In my first visit, I said I would 11/10 visit again and HERE. I. AM. HELLO HELLO! Long time no food talk. I am back again at one of the best korean restaurants that I have ever been to so far! ANYHOO, the prices have increased by $1-ish since last year, but the prices are not expensive at all and you feel VERY full and satisfied at the end of your meal. :) Last time, I tried their korean fried chicken, mul naengmyeon (cold soup noodle), spicy tofu soup, and kimchi pancake, all of which you read about HERE. THIS TIME, we tried to change it up and order some of their not as popular dishes. When we went here to eat, we came around 3PM and still had to wait a good 30 minutes until we got seated. That place is POPPIN'. We were absolutely STARVING, so we kind of over-ordered (a normal occurrence). A rule my family usually goes by is # of people + 1 = # of dishes you should order max LOL. Do you guys happen to follow the same rule? Therefore, we ordered 5 dishes for 4 people LOL. Call us fat asses, but I would rather be fat and happy than hungry and sad. Anyway, we ordered their seafood pancake, dol-sot bibimbap (hot stone mixed rice), kimchi jaeyuk bokum (stir-fried spicy pork, tofu, and kimchi), gal bi tang (short rib and radish soup), and their bibim naenmyeon (cold mixed spicy noodle)! The seafood pancake (top left picture) was $11.99, which is the same price as their kimchi pancake. It comes with a soy sauce dipping sauce, but I didn't use this because it was pretty salty and I wanted to taste the TRUE NATURAL TASTE OF THE SEAFOOD PANCAKE. This pancake was LOADED with seafood, mostly calamari. Usually Korean restaurants will fill their pancakes with a shit ton of green onions and skimp you on the seafood, but Manna really knows how to spoil you with love and give you a bang for your buck. The pancake was CRISPY, crunchy on the edges, not too thick so it wasn't doughy, and it was just overall a very good balance of seafood and thin layers of batter. It wasn't dripping with oil and didn't seem terribly greasy, which I appreciated mucho. Their dol-sot bibimbap (top right picture) ($12.99) was also pretty good! They had toppings such as beef, bean sprouts, spinach, carrots, zucchini, and a perfectly FRIED sunny-side up egg. It came with their house spicy sauce, which I believe is a mixture of gochujang, sugar, sesame oil, and maybe soy sauce. I liked how the vegetables added a variety of mouth feel textures like crunch from the bean sprouts and carrots and the soft and squishy feel of the zucchini. The rice was not soggy at all and formed a layer of crispy rice at the bottom. I feel like the rice on the bottom usually is too hard to eat or even pick off, but the bibimbap here was not overly toasted and tasted yummy! The bibim naengmyeon (cold mixed buckwheat noodle) ($10.99) is actually something I discovered my love for in this very spot! Last time, I ordered the mul naengmyeon, which is in a cold beef broth. Although they do not look the most appetizing, the noodles are slightly chewy and the sauce coats the noodles. The sauce is on the sweeter side (BUT STILL A SAVORY DISH) and honestly not spicy at all. The chilled temperature of the dish makes the mouthfeel really refreshing! I really enjoyed the picked orange radishes as they added a nice acidic flavor and crunch texture contrast to the sweetness of the noodles. It also comes with sliced cucumbers and half a boiled egg. Yummm! Additionally, we ordered a gal bi tang (short rib and radish soup) (left picture) ($13.99). This gal bi is the exact same meat (short rib) as their most popular meat dishes. The meat is tender and has the chew of the tendons - MY FAVORITE. The soup is EXTREMELEY UMAMI and is clear and light and SOUL-WARMING. So comforting! The radish are soft and infuse their root sweetness into the soup. I also really like green onions so I enjoyed it. However, my mom is not the biggest fan of green onions, BUT EVEN SHE LIKED IT. Weird, but is a BIG indication that you should try it. :) It even comes with an egg and a bowl of rice!
Last but not least, we ordered the kimchi jaeyuk bokum (spicy fried pork, kimchi, and tofu) ($13.99). It doesn't look the most appetizing, but I really enjoyed it! The pork is lean and not fatty, so you know they ain't tryna clog your arteries and cheap you out on fatty meat. It was not dry at all and the tofu absorbed all the sweet spicy flavor of the sauce. The kimchi was cooked down, so it was more part of the sauce and gave it a sour, fermented taste. Overall, I would 12/10 COME AGAIN. I feel so happy eating their food AND I BELIEVE THAT HAPPINESS IS THE EMOTION YOU SHOULD ALWAYS FEEL WHEN EATING GOOD FOOD. I hope you guys can try it and FEEL MY TASTEBUD PASSION for this place. Let me know what you guys think! :)
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