangmyun noodles back home. (
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Resto shots (

We ended up here when Naru was closed. Scared that it couldn’t compete, we entered with low expectations.
All it took was great miso soup for us to realize we’d be just fine. Had bibimbap all around and left pleasantly full. Great flavor.
Even better staff, who were so helpful (giving us recipes and sauce recommendations to boot).

Ok I have to remember to rate with UK standards… ahem…
Expect for your Chigaes (stews) it’s the small size that you would normally get as «service» (complimentary) for galbi orders back in the states.
For two people ordering Chigaes you get 2 bahn chans (side dishes), of bean sprouts and kimchee.
But the flavor is authentic, not watered down, and they didn’t charge for the barley tea. Yay!
Would I come again? Sure, why not? But there are so many in the area. Is there someone who can do better?

Whenever I go to to a Korean BBQ place, I notice how disconcertingly quiet the staff and the atmosphere is. Bi Won is no different and eating there was like at a library till a table of the loudly obnoxious people came in. Wow. Asshats. I wonder if this is what other people think when a table of Unilocalers enters a restaurant.
The Korean miso soup is gorgeous here and way tastier than I’ve ever had at a Japanese place. The rest of my meal was nothing really worth writing to Unilocal about. Also Korean chopsticks are unbelievably hard to use.

Coming from the Bay Area, and being a couple blocks away from Korea Town in Oakland… makes me think that I know what good home cooked Korean food tastes like… and you know what… Bi Won is where it’s at. A meal in here is like being sucked out of the streets of London and into a much more homier and warmer atmosphere.
Unless you know exactly what you want to order, I recommend each person from your party ordering a different set menu. This way, you get to try a little bit of everything and get to try a variety of classic Korean dishes. I don’t remember exactly what we ordered, but we ordered two pairs of set menus from the front of the menu, and it resulted in a four course meal! For less than £25 each! And everything was fresh and delicious.

I have no idea why there are quite a few Korean restaurants near the British Museum, when there are not a huge number anywhere else I have been. I like Korean food, it is a bit samey, but in general spicy and healthy is pretty good in my books. Bi Won is fairly authentic as far as I can tell, it is starchy, clean and uncluttered, and serves some classic Korean dishes as well as a few Japanese and Chinese ones. The prices are pretty reasonable for this end of town. They could probably charge more, given their proximity to tourist central, though maybe not in the evenings. I liked Bi Won well enough, but have been of better Korean restaurants, so doubt I will be back.