Description: South Korea - 16/02/09

Koreana has been a staple of the Manchester food scene since the 80s. Tucked away behind Kendals this family-run restaurant has hung on through boom and bust despite Korean cuisine never being as famous or successful in the UK as the omnipresent Chinese, Indians and Italians to be found on every high street in the land. Yet Koreana clearly does something right. Visiting on an unfashionable Monday evening we found the place over half full already with middle-aged diners, young trend-setters and Korean students. As well as Paul and myself, your two interpid culinary explorers. But as we found, Koreana’s success is nothing flashy. Its secret? Tasty food and some real bargain set menus!

From the street stairs lead down to a room decorated with paper screens, Korean art and instruments on the walls, and with a Korean movie showing on mute. Menus were brough over as we ordered two bottles of Hite, a Korean lager. Now, I’m not by nature a lager drinker, but for the purposes of this experiment I’ve had to become one as British-style ales are not widely popular across the world. But even within lagers there are good and bad. I tend to look out for Budvar in the Czech Republic and Okocim in Poland. At Ning I was impressed with Indonesia’s Bintang and disappointed by Singapore’s Anchor. And I have to say that I wasn’t that keen on Hite, which I found bland and gassy even for a lager.

For those unfamiliar with Korean food, the menu at Koreana is pretty thorough in explaining precisely what you will be ordering. In fact they even have an explanatory page on the ethos of Korean dining especially to help first-timers. For those new to Korean cuisine they recommend one of a range of set menus at very reasonable prices. For £9.90 you can pick a starter and main course. For £15.00 there is a ‘Korean Style Special Menu’ especially designed for sharing amongst a group. But we went for the Set Banquet. For this you get a choice of appetiser, soup, 3rd course, main course and dessert… and all for just £18.90! Good job we were hungry!

There were four options for appetisers: dumplings, spare ribs, battered seafood (prawns, squid & mussels), and ‘Sa Jul Pan’. I opted for for the latter. Sa Jul Pan was described as a 4-sectioned traditional container holding pork, beef, chicken and prawns ‘as served in the ancient royal courts in Korea’. This came with a shallow trough of soy sauce flavoured with sesame seed and shredded bits of spring onion for dunking. Paul had gone for the shallow-fried dumplings filled with beef and vegetables (kun mandoo). Actually, at first the waiter brought us spare ribs in error, but speedily replaced them with the dumplings when we pointed out the mistake. So we then had a bit of a share around, Paul’s dumplings for some of my thin sliced beef and king prawns. This took some getting used to though, as our chopsticks were actually metal – stainless steel to be precise. We were informed that traditionally Koreans used metal chopsticks, the Japanese wooden, and the Chinese lacquered, but I don’t know how true that is! Regardless, I found it quite hard to get a grip with the metal if I’m truthful.

But the dumplings I did manage to snag certainly made me happy, as I had ordered the Beef Dumpling Soup for my next course. This was a thin consommé, and at first glance looked rather watery. However it actually proved to be delicate and bursting with subtle flavours. In contrast, Paul’s hot and spicy Korean Vegetable Soup was very very fiery. Once again we shared tries of each other’s choice. So I would recommend that if you do the same, try to beef dumpling before the spicy veg, otherwise you will well and truly nuke your taste buds!

Round three, and it was my turn to go for the hot option, as my Chicken Gochi Gui came with a spicy sauce. These were skewers of marinated and grilled chicken served with vegetables. Paul had gone for the fish option, Sengson Jurn a sizeable fillet of hot, flaky cod served alongside courgette in an egg tempura batter. I’m not a big fan of tempura, but at least here the batter was dry rather than oily. The fish was lovely though.

By this point we were feeling quite stuffed, and we had not even received our main course. Here was the second occasion where we were brought the wrong dish. Paul had ordered the pork dish, Dwegi Gogi Bokum, but instead he was brought some seriously sizeable king prawns in a tempura batter. When we pointed out the error the owner graciously apologised, and left the prawns for us for free. The prawns were big pink ‘pull-the-head-and-tail-off’ critters, but again I thought the batter actually detracted from their appeal. Instead of just getting an explosion of hot prawn in your mouth, you also got a bit of an eggy aftertaste. In fact, the dish wasn’t really thought through, as when you peeled off the prawn carapace, you were also peeling off the tempura – so why bother with the batter at all?

Paul’s pork dish was more successful. The meat came with mushroom, peppers and pineapple, all stir-fried in a sweetish but spicy sauce, more akin to a Chinese curry (but with more fruit) than anything else I can put my finger on. Served with sticky rice it proved a hit, as did my Beef Bulgogi. It sounded great from the menu: "This is a classic Korean recipe for meats. First we marinade the meat in our special combination of soy sauce, garlic, sesame, spring onions and pear. Next we thinly slice the meat and flame grill it for you. Served on a bed of vegetables with lettuce leaves and chili sauce for a lettuce wrap." With a description like that I could tell that this would be a dish that the restaurant were proud of, and that seemed as good a reson as any to try it. (And also, how many dishes do you know that use pear as a seasoning?).

As it turned out my reasoning was good. So was the beef bulgogi. It might just be my mind playing tricks on me, but after having read the menu I was consciously trying to find all the different flavourings in the meat (particularly the pear) – and I think I managed it. This flame-grilled beef was so nice I was just eating it plain with sticky rice, rather than adulterating it with the thick chili paste that was served alongside. I think the general idea was that you were meant to add the paste to the meat and wrap in a lettuce leaf, but I didn’t bother. There was a big bowl of crisp freshly-washed lettuce as well, but feeling quite full we didn’t really make an impression on these. For an extra Korean twist, the beef came on a bed of kimchee. Kimchee is the Korean national dish, spiced pickled vegetables. This was mostly cabbage and carrot and – sorry – I didn’t think that much of it. The sour taste reminded me of the pickled salad that seems to get served as an accompaniment across central and eastern Europe, and so failed to provoke anything like excitement in me.

Finally we pushed our plates away. It was then that our waiter reappeared to take our dessert order – we had forgotten that puddings were included in the price. Fortunately the servings that came were on the small side, and rarely have I been so relieved! Paul ordered a Korean sweet cake, a small spongy square dripping with a cinnamon and rum syrup. It was almost overpoweringly sweet. In contrast my plum wine sorbet was cool, refreshing, and quite heavenly. On the plate it did not look like much, but in the mouth it was delicious; delicate yet sharp, with a light plum flavour but a warmer spirit aftertaste. My relief at the size of the portion soon gave way to sorrow.

All this food for only £18.90? Bargain! Obviously the beer was separate, but even so we had absolutely stuffed ourselves for £25.00 including tip. And in doing so, we had visited one of the real hiddem gems on the Manchester culinary scene. If you go I really recommend checking out the set menus. Regardless, the dumpling soup, the beef bulgogi and the plum wine sorbet are absolute musts. Long may Koreana continue for another 24 years!

(I am aware of only one other Korean eatery in Manchester, Seoul Kimchi on Upper Brook Street)Close