Assa Korean Restaurant

My first time eating lunch here today, they have a nice cheapo lunch menu for around a fiver per person then you add another £2 for the cold green tea. I had spicy marinated beef rice and it was excellent stuff, definitely will come back and try dinner another time.

Assa was the first Korean restaurant I experienced. the food I must say was amazing! everything on the menu was divinely delicious. my favourite dish would be the rolled omelette. A karaoke venue is set up upstairs for customers who wants to enjoy great food with a little sing-a-long. defiantly recommend it!

I'm not an expert on Korean food, but I'm half Filipino and so not a stranger to the taste of the orient, and I LOVE the food here.

Yes, the decor isn't great, and often (especially at lunch times) there is a queue for tables as it's a small restaurant, but I find the queue is often short and when you get in, you are served quickly. The price is great too.

If you're not fussed about your surroundings, I'd definitely recommend this place, and I know many others (friends and family) who would wholeheartedly agree. On the other hand, if you would like a bit more ambiance and less homely "I'm in someone's kitchen diner" feel, then try out their new sister restaurant, Assa 2 in Soho. Which still has the same good food, service and price, but with updated decor and more space.

Was really disappointed with the food here and the decor. It is cheap, quite a bit cheaper than the other Korean restaurants on the street, but we found the food quality to be lacking.

The kimchi pancake was limp, and the crust was extremely crispy and burnt, but the inside was still very wet and soggy.

My standard beef bim bim bap had only a little bit of minced beef and vegetable.

Service was quite prompt, but the entire restaurant looks like a mess, both upstairs and downstairs, and peering into the open plan kitchen, we could see that there might be hygiene issues.

With so many Korean restaurants in London, competition is stiff, and unfortunately ASSA is definitely below average.

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Assa is a nice, small restaurant that serves authentic Korean food. Please note that the price is good for what you get (get the lunch deal, same size as the main courses but much cheaper) but since it is so small it can be hard to get a table for lunch if you are a larger party - up to 4 people should be fine.

My personal favourite is the spicy marinated beef, but the kimchi stew is good if you want something healthier as the beef is slightly oily.

Highly recommended for lunch if you are around the Tottenham Court Road area.

We chose Assa for dinner because of its recommendation in Lonely Planet London. At first every table was occupied, luckily after some minutes we snatched an available one. The restaurant is very small and full and you have a direct view to the open kitchen. This implies that the smell and steam of the kitchen are very intense but nevertheless the Assa is very homely and gives an authentic impression.

The speciality of Assa are the hot pots, which means meat and vegetables are cooked in soup on a gas cooker in front of the customer. There wasn't much range in the menu but everything we ordered was excellent. The prices were really low and in addition we got cold green tea for free.

So I can recommend the Assa to everybody who is looking for a good and cheap meal in london and likes korean food ;-).

I feel compelled to rave about Assa, because it turned out to be such a pleasant surprise.

With 4 Korean eateries dotted along a very short road (St Giles High St), they’re almost right next door to each other. Had I not had an appointment with my hairstylist at Jubilee (4 doors away), I would not have chosen to eat here.

I chose Assa because it was packed with customers(reassuringly, mostly Asians), although in truth it isn’t a very large establishment (there are probably 10 tables or less).The interior is rather homey, and for some reason, I think “home cooked” when I look at Assa.

Sad to say, the menu is rather limited when it comes to translating the various Korean dishes to English. But if you’re familiar with Korean food, you’d be able to make out that 'rice with marinated beef’ is actually Bulgogi, and that Spicy Beef Soup is 'Yukejung’.

Since I didn’t have much time for my meal, I decided to play it safe. Between my friend and myself, we ordered the marinated beef with rice (bulgogi), and Spicy Beef Soup (my favourite.. Yukejung). We shared the seafood pancake for starter.

Service was very quick, and we were served our food within 15 mins of ordering.

It always thrills me when I visit a restaurant and they serve me complimentary side dishes. Assa did not disappoint - they gave us 2 small platters of vegetables (kelp salad, and bean sprouts) - both were so delicious, I wanted to ask for more! We were also given complimentary tea.

I was very surprised at how good the Yukejung was - it’s not easy to get this concoction of spicy beef broth right.. in fact, 8 out of 10 restaurants get it wrong. I would say, Assa made this yummy soup spot on, and I’m relieved I no longer have to travel all the way to New Malden to get good spicy beef soup.

The marinated beef with rice was pleasantly tasty and fragrant, with stir fried onions and peppers to make it a balance meal. It is served in a huge shallow bowl, and might I just stress - portions are HUGE. And it’s incredibly good value at £5.50!

Our starter (seafood pancake)was served last, but it was done beautifully. Each pancake was crispy, and the dipping sauce was very tasty without being overwhelming. For £5.50, portions equalled those at Ran (my favourite Korean place which is pricier). However, to be fair… because of what you’re paying, don’t expect a lot of seafood in the pancake!

The moment we finished our meal, the energetic waitress trotted to our table and slapped down our bill before I even put down my chopsticks (talk about efficiency!). We took the hint.. the restaurant was packed, and there were customers waiting outside.

Our bill came up to £18.80 for the 3 courses ordered (includes 12.5% service), not a bad meal at all!

My first and only experience at Assa has psyched me up for future visits. I will definitely be back to try other dishes since they’ve impressed me with the quality of cooking, and I’m very pleased to add this to my list of cheap but good eats to be found in central London.

This is the third Korean restaurant I’ve been to. The first was Han Kang (nice enough but quite pricey), Ran restaurant (great kimchi pancakes but closed for renovation for the next few weeks), and yesterday evening my friend took me here.

I found the food well priced with a good range of dishes. The vegtable rice in the stone bowl was lovely (£5.50), and the kimchi pancake (£5.50) was decent but would’ve been nicer if it was a bit more crispy. Pork dumplings were light and crispy.

I’m a mere novice when it comes to Korean food, but the Korean diners seemed to be enjoying what was on offer, and had I been more hungry my friend and I would’ve tried one of the hotpot dishes.

Would gladly recommend and go back to try some other dishes when next in the area.

Cheap and tasty, a great place to pop by if you’re in the area and need some no fuss authentic korean sustenance. They have great hot pots! Dishes are about 5-7 quid, order lots of dishes to share around. Be warned, as with most korean restaurants, you will leave smelling like korean bbq! This is one of the better korean restaurants along this strip.

We go here for our regular girly lunches, including today,They have a wide selection of Korean food, but I must recommend the stone bowls which come out sizzling, its like your cooking your own food… The girls who work there are very friendly, food is good too…