Jihwaja is a Korean restaurant and karaoke bar nestled in the heart of Vauxhall, just a few minutes walk from Vauxhall and Oval stations. This venue is owned and run by a Korean couple who wanted to bring a little piece of their home to the hustle and bustle of London - food started as a simple weekend hobby for the pair, but they realised that London lacked authentic Korean cooking, and opened Jihwaja to share that with the city.
The simple, minimal interiors are very much designed for feasting, with the menu doing the talking here. Timber floors and tables are combined with the odd poster on the wall, but crucually, there are also multiple karaoke rooms as well as the main dining room. Aside from the food, having fun in true Korean style also means belting out some K-Pop and having a go at karaoke too. Jihwaja has several private karaoke rooms available to hire, with a boatload of tracks in English, Korean, Chinese and Japanese. Rooms are available on an hourly basis for the whole evening.
Jihwaja's authentic Korean menu includes a huge range of dishes. The starters section kicks off with little bits like kimchi pancakes, egg soup, takoyaki (deep-fried octopus balls with teriyaki and kewpie mayonnaise) and japchae noodles. If you're overwhelmed by choice you can opt for the Jihwaja Hansang - a platter of nibbles, available for two or four people. There are also set menus built around famous Korean classics like tteokbokki (rice cakes in a spicy sauce), dak bal (spicy chicken feet), and jajangmyun (Korean black bean pork noodles). Not to mention, lots of soups and noodle soups, chef's specials, ramyun, bibimbap and rice dishes, and Korean barbecue.
On top of all that, Jihwaja also specialises in Korean fried chicken with a load of different marinades and spices available, and you can wash it all down with beer, soju, makgeolli (Korean rice wine) and soft drinks.