BackLounge Review | Heng Bok, Mumbai
Heng Bok in Bandra West, offers an extensive line-up of the most popular Korean dishes as well as a grill-it-yourself barbecue experience at the table
Premium
Korean food in Mumbai’s pan-Asian restaurants rarely goes beyond bibimbap and bulgogi but Heng Bok on Turner Road in Bandra West marks the beginning of a more full-fledged conquest of the city. It offers an extensive line-up of the most popular Korean dishes as well as a grill-it-yourself barbecue experience at the table.
The good stuff
The simplicity works because both ordering and devouring the food requires concentration. Even before we could browse through the appetizers, our table was covered with a complimentary banchan spread: six-odd plates of kimchi, dipping sauces and deep-fried snacks. As we made our way through the freebies—there were tart to tongue-numbingly fiery pickles of cabbage, zucchini, radish, cucumber, sprouts and sautéed coloured peppers and crumb-fried mashed potato poppers covered in a sweet-spicy sauce—we almost wished we hadn’t ordered the Haemul Pajeon ( ₹ 800), a rice-flour, seafood and spring onion pancake. Though we couldn’t finish the whole dish, we thoroughly enjoyed the savoury hotcakes made with fresh and plump pieces of shrimp and squid.
If you’re planning to opt for the barbecue dishes (as you should), it might be a good idea to visit with a group of at least four carnivores. Our order of the Samgyupsal ( ₹ 1,000) consisted of four thin slices of pork belly with the perfect fat-to-meat ratio, cooked at the table with humongous mushrooms and garlic cloves. While we ate most of the meat by simply dipping it in the addictive mix of seasame oil, salt and pepper, our server insisted we wrap some of the pieces in lettuce, mix-and-match them with the banchan dishes and douse them in the accompanying spicy ssamjang sauce.
Although these two dishes made for a more than substantial meal for two, we also sampled the Kimchi Jjigae ( ₹ 650) and the Dolsot Bibimbap ( ₹ 750) at the chef’s insistence. The kimchi soup wasn’t nearly as pungent as we remember it from Kofuku on Linking Road. Also cooked tableside in a piping hot stone bowl, bibimbap is an excellent one-pot meal consisting of sticky rice, the protein of your choice, mushrooms, greens and an egg and gochujang sauce to bind the dish. Whether or not you get to the bottom of the bowl, don’t forget to scrape off the crunchy layers of rice from the sides from time to time for the perfect bite.
The menu boasts of plenty of other Korean staples like deep-fried chicken, dak galbi (a stir fry), japchae (a salad-like dish made with glass noodles), ramyeon (Korean ramen) and hot pots as well as the full list of sushi and sashimi from Kofuku. There are also Korean sushi rolls made with ingredients like kimchi and beef bulgogi. There are no desserts yet but the drinks menu has a respectable mix of imported and local spirits, wine, beer and soju, the vodka-like national tipple of South Korea.
The not-so-good
Though Heng Bok offers diners a pictorial menu, the descriptions of most dishes are extremely short and vague, with spelling errors. We found the servers weren’t too familiar with all the dishes and portion sizes either. A quick Google search of your order is probably not a bad idea either.
Talk plastic
A meal for two with a starter, soup, barbecue main dish and bibimbap costs around ₹ 3,700. The prices of most dishes, including sushi, are the same as one would find at Kofuku. The drinks are costly, a pint of Kingfisher comes for ₹ 230, while a cocktail made with domestic liquor will set you back by ₹ 475.
Heng Bok, 11/1, Kalpak Corner Building, Turner Road, Bandra (West). For reservations, call 022-26510044/66.
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