Manna story @ Plaza Singapura

Riding on the Hallyu Wave, Korean eateries have been sprouting all over Singapore. While it's easy to find outlets serving up bulgogi and jjgae, a decent version is hard to come by. How else to gauge the food than to bring a huge group of Hallyu fans to try out different dishes?

Manna story is a relatively new Korean restaurant in Plaza Singapura which serves up a variety of Korean fare. As a pescetarian, I was impressed that their menu choices were vegetarian-friendly. Apart from beef, pork and chicken, you can also choose to top your bibimbap (mixed rice) with just kimchi if you're looking for a meatless version of the popular Korean dish. I ordered their dolsot bibimbap (hot stone mixed rice) with kimchi, and was really happy with it. You can ask them for less rice if you have a smaller appetite.

Kimchi Dolsot Bibimbap

 Each main comes with four banchan (side dishes) - stewed potatoes, kimchi, small anchovies and sukchae (we had bean sprouts, though they are also known to have spinach on some days).

The girls ordered seafood noodles (below), saba fish set and a ramen. While it looked fiery-spicy in the photo, my friend commented that the spiciness was actually pretty acceptable. The saba fish was also received the thumbs-up. On the other hand, the ramen was mediocre.

The BBQ pork set (you can choose beef or chicken too) came sizzling and looking all ready to burn up the Boyfriend's tummy walls. The pleasant surprise? It wasn't spicy at all. In fact, it came in such a big portion, he couldn't finish it. Those with small appetites can order the different types of meat and share among friends. This received the thumbs-up too.

The place gets pretty crowded and rowdy during lunch and dinner, so do grab a seat early to avoid the crowd. The waiter who served us was Korean, so he didn't manage to get my friend's order right the first time round. Nevertheless, they were quick to rectify her order and served up the correct order within 5 minutes of notification, all done with a smile. Oh, and do clarify with them if you're not tolerant of spicy food, so that they can recommend non-spicy dishes.

Overall:
Ambience: 3.1/5
Food: 3.5/5
Price: $$
Service: Mediocre/Satisfactory/Good/Excellent

Eat where:
68 Orchard Road
#B2-22, Plaza Singapura
Opening hours: 10am - 9pm

P.S.: A shorter version of this reviewed is also on HungryGoWhere.com, but you're getting the full version only here!