Bibigo Sliced Napa Cabbage Kimchi 500g

My Experience

First time trying Bibigo and honestly? I’m quite disappointed. I really wanted to like this, especially knowing it’s the legit brand people actually buy in South Korea and not some watered-down UK supermarket recipe. The ingredients are undeniably authentic, proper fish sauce and gochugaru, but the flavour profile is just wrong.

I even left it in the fridge for a week to let it develop before digging in. Sure, it’s definitely kimchi; you get the tang, there’s a nice crunch to the thicker veg, and the fish sauce gives it that distinct salty savoury hit. But the spice is barely there.

The real dealbreaker is the sweetness. It is jarring to bite into a firm piece of cabbage and get a burst of sugar before you even taste the salt. I hated that. And the aromatics are totally unbalanced. The garlic and onion smell is aggressive and it dominates the actual flavour. Instead of a complex ferment, it just felt like a sugary, garlic-heavy salad where the onion overpowers everything else. If this is the "authentic" standard, I’m out.