KOBA, review: Who needs karaoke when you've got a barbeque

Audience participation tends to be a divisive subject – but if you’re always the first singing along, Korean barbeque is the cuisine for you. At KOBA, you can get stuck in or just enjoy the theatre – marinated meats are cooked inches from your nose at the specially adapted barbeque tables, watched over by staff to make sure you don’t burn your bulgogi.

Order plates of KOBA’s thinly sliced spicy pork belly, rib eye, ox tongue, galbi (soy marinaded ribs) and the aforementioned soy marinated bulgogi beef and get the primal barbeque pride any time of the year, as well as some beautifully flavoured food.

Don’t worry if you’re not a big theatregoer, you can order a plentiful selection of non-barbequed dishes, including traditional rice dish dolsot bibimbap with comes with an option of yook hwei topping – think Korean steak tartare.

Korean food may be a recent addition to London’s limelight, but KOBA has been singing its praises since 2005. In 2016, the restaurant reopened after a refreshing refurbishment which left it lighter, brighter and with a well needed spot of colour.