Tag Archives: kuma

#4 Top Ten Best Places to Eat in Greater Kennington #4 (+ 1 Sunday Roast)

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Kuma

If you’ve ever seen the crowds at Japanese/Korean joint Kuma in Kennington Cross you’ll know that they hardly need our support, but they’ve earned our coveted and profoundly ssubjective 4 spot for the second year. They’ve earned this due to their spicy, diverse and innovative fare served at reasonable prices. 

We started with Kuma’s best known dish, Korean Fried Chicken. The options were – traditional, spicy, or sticky soy garlic and we chose the latter. The medium portion was huge and suitable for two. It had a great crispy crunch and slathered in a sticky soy garlic sauce. For the mains your scribe opted for the chicken bulgogi (say it like a pro…..boo-GOH-gee) which were very thin strips of chicken grilled on a BBQ coated with a hearty sauce called gochujang. Spring onion featured and it was consumed in lettuce wraps. It was billed as ‘hot’ and it certainly was, and so generous that your scribe couldn’t finish it.

Kim the intern had the Kimchi Bokkumbap as a main; a Korean fried rice dish with the national ingredient kimchi (spiced fermented cabbage) topped with barbecued beef strips. A bit like Chinese stir fry rice with a heavy dose of red chilli sauce. It was topped with a fried egg and came with miso soup, and again was a very generous portion. Best washed down with a Cass or Asahi Super Dry beer, but not for Kim as she’s aware that our gratitude ends with a Pepsi Max  

We love nothing more than sticking our noses where they don’t belong, and towards the end of the meal we went to the toilets and might have accidentally wandered into the kitchen. We can confirm that sous chef Mike (aka Mike-ro-Wave) was nowhere to be seen and everything is made fresh. 

The Ten Best Restaurants in Greater Kennington #5

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(+ One Sunday Roast)

Kuma

We are back in Kennington Cross and this time at quirky haunt Kuma which makes its third appearance on the list. We were there last night as we are slightly obsessed with the place to ensure standards haven’t slipped. As we know some of you prefer takeaways to physical dining, the review below was made during the last lockdown. However, if you go in the flesh you will be treated to a background of K-pop music and extremely friendly staff. And Kuma, please never do away with your water served in Korean athletic sports bottles.

It’s Saturday night and time for a takeaway! Astute readers will be cognizant of our love of the Korean/Japanese joint ‘Kuma’ in Kennington Cross. We recently had a takeaway from there and, while not achieving the olfactory heights of being in the restaurant, is definitely worth a Saturday nosh. But Kuma, if you’re reading this we need to have a serious conversation about your excessive use of Styrofoam. Moving on..

Naughty styrofoam and delicious fried chicken


Your zealous scribe started with the painfully bang on trend Korean Fried Chicken. Kuma has three options; traditional, spicy, and we opted for the sticky soy garlic. The medium portion was huge and suitable for two. It had a great crispy crunch and slathered in a sticky soy garlic sauce. For the mains your scribe opted for the chicken bulgogi (say it like a pro…..Boo-GOH-gee) which were very thin strips of chicken grilled on a BBQ coated with a very good sauce called gochujang. Spring onion featured and it was consumed in lettuce wraps. It was billed as ‘hot’ and it certainly was, and so generous that your scribe couldn’t finish it.

My associate had the Kimchi Bokkumbap as a main, a Korean fried rice dish with the national ingredient kimchi (spiced fermented cabbage) topped with barbecued beef strips. A bit like Chinese stir fry rice with a heavy dose of red chilli sauce. It was topped with a fried egg and came with miso soup, and again was a very generous portion. 

Kuma Korean and BTS

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It’s Saturday night and time for a takeaway! Astute readers will be cognizant of our love of the Korean/Japanese joint ‘Kuma’ in Kennington Cross, and it even featured in our much lauded but-ain’t-gonna-happen-this-year-for-obvious-reasons top 10 list. We recently had a takeaway from there and, while not achieving the olfactory heights of being in the restaurant, is definitely worth a Saturday nosh. But Kuma, if you’re reading this we need to have a serious conversation about your excessive use of Styrofoam. Moving on..

Your zealous scribe started with the painfully bang on trend Korean Fried Chicken. Kuma has three options; traditional, spicy, and we opted for the sticky soy garlic. The medium portion was huge and suitable for two. It had a great crispy crunch and slathered in a sticky soy garlic sauce. For the mains your scribe opted for the chicken bulgogi (say it like a pro…..Boo-GOH-gee) which were very thin strips of chicken grilled on a BBQ coated with a very good sauce called gochujang. Spring onion featured and it was consumed in lettuce wraps. It was billed as ‘hot’ and it certainly was, and so generous that your scribe couldn’t finish it.

My associate had the Kimchi Bokkumbap as a main, a Korean fried rice dish with the national ingredient kimchi (spiced fermented cabbage) topped with barbecued beef strips. A bit like Chinese stir fry rice with a heavy dose of red chilli sauce. It was topped with a fried egg and came with miso soup, and again was a very generous portion. 

  • Photographing food is hard
  • The Kimchi

Eating this great Korean food rekindled our late 2018 slight obsession with K-Pop. As it happens, eating your Kuma takeaway while listening to K-Pop is a great escape from the interminable, repetitive drone of our lockdown lives. We chose the greatest K-Pop band of them all, BTS. If you want to get a taste of what BTS are all about, you need only to listen to one BTS song as their music is about as repetitive as your days are at the minute. But very catchy nevertheless. 

Restaurants in your Home

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One silver lining of not being able to eat out much in Greater Kennington in 2020 is that you didn’t miss a great deal. Due to restaurants being closed there haven’t been any ‘breakout’ cuisines such as, for instance, a CBD infused poke bowl doughnut ramen taco with a Korean twist. But as 2021 dawns you may nevertheless be yearning for restaurant food that is a calibre apart from the standard takeaway, and we’re here to help. 

A good place to start is with our ‘Top Ten Best Places to Eat in Greater Kennington’ list from March 2020. A few places from the list are remaining shut for the time being, but others have their kitchens open and they need our business or they’ll close forever. Or worse, become estate agents.  Each of them is open for collection, and most also use those home delivery companies which are evil but paradoxically manage to keep us safe.  We hope you find this useful…..

Adulis – This glorious Eritrean in Oval nabbed the top spot in March and they are now open. Available on Deliveroo.

Theos – The best pizzas in Greater Kennington grabbed our number two in March. Available on Deliveroo – Keep an eye on their Instagram for specials.

Prince of Wales – Open for pre order drinks only on 020 7735 9916. This explains the reemergence of people walking around Kennington Cross with milk containers containing what at first looks like pee.  

The Coriander – The best Indian in Greater Kennington grabbed our number four in March.  Available on Just – Eat 

Daebak  –  The quirky Korean in Vauxhall snatched our number five slot in March.  Available on Deliveroo

Kuma  – The Korean/Japanese in Kennington Cross dropped by to visit number 6 in March. Available on Just – Eat 

Taro – The real deal in Japanese canteen food joint devoured our number seven in March. Available on Ubereats and Deliveroo

The critically acclaimed restaurant ‘Louie Louie’ in Walworth Road has just gone vegan and is available for takeway and delivery. And they even deliver cocktails (we’re not sure how this works exactly, but it sounds fun).  Available on Deliveroo

Local institution Bonnington Café in Vauxhall will be cooking again next week, and are open for collection. 

Ok, we’ll throw one takeaway into the mix. Also in Walworth Road is the delicious and slightly bonkers ‘Shawarma Hut’ (below). Picture multiple swirling doners set to house music. We think it’s the best shawrma/kebabs around by a mile and they make their own bread and falafel on site. Available for takeaway. Mexican kebab, anyone?