Bim’s Bar is a new take away store located at the former Sushi Crane site. Based close to the corner of King William and Pirie Streets, this store extends the previous Japanese offerings to include Korean cuisine as well. The place is tiny and can barely fit all the standing customers during the lunch hour rush, however, there are 4 seats outside if you can’t wait to dig into your meal.

For lunch, I ordered the Bibimbap. All the ingredients were premade and kept warm under the heating lamps. I was disappointed to see the use of a boiled egg instead of the traditional fried egg cooked sunny side up. The meal was put together nicely into a reasonably sized plastic bowl. In addition to the meal, gochujang (hot pepper paste) was provided in a small plastic container while soup was provided in a plastic cup.

This dish was surprisingly tasty. The highlight was the morsel of sweet chilli chicken. Hiding inside a thick battered coating of sweet chilli sauce was tender succulent chicken breast. The beef bulgogi was well marinated and the meat was lean and tender. The fried onion provided plenty of natural sweetness, while the green beans, carrot and cucumber provided nice crunchy textures. Some of the ingredients such as the mushrooms and spinach would have been bland by themselves, but the gochujang added more depth to the entire dish.

The staff were friendly, however, the workers only spoke broken English and communication at times was a problem. The service was fast and efficient, and the meal was ready in less than 5 minutes. The cost of the Bibimbap was $10 which was fair. The quality wasn’t too bad and the serving size was reasonable.

Verdict: I’ve had better Bibimbap, but this is a great take away version.

WHERE: Shop 7, 118 King William St, Adelaide