Mahn Doo restaurant review

We're spoilt of choice when it comes to Korean food as there are so many Korean restaurants around the Melbourne CBD. On an occasion, I was offered choices for dinner and Mahn Doo was one of the options as it is around our neighbourhood. Upon checking out the restaurant reviews on the Internet, I said yes! Mahn Doo is located at a quieter side of the city especially during non-working hours. The design of the restaurant is quite enclose and thus, making it less inviting from my perspective (as I couldn't really see what's inside!). Therefore, it never occurred to me to give it a try before this although I literally pass by the restaurant almost every day. 

The ambience of the restaurant is really really nice. It's classy and cosy. Unlike the usual Korean restaurants, it's rather quiet. An ideal place for a date. :) I was surprised to find baby highchairs at such a classy restaurant/bar! The highchair looks nice and comfortable.

Well, there weren’t many varieties of food on the menu as compared with the other Korean restaurants but it was adequate. Dumplings seem to be one of their specialties and it’s astonishingly cheap (8pcs of steamed dumplings for only $5 and pan-fried dumplings for $6). We ordered some steamed and pan-fried dumplings, a seafood pancake, kimchi & pork silken tofu stew, as well as a beef & veggie stone bowl.

The dumplings were served pretty quickly. Both the steamed and pan-fried dumplings were very well made with thin skin and the taste was extraordinarily good! The size of the dumpling is just right for entree.  

The seafood pancake which was packed with generous amount of seafood was not bad. However, there isn’t much to brag about. 

Our mains came just at the right time when we were about to finish the entrée. The kimchi & pork silken tofu stew came with some nicely plated sides and a bowl of rice. It was one of the good kimchi silken tofu stews we have had so far. 

The beef & veggie stone bowl which was non-spicy was quite average. The portion was a bit on the small side. You might consider ordering some entrée to go with this main.  

We had a delightful dinner at Mahn Doo and I’m glad I found another hidden gem!

Tokyo Maki @ King street review

Don't be confused by the name of this restaurant. Looks like Tokyo Maki is managed by Koreans. Although it was branded as a Japanese restaurant initially, it has started to serve more Korean dishes nowadays. In fact in my opinion, they are better at Korean food. Well, I have been dining and ordering take away numerous times from this restaurant since a few years ago.

Located at the junction of King St and La Trobe St, Tokyo Maki is a small restaurant with about 10 tables serving Japanese and Korean food for dine in as well as take away. During the day, they have a number of ready made sushi rolls and finger food which are quite convenient for a take away. The sushi rolls are usually sold out by the end of the day. On the menu, they have quite a number of Korean dishes one can find in a Korean restaurant such as bibimbap, dukbokki, various stews, wide selection of bento or don with Korean dishes, Korean soup such as ginseng chicken soup as well as a few 'table cook' dishes where the food is cooked in front of you. As for the Japanese dishes, they have various don and bento meals, udon, ramen and some Japanese entrees like tempura, takoyaki ball, agedashi tofu etc.

I have tasted a number of dishes from Tokyo Maki. I reckon their Japanese food is not up to my expectation but their Korean food is not too bad. While most of their Korean dishes are pretty average, their stews especially kimchi and tofu stews are something I would recommend. Other than that, their huge portion of the bento is quite value for money. However, the quality of the cooked rice was not consistent (it's too dry sometimes).

Spicy Pork / Pork Bulgogi bento

I took away spicy pork (pork bulgogi) and chilli karaage bentos on my recent visit. Each bentos came with a main dish and rice accompanied by seaweed and sweet potato tempura, 3 Korean side dishes and a piece of fried chicken wing (tesabaki). The spicy pork or pork bulgogi was average as compare to other Korean restaurants. The quality of the rice was good on that day and I was quite contented with the side dishes and the tempura. However, the chilli karaage and fried chicken wing were a tad hard.

Chilli Kara-age Chicken bento

Overall, there is nothing much to say about the food in Tokyo Maki. However, it will still be one of my take away places after a busy day. Decent food, convenient location, what more one could ask for?