International specialities such as curries, kebabs, burritos and pizzas are now so ubiquitous it is hard to imagine a time when they weren’t available in Brighton.

Now a new Korean cafe is hoping to add a new traditional delicacy to Brighton’s international menu – bibimbap.

Namul owner Jisun Yom moved to Brighton more than eight years ago to manage a Japanese restaurant, eventually ending up at Preston Street’s Sushi Garden.

She wanted to bring the food of her home country to Brighton – and has spent the last few months looking for a suitable location introduce it, finally settling on Gardner Street.

“It’s all healthy, organic ingredients,” she says. “I wanted the cafe to be somewhere young and funky – so it is perfect for this area.”

Bibimbap is a traditional dish made in the south of the country – about four hours south of Seoul – as a quickly prepared meal during busy working days.

It is based around a bowl of rice with the dish built on top from a combination of vegetables, meat or fish, including authentic gosari, the brown twig-like bracken which gives bibimbap its distinctive taste.

Namul offers a choice of white, brown and black rice or rice noodles and speciality ingredients – including spicy calamari, Japanese eel, bulgogi (Korean barbecue beef), tiny Japanese anchovies, mushrooms ranging from shiitake to eringi, and sauteed kimchi, a Korean spicy pickled cabbage.

Namul’s bibimbaps are topped off with a choice of four homemade sauces – the hot chili gochujang sauce, traditional soybean ssamjang, creamy and rich black sesame and Namul’s own special soya sauce.

“We get most of our vegetables from local suppliers – although we have to get our gosari from an authentic Korean supplier,” says Jisun.

“My dad has also sent us a huge box of authentic dried herbs. We are thinking of having different ingredients on the menu to match the seasons.”

The food is all prepared by Namul’s head chef Minsub Lee – who worked in Korea and Japan for more than 25 years before moving to work in London’s Mayfair and eventually the Sushi Garden.

Jisun admits she is trying to educate her customers gradually, by slowly adding to the menu as dishes become popular.

“Japanese food is well-known in this country – Korean food is as light as Japanese, it’s always healthy, but it can be quite filling with stronger flavours compared to Chinese food.

“It fills you up with the vegetables and rice but we don’t season it very much – just with salt and sesame oil.”

Already Namul has a choice of sushi, salads, miso soup and authentic Korean drinks ranging from bottled rice drinks to healthy green smoothies and delicious teas.

The newest addition is the rice powerball – almost a bibimbap in reverse with the rice on the outside and the ingredients packed inside.

The distinctive menu has been designed by cult Korean artist Yunju Kwon, also known as Snowcat, with beautiful graphic depictions of the cafe’s rabbit mascot alongside personified mushrooms, rice powerballs and kimchi.

All the dishes have deliberately been kept under £10 – with most set menus, aside from the £8.50 Japanese eel, around the £5 mark.

The cafe only has one big table inside, although during the summer they have put seats outside in Gardner Street. Takeaway dishes are available in plastic pots, while there are authentic looking metal pots for those eating in.

Tasting just one dish, with its range of mouth-watering flavours, should be enough to convince any sceptics.

Every forkful brings up a new combination of spice and taste. The ssamjang sauce offers a particularly delicious accompaniment and the hot and sweet quince tea washes it down nicely.

The friendly counter staff are happy to share their enthusiam for the cuisine and offer advice for any first-timers – while also making sure no one makes any blunders when it comes to mixing flavours.

Customers can build their own bibimbap and order food to pick up from the cafe over the phone. Namul is also offering free deliveries within a two-mile radius for orders over £25.

Jisun believes a good starting point is the classic vegetable bibimbap at £4.95, or the beef or chicken at £5.95.

“At first we weren’t sure whether this food would work – Korean food isn’t well known in Brighton.

“People have been popping in, looking at the menu and giving it a try – and most have liked it a lot!"

  • Namul, Gardner Street, Brighton, 01273 973878
  • Open Monday to Friday 11.30am to 9pm, Saturday 11am to 9pm, Sunday noon to 7pm