Quick weekend lunch at the (not so) recently opened Manok Park in Underwood. Having been recommended this place by quite a few food bloggers as well as reading some fairly stellar reviews from chefs, I was definitely curious and entered with some higher than average expectations.
With a small number of seats inside, we were lucky to get one of the final tables. Menus were provided and I found it to be surprisingly short for a Korean restaurant, given that they are usually known for their abundance of options, it is also notable that the prices are a little bit more expensive than what you would expect from other Korean restaurants. Nevertheless, there were already quite a few things that I wanted to try from this list.
Usually I am not one to post much about cutlery, so long as it works, I don't really mind, but the bear chopstick rests were super cute so I couldn't resist taking a photo of them.
Complimentary barley tea was provided, light and fragrant, I really enjoyed it.
Our complimentary sides came after a short wait. This was one of the main highlights of Manok Park, where other places allow maybe three complimentary sides, they do five along with a tiny portion of pumpkin soup per person. The soup was served chilled and refreshing with little kernels of puffed corn in it. The side salads were also crisp and crunchy, the peach salad was exciting and novel for us, but my favourite would undoubtedly be the kimchi pancake. Although not very high in kimchi content, no doubt loaded with flour, the batter was extremely crisp and an absolute joy to eat, we had multiple servings of this.
Onto our mains, this was the Seafood Silken Tofu Stew. We asked that the soup was to be served with only a little spice, and it was definitely palatable for us. With a relatively light and clear broth, a generous portion of sand crabs. The tofu was also unbelievably smooth and delicious, it went really well with the rice.
We also had a Beef Rice Bowl. With a generous amount of grilled beef topped with an egg yolk. The beef was grilled to a delicious charred exterior without being tough or dry inside, it was also really well marinated and the egg yolk added an extra layer of smoothness to the dish which I really enjoyed. Coupled with the rice, this is definitely a dish I would come back for.
Final dish was the extremely photogenic Tonkatsu. With one piece of extremely thick cut crumbed pork, tonkatsu sauce, rice and a side of cabbage salad, it was a sight to behold. The pork batter itself was crisp and hot, but I realised that I preferred a thinner piece to have a better batter to meat ratio. Thick cut was enjoyable for the novelty, but not something I would be rushing to go back to.
Taste: 8.5/10
Value: 8/10
Service: 8/10
Environment: 8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment