of mojitos and other madness: manna

it has been a while since the whole lot of us had dinner together, so it was cool that we were headed out to celebrate viv's birthday.

personally only knowing maybe four korean joints in singapore, and been only to two, i was really looking forward to dinner at manna. everyone had good things to say about the place, having eaten there before and with viv currently on a korean food craze, i was quite sure the food at manna would be quite good.

and good it was! the meal started off with yummy korean appetizers and refreshing cold tea. just as we were savoring the kim chi, we were interrupted by plate after plate of sizzling meats...beef, beef ribs, pork belly, unagi...yes, we pretty much had the whole works! they were all good, marinated till tender, cooked just right, we managed to polish off all the meats almost as quickly as they arrived! all of us got down to it, dipping our meats into the chilli paste and wrapping them in fresh pieces of lettuce, without of course forgetting to add little cloves of garlic!

the dinner was completed with a few more touches of classic korean fare. one - korean steamboat, two - crispy pancake and three (my personal favourite) raw beef!

the steamboat reminded me of my all time choice of cup noodles nong shim, with nice bits of luncheon meat and sausages. the pancake was not bad, crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside and filled with yummy bits of sotong, veggies and spring onions. but the i enjoyed the raw beef the most. maybe because i haven't had it in a while, and or maybe because manna prepared it slightly different, with a lot more veggies then usual. everything in the dish was raw, from the meat to the egg, right down to the veggies. but the best part was when mixed, it did not taste the least bit raw. really amazing how mixing it seemed to somehow cook the meat and the egg, causing one to really be surprised by the difference in the taste one actually experiences from one which you expect. very well done!

dinner was good but the company was even better...happy birthday viv!