Pork and kimchi-fried rice Korean burrito from Korrito
If you’re pulling a face right now at the idea of a Korean burrito then you’re looking at this all wrong. Forget any ideas you have about the traditional burrito: forget spiced meat, black beans, rice, guacamole and salsa. Think instead of a burrito as a method rather than an item. Now start thinking of all of the good parts of Korean food: barbecued meats, spicy rice, kimchi and chilli. Wrap these up in the way that you would a burrito…. Now you have the idea.
One of the beautiful things about street food is the freedom to create an innovative menu or product without the financial risk involved in setting up a restaurant. This means that some of London’s most creative food offerings are to be found in its street markets. Fusion is a huge part of this, and it can either work really well, or it can fail miserably.
Thankfully, there’s a bit of a precedent for the Korean burrito. The Kogi BBQ truck in Los Angeles has been experimenting with this kind of Korean-Mexican fusion for years, drawing influence from the city’s biggest immigrant populations. Korrito, London’s first example of this kind of fusion, was started by two Korean siblings. Every time I see this stall set up, usually behind the Royal Festival Hall on the south bank, there is always a long queue, showing that Londoners are also on board.
The operation is fairly straightforward: you choose a meat (pork belly, beef or chicken), a type of rice (steamed or kimchi-fried) and then whether you want this made into a burrito, rice box or salad box. Each combination costs no more than £6.50. They make everything in a kind of production line. First the rice (KIMCHI-FRIED PLEASE), then the meat (PORK PLEASE) and then the additions (YES TO CORIANDER, CHILLI AND CHEESE PLEASE). It’s wrapped up, you pay, that’s it.
It does indeed look like a burrito, but the flavour inside is pure Seoul. The belly pork is both sweet and spicy with the usual strips of crispy meat and fat, and there is plenty of it. The rice is also spicy, with a subtle pungency from the kimchi. The cheese, that I thought would clash with the other ingredients, added no more than a very subtle creaminess against the other flavours. The heat from the pork and the rice, combined with the sprinkle of red chilli added at the end made for a very spicy wrap indeed. For a milder burrito, I would switch out the kimchi-fried rice for the plain rice and leave out the extra chilli.
Six Hundred and Seven Square Miles 