Jinjuu Take Two! - Sophie & Chief Review

Jinjuu

So having read Linh's review (here), Chief and I decided that we had make it our next dinner date! Finally, after what felt like forever, Chief emerged from her hermit study cave and we headed straight over there!

So here is the first joint post on the blog!
S = Sophie

C = Chiwei (Chief)

15 Kingly Street, London, W1B 5PS

Price: £40-£50 for two people (no alcohol)

Website: Jinjuu

JINJUU, meaning “PEARL”, is London’s premier modern Korean food restaurant with celebrity chef, Judy Joo, at the helm.

S: Chief and I got into the restaurant and what I loved about the decor was the rustic open brick wall with cranes graffiti-ed on. 

C: What cranes? I was drawn to the chopstick holders, *hehehehe*, they were these cute screws.

Cranes! (admittedly hard to see, but they are there!)

Table setting with screw holders

Bar in the background

S: Lol, actually the whole theme felt industrial. Even the menus were made of metal! Speaking of, I was impressed with the wide variety on offer, there was a nice mix of traditional foods like bibimbap, but also more modern fare like tacos!

C: Menu range was really interesting with some contemporary twists to traditional Korean food.

S: Well we knew that the first thing we had to get were the 'Jinjuu Carnitas Fries' which Linh wasn't able to order.

French fries slathered with cheddar, slow cooked pork, kimchee and the works!
£7.50

C: Ooooh that looks good!!

S: Lol Chief we just ate there. 

C: They were really good though. The pork was nice and soft, but the fries were just like ordinary fries.

S: I agree, they weren't super special, it would have been nice if they were crispier! The sauce was great though, needed more sauce and less peppers. These are the perfect bar snack though, if you order alcohol I would definitely recommend this.

You can also see in the background the extra Kimchee we ordered, I thought that they could have been more generous on the portion size here...

C: We also got a bibimbap to share.

Bulgolgi Beef Bibimbap
£8 + £4 for the beef

All mixed up!

C: Just like any standard bibimbap you get at any restaurant. Felt like there was a greater range of veg than normal. Mushrooms, beansprouts, carrots & spinach is what I can remember.

S: Have to agree with the Chief here. I wouldn't say that it was amazing. 

C: It's good you can choose what extra you want.

S: I thought that was quite expensive though, in other restaurants like 'Kimchee' beef comes as standard for around £8-9. But I guess if you wanted to have more than one meat its good. My favourite part of the main was the chicken!!

The Jin Chick. You can have a choice of fries or wings. And it comes with radish and a choice of two sauces on the side.
Jinjuu Black Soy which is umami.
Gochujang Red which is spicy
£8.

S: CHICKEN! When I think of Korean food fried chicken is one of the first things that comes to mind, so we had to order it! And I was glad that we did. The choice of two sauces to add as per taste was nice, and I loved the pun 'A lot of Seoul'. These were juicy and meaty. The Jinjuu sauce was suitably salty. Though my favourite part might have been the sweet fresh radish on the side!

C: It was slightly too oily for me. I preferred the red sauce to the other one. But mixing the sauces together was good. I thought the radish tasted like apples.

Both: *Hahahahahaha*

S: We are both tiny eaters, and we ended up asking to take half the bibimbap home with us. We did however have room for dessert!

Choco-Pie. Seaweed biscuit, chocolate, gochujaru mousse, marshmallow, raspberry & nokcha ice cream!
£6.50

C: This was my dessert. Loved the nokcha ice cream, thought it was really milky and creamy. The actual pie part was really rich!

S: I agree, I had two mouthfuls and was done.

C: Yeah I couldn't finish this. Gochujaru mousse is chili, and I wasn't really sure it worked that well, cos I don't like chili in my dessert.

*Linh interrupts*

L: That's disgusting. Who puts chili in dessert.

Both: *hahahahaha*

S: Yeah I felt it was actually too spicy for me, I know chili and chocolate is a classic combo. But not sure that it worked here. I loved my dessert though!

Korean Mess:  Yoghurt yuja mousse, yujacha, strawberries, meringue, strawberry sorbet.
£6

S: I love Eton Mess, its one of my favourite desserts in the world. Probably because strawberries are my favourite fruit. So when I saw this on the menu I knew I had to get this. And when it came out I was pleased that I had. The sorbet tasted like a field of strawberries had exploded in my mouth. I wasn't too keen on the citrus peel that was in the jam section (yuja is a citrus fruit), though. 

C: I had real dessert envy. I preferred this dessert to mine, it was super fruity and everything worked well together. 

S: Yeah Chief you don't look like you're too happy with this dessert :P
C: I think I do!

S: One of the most exciting parts about Jinjuu was the bathroom though! As weird as that sounds....

I did get a little confused at first cos they had a pepper and an oyster on the door instead of the usual woman and man pic. I ventured into the oyster, which is the correct way if you identify as female! The walls were plastered with kpop boybands, which was a bit disconcerting when you're trying to pee.

C: I was disappointed Top wasn't there :(

*Linh interrupts again*

L: Yeah cos you really want Top looking at you when you pee...


S: Altogether I really liked this place. The service was on point! Our tap water was constantly topped up without us having to ask. And we were asked how we found it at multiple points.

I probably wouldn't order the bibimbap again, but would definitely go there for dessert!

C: Next time lets just get the Jinjuu dessert plate!

Service Rating:

S: 9/10

C: 9/10

Food & Price Rating:

S: 6/10 ( I thought for the price it could have been bigger)

C: 6.5/10

Atmosphere Rating:

S:9/10

C:8/10

Overall Rating:

S: 7/10 

C: 6.5/10

Love Chiwei & Sophie

xxx