If you’re a looking for a restaurant in Birmingham, UK to eat
some nice authentic Korean food well… there are only two restaurants LOL. Good
news is that they are both awesome, cosy and the food and atmosphere is really
nice. If you like kpop even better because they both play kpop (at times).
The two restaurants are Miss Korea and Topokki. Both are in
close proximity to each other in the Chinese quarter of Birmingham.
Here’s the back story. Miss Korea showed up just a few years
ago and I’ve been there 5 times, with different amounts of people, mostly at
lunch time but I’ve been there in the evening as well. Topokki came on to the
scene just about 2 years ago and I
recently went there for lunch. Since the two restaurants are so close to each
other and are the only Korean restaurants in Birmingham (to my knowledge), I’ve
always wondered if they had any kind of rival-ship at all. Miss Korea was the
place I first had Korean food ever, so it holds a special place in my heart,
although Topokki has received a lot more positive reviews, well… even if there
is no rival-ship between them, I will be putting them against each other in this
post.
Muahaha!
>_<
Atmosphere:
I keep hearing on review websites about how small Topokki
is, well lol because Miss Korea is
tiny. But Miss Korea is cosy as well because of that and it's not all compact
together like Mount Fuji (sorry Mount Fuji).
Now a big part of the atmosphere is what music is played. I
will never forget the very first time I went to Miss Korea with a good friend
of mine who was not a kpop fan. For the two hours we were in the restaurant
they played just kpop songs with only two or three tops J-pop songs. It. Was.
Awesome. I could not stop dancing! Really, I embarrassed myself in front of my
friend that day lol. It was fun. But since then, when I went there, they
started to play more American pop (bleurgh!), but I still always hear a few
kpop songs while I’m there. Topokki, however, did not play one single kpop
song! What the heck Topokki, this was it’s main down fall, I swear. My happiest
moment is eating Korean food while dancing in my chair to EXO. Is that too much
to ask for? All the time we were there they played some Michael Buble and then
they had a youtube playlist of American pop songs like Miley Cyrus (barf!!) LOL
We were going to ask if they could play at least one kpop song but haha,
we didn’t in the end. It’s funny because I have heard they play Korean music
sometimes, maybe we just went on the wrong day or the wrong time. I bet just as
we left the restaurant we would have heard an ‘Awooooo…’
As Duizhang Kris used to say: Maybe next time.
The Menu:
Miss Korea’s menu is a lot more impressive than Topokki’s.
Sorry Topokki. It is basically a large book with black rubber cover and there
are pages and pages of delicious food to choose from with really good
photography. You have lots of starters, main dishes, soups, side dishes and
beverages. It’s all very affordable as well. Just to tell you what you can
expect on the menu, you’ll see the classics like ddukbokki, bibimbap, japchae,
kimchi jjigae, barbecued skewers, lots and lots more. If it’s your birthday, the chef
will treat you to a special free dish Korean people apparently
eat on their birthday which is basically a big bowl of delicious soup with my
favourite kind of noodles – Udon noodles!
You are also given a tiny bowl of lettuce with vinegar
before your meal, it makes you hungry. I think they give you this because it
does take quite a long time for you meal to come out. I’ve never timed it like
an a--hole but I’m guessing it’s around 10-15 minutes before you see your actual
starter.
Topokki’s menu is smaller but I was so very impressed by the
massive selection of types of bibimbap. There must have been ten or more. I didn’t
even know there could be that many types of bibimbap. Miss Korea only gives
you four. I’ve had the sea food one, very nice. I definitely need to try
another kind of bibimbap next time I go there.
One awesome thing about Topokki is that you are going to get
your food quick. Well at least that’s what happened to us, we got out food
within 5 minutes I swear. It was amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced
such fast service. You’ll probably have to wait longer in the drive-thru at
McDonalds lol.
Topokki menu still has quite a variety of choices including
your classics, despite it being smaller than Miss Korea’s. I found it hard to
choose even though I planned to get me some Japchae before I even entered the
restaurant. What you’ll see in the Topokki menu is basically the main dishes,
followed by side dishes, and beverages, they do have two choices of deserts as
well (ice cream lol). Soon patbingsu will be added to the menu – which I find
that strange because patbingsu is generally eaten in the summer and… it’s
winter now… oh well.
So lots of nice choices on both menus and great presentation. Here's my meal, I had Japchae and kimchi, but you can't see the kimchi :)
Very Important Factor: The Kimchi:
I had to compare the kimchi because it’s Korea’s most
important signature food. They eat kimchi with everything. Two years ago when
my Korean teacher went to Miss Korea, she told us that the food was awesome but
the kimchi was too salty. Seeing how Maangchi on youtube used a shockingly
generous amount of salt, I was surprised that my Korean teacher thought the
kimchi was too salty but when I went there for myself I thought it was OK.
However, in comparison to Topokki, their kimchi is sooo much more fresh tasting
and a lot less salty. It actually tastes like I’m eating something healthy but
also delicious. I’ve heard that Miss Korea buys their kimchi instead of making
it fresh themselves which may just be true with what I’ve tasted but uh… I’m
not going to spread any rumours.
Topokki’s kimchi is better than Miss Korea’s. Sorry.
Customer Service:
If you are Chinese, or speak Chinese, you will get to feel
comfortable speaking to the waitress in this language at Miss Korea as 4 out of 5 times I’ve
been there, the waitress was Chinese. One time, I heard her speak to one of the
customers in Chinese. The other time I went there the waitress was European 0.o
but all the waitresses (there are never any waiters) are friendly, helpful.
They greet you when you’re coming in and when you’re leaving, thanking you for
eating there. In Topokki, as we were leaving, it was like no one even noticed
or cared that we were walking out. I never experienced that before and it wasn’t
like the place was full, because it was lunch time! I don’t know. Anyways, the
waitress and waiter we had were both attentive to us in Topokki whilst we were
there. Our waiter was actually really happy and chipper. I liked him lol. He
gave us a 10% discount which I thought was reeeally nice. Thanks so much
waiter, if you’re reading this hahaha.
Prices:
All the times I went to Miss Korea, my friends and I would
all end up paying around £15 each every time with ordering a starter, a main
meal and a drink (the Korean tea has an unlimited refill) and sometimes they
would offer you a free bowl of rice if it went well with your meal. When I went
to Topokki, the two of us had just a main meal each and a £1.50 small side dish
of kimchi. With our 10% discount , the overall price came to £16something
overall. This is just over half of what we would have paid if we ate at Miss
Korea that day.
The Miss Korea menu is set out so that you would always
naturally want to order a starter and a main meal. Topokki's menu just shows
the main meals and then a few side dishes near the end of the menu, followed by
the beverages.
Because of this, you're going to naturally spend more money
at Miss Korea because you'll be ordering a starter and a main meal (of course
you can choose not to) but in Topokki you'll only be paying for the main meal.
I don't know if this was Miss Korea being clever or it's just how things turned
out but for the customer Topokki is better in this aspect. In terms of
business, Miss Korea has the upper hand here, they're obviously making more
money by tricking customers into ordering a starter lol. Hmm... clever.
Overall Rating:
I'm going to be giving Topokki a 5/5 rating based on the
fact that the price was surprising low with the portions being nicely generous.
The waiter we had was really chipper (lol) and nice. We felt really welcome at
the restaurant.
The only thing that would have been better is if the menu
was as impressively long as Miss Korea's, but that kind of feels like
nitpicking so I shouldn't even really include this point especially with
Topokki's two page spread of about 10 different kinds of Bibimbap. Daebak!
And also the food came out within 5 minutes and it was hot
and the kimchi was fresh, big difference to Miss Korea.
Oh, yeah, it would've been nice if they played some k-pop
while we were there but I've heard they have played it at times.
Miss Korea's rating is a 4/5. I'm sorry. I love the
restaurant and I will definitely go there again, but the wait for our food is a
lot longer and the kimchi is not fresh. You're always going to spend more money
at Miss Korea because of their tricks with the menu, lol, it's true. Also the
food coma at the end if absolutely unbearable sometimes. It's nice that their
giving us lots of food but gaaad; my stomach is not that big. However, I love
love looove that you are always guaranteed to hear some kpop while you're there
no matter what time of the day it is.Topokki: 5/5
Miss Korea: 4/5
Reccomendation: Go to both!!
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