Mannaza Korean Review

Hello!

Mannaza is a little Korean restaurant in Newcastle. Apparently it's the only Korean in Newcastle, and they did Korean BBQ! Fantastic! So, as always in Newcastle, I am very wary of restaurants which aren't Chinese. This is because most other restaurants are run by Chinese! The main Japanese restaurants in Newcastle are Chinese run, and I don't exactly trust raw produce from them. 

The Korean restaurant was run by Chinese people, BUT you can't judge it without trying out the food. 

I was disappointed with the lack of side dishes. Usually in the UK and Korea, you'd get some free small side dishes on the side, such as kimchi, pickled radish etc. In the UK you'd probably get around 2/3 small dishes. In Korea you'd get 10 or so. 

I don't know what this is! We had a separate grill for our BBQ. Maybe something for stews? 

The grill for the BBQ. 

Samgyupsal! Mmm! You're allowed to order 1 portion too, usually restaurants tell you it's a minimum of 2 portions. We got 2 since we were pretty hungry! Mmm £6.90 per portion

A bowl of Kimchee, £1.60. The cheapest I have found, a lot of the Korean restaurants I have been to charge £4 per portion!

Oxtail Soup, £8.50

This was fantastic! The soup was so flavoursome and the meat fell off the bone. My sister loved it too, and she doesn't like meat on the bone! 

Pajeon. Seafood pancake. Sadly the waitress had no idea what we wanted when we ordered it in Korean...turns out she was Chinese. woops. There was hardly any seafood or spring onions, as you can see, disappointment :[. £6.90

All the food together :)! Rice came with the oxtail soup, and we ordered a separate rice too. 

We had to ask for the lettuce leaves again. I don't know why they don't do this in the UK? Samgyupsal is supposed to be served with leaves...

We went again with my mum during the same week. She's never had Korean food before, so I thought we could treat her to some yummy food. 

Bibimbap with pork. Its basically rice, veggies, gochujang paste (chilli paste), meat and an egg. This was actually dolsot bibimbap because the stone bowl was hot and cooking everything. You basically mix it all together and it becomes a tasty mush! £6.90

All the food on the table :)

We ordered kimchee stew too, which was brilliant! 

The stew was so tasty, with a strong salty/spicy flavour. It had tofu and pork inside. £6.50

We also had Korean BBQ too, we asked for samgyupsal, pork but they brought out the marinated one. Again when we asked for lettuce we were told no. So ordered it on the side. Apparently it doesn't come with lettuce....well it does in Korea!!

We also had kimchee on the side. Can't go for Korean without kimchee!

My step dad joined us when we were finished, and he was hungry, so we ordered stir fried spicy squid and also the oxtail soup above. 

£5.90. This was surprisingly good. The sauce was sweet, with a hint of chilli. The squid was nice and soft, so cooked well. Similar to ojingeo bokeum. 

Overall, the food is good, but some things can be changed, i,e offering side dishes like other Korean restaurants in the UK. It makes it more authentic, even if not run by Korean people. Also, things like Korean BBQ should automatically be served with the lettuce leaves. Sea food pancake should have more fillings...and the menu and signs in the restaurant should be Korean, not Chinese, kinda defeats the purpose of being a Korean restaurant when signs are in Chinese!

Other than that it was good, there's not much competition for Korean in Newcastle, as it's the only Korean. 

4/5. Cheapest Korean we have been to, tasty. But lost points due to authenticity. 

'till next time,