Hamgipak is amazingly small, and the entrance rather nondescript. When we walked by, we weren't even sure if it was open, or if it was a restaurant, even though it said 'open' on the door. The windows were so fogged up, we couldn't tell what was inside.
There are only six tables inside (three meant for two, and another three intended for four, or a squished six). So I guess it's lucky my friend and I got a table when we did, given that this place doesn't seem to do reservations! We got here at 1.30 pm on Sunday (granted, it was Valentine's Day) when the place was half-full, but 20 minutes after we arrived, the whole restaurant filled up, with some other people having to share their tables (not us though, as our food pretty much filled up the table).
That aside, this place is really nice and cosy, and the service is very friendly. The kitchen is located in the back room, so the smell of food cooking doesn't permeate the dining area, although it had to be said that our clothes did smell of food after that.
The menu seemed extensive enough, and the jap chae (glass noodles with meat) was incredibly delicious, with the serving one third larger than those served in restaurants located in central London. The ban chan - assortment of picked vegetables as appetisers - was good as well, not to mention free! The other dish we went for - C7 on the menu, stew of mashed-up beancurd with minced meat and kim chi - wasn't that great, and needed a little salt to be added - and I don't think we'll be ordering that again when we next come back.
We were pleasantly surprised by the bill, which came up to less than £10 per person. We had both ordered green tea, and rather than charge us both for a cup, they'd given us a pot of water with one tea bag and charged us the price of one, which is not something I'd encountered in other restaurants which are usually a little more eager to get money out of you.
All in all, in spite of the distance (22 minutes on the overground from Waterloo and a six minutes walk from New Malden station), this is definitely a place I'd like to come and try out once more. It has the added bonus of being open on a Sunday, which was how we ended up here, as the restaurant we had originally intended to go to - and the next two we saw - turned out to be closed on Sundays. read more