BAN BAN KITCHEN — SERIOUS KOREAN FAST FOOD

Just walk right up to the brightly colored building on Hermannstrasse, past kebab shops and bakeries, for some hearty Korean soul food – because this is where Ban Ban Kitchen is at. “Ban Ban means half and half in Korean,” explains Linh Vu who runs the restaurant together with Mark Roh. The name stands for both Vietnamese and Korean elements found in their dishes. Linh is half Vietnamese, Mark is half Korean. They met while studying architecture, started cooking together and came up with their dream of owning a fast food restaurant. “We designed everything here ourselves and had friends help implement them,” said Linh. While a Korean BBQ is the basis of most dishes, there are various combinations. The bulgogi beef burger for example comes with kimchi, homemade mayonnaise and a salad. As of recent, star pastry chef Andreas Israelewski has been creating matching desserts like coconut lime panna cotta with chili and ginger mango. (Text: Laura Storfner / Photos: Ban Ban and Tobias Faisst)