CJ Foodville said Thursday it opened the first European branch of its restaurant chain Bibigo in London.

The London branch will be a bar and dining flagship store that offers not just bibimbap, or steamed rice with beef and vegetables, but all kinds of Korean cuisine, said the restaurant business arm of CJ.

The 264-square-meter restaurant will serve menus jointly developed by star chef Leo Kang and Noh Hee-young, chief strategist for Bibigo and CJ Group’s executive director of brand communication.

The sixth Bibigo restaurant abroad is located on Great Marlborough Street near Oxford Circus. CJ runs two Bibigo restaurants each in Los Angeles and Singapore, and one in Beijing.

By opening more branches in the U.S., Singapore and China, and entering Japan and Vietnam, CJ Foodville plans to increase the number of overseas Bibigo restaurants to 20 by the end of this year.

The company plans to run 1,000 Bibigo restaurants in about 20 countries by 2017.

“Opening the London branch, the first Bibigo restaurant in Europe, will serve as an opportunity for CJ to become a global food and restaurant business while globalizing the Korean food culture,” said Heo Min-heoi, chief executive of CJ Foodville.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)