Manna Korea Garden

Next to Japanese cuisine, my second favorite Asian cuisine would be Korean… I remember when I was preggers, my husband would always take me to Korean restaurants and it always made me happy! 🙂

Well, I’m not pregnant as of the moment, but once again, my husband takes me to this great Korean restaurant called Manna Korea Garden.

There he is, my dashing husband 🙂 hehe (Hello??)

Manna Korea Garden is located at 5650 Don Pedro Street, Poblacion, Makati City.  Don’t ask me how to get there or you’ll get lost. LOL! I am so bad with directions.  It’s kinda near P. Burgos 🙂 If you’re planning to go, I’ll ask Dante for directions. Haha!

I love this place!  I feel like I’m in someone’s house in their dining room 🙂

Traditional Korean starters 🙂

One of my favorite Korean dishes is the beef stew.  This dish is called Galbichim or Beef Rib Stew (P400).

OMG.  This would probably the best beef rib stew I’ve ever had in my life.  It was so soft and it literally melted in my mouth. Wow! Wow! Wow! 🙂

And this pretty octopus is Dante’s favorite 🙂  It’s called Olingoh which is stir fried squid/octopus in chili sauce (P400).  It’s not one of my favorite things in the world but Dante loved it so di ko na siya inagawan masyado 🙂 Hehe…

Steamed rice is perfect for the rich and tasty Korean dishes… Poured most of the sauce from the beef stew on my rice.  YUMMMMM!!! Kulang ang isang cup!

Finished na ako 🙂 Hehehehehe… I swallowed that beef stew!

Frozen goodies 🙂

Chose the cookies and cream ice cream sandwich!

Reminded me of the ice cream sandwiches sold on the street in Singapore 🙂

I am dying to go back to Manna Korea Garden to eat my favorite beef rib stew again!!! 🙂 Guys, if you love beef stew, you must try this one!!!

Have a happy week, guys!!! I know it was such a struggle to get up this morning after the long weekend.  But here’s something to look forward to… BEEF STEW!

A Trip to Korea, Malate

Dante and I love random dinners in random places 🙂  The evening before Independence Day, we decided to head towards Malate, not knowing where to go… and ended up choosing a random Korean restaurant for a late supper 🙂

Found a litte Korean restaurant along Bocobo Street, Manila 🙂  I started getting flashbacks when I was still pregnant with Damien.  We would always visit this Korean restaurant called Success.  They closed already and we haven’t found a substitution for it yet.

The place was called Je Je Bang. Hahahaha! 🙂 Love the name 🙂

A very unusual grill sits in the middle of our table. Dante and I thought that this was a cover for a grill underneath. Haha! Good thing he didn’t hold what we thought was the handle. LOL! 🙂

Tradition in all Korean restaurants… the little plates of all these, well, ummm… veggies and kimchi were served 🙂

The Kimchi here was excellent 🙂 Kept asking for more 🙂  Not a fan of the other little dishes though… Hehe

The guard outside gave us a flyer of the Golden Mango Inn beside Je Je Bang… How perfect! Haha!

The place was empty at this time. Perfect time to go 10:30pm 🙂 They’re open ’til 4am.

Wall decor 🙂 That better not be pirated. Hehe Used to be a fan of Heroes. But stopped watching when it all just became too weird.  Lost would always be my all-time favorite weird, sci-fi series.

Pacman on the placemats 🙂 The chili paste and sesame oil with salt were perfect for dipping sauces!

We ordered the pork belly or Sam Gyep Sal. One strip for P300. It came with all these vegetables, soup and sidings but rice wasn’t included.

Let the cooking begin.

Also ordered Bulgogi Donburi at P250. Do not judge… Two very hungry tummies 🙂

Plus my favorite… Bibimbap (Rice mixed with vegetables). It’s like Korean Paella! Excellent. This dish was P250. Here it is unmixed.

And here it is, mixed. I can’t cook. But I can mix a mean Bibimbap. Haha!

Salad with Asian dressing 🙂

Crab soup. Strange but yummy!

Ok, it seemed like we ordered a ton for just two people.  But we only really ordered three dishes 🙂  The rest just came with everything else! Haha! 🙂  We would definitely come back and visit Je Je Bang.  (Love the name!)  Right now, they don’t really have a signage yet because they just opened.  Just look for this tiny resto along Bocobo Street.  Look out for the flat screen TV inside playing Korean concerts 🙂  Woot woot! 🙂 It was an excellent random dinner, we may have found the replacement for Success here in Je Je Bang!  But the search continues! More random dinners ahead 🙂

Just Another Wednesday

Been missing my big sister, Ate Candy, lately… And yesterday morning, I got a long distance phone call from Canada! 🙂  What a pleasant surprise!!!  While we were chatting, I realized that I’m nine years younger than her. LOL! I never felt that she was nine years older than me.  I’ve always felt like she was just about three or four years older 🙂  Haha! But twenty years wiser indeed 🙂  You were the only one missing today, Ate!  You missed a great Korean lunch. (More about my Ate soon…)

It’s usually a tradition for the birthday celebrant in the family to treat everyone to a good meal.  So I decided to take mine to this Korean restaurant in Greenbelt 5 called Bulgogi Brothers.  My whole family was complete except for my big sister and my little boy who was still recovering from his illness 😦

Bulgogi Brothers was a very nice place 🙂  For starters, they gave us this plate of corn, sweet potato and quail eggs.

Hot tea for everyone!

Thanks to my dearest family for having lunch with me today 🙂

More starters! I love kimchi 🙂

Korean Salad?

There were two electric stoves in our table where some dishes will be cooked 🙂  This first dish is called Seoul Bulgogi.  Kind of reminds me of Sukiyaki.  It was really good.  The sauce was great with my steamed rice.

This dish is good for 2-3 persons. It's sliced beef with vegetables. Bulgogi broth is made of fruits, onions and soy sauce.

Cute utensils 🙂

Bibimbap! I like to call it Korean Paella 🙂

One of their specialties. Mandu 🙂 Like a fried potsticker.

Japchae 🙂 One of my favorite Korean dishes. And those noodle-like rice sticks that surround it was unusual! 🙂 It was chewy and surprisingly yummy! 🙂

Galbijjim or Braised Short Ribs.

Another specialty of theirs. Rib eye! Medium rare 🙂 Just the way I like it!

Dipping sauces and salt 🙂

More meat!!! Short rib 🙂

That was a very good and filling lunch! 🙂 I'm always happy after eating a Korean meal.

And for the finale, ice cream in a waffle shaped like a fish with red bean/jam filling. It's heaven in a fish's tail 🙂

That was one heavy lunch!  My brother, Chris, and I were planning to take the 4pm Bikram Yoga class.  But after this meal, we knew it wasn’t a good idea.  So we decided to take the 6pm class.  And what a treat! One of my favorite yoga teachers, Joyce, was teaching!!! 🙂

Joyce has been teaching at Bikram Yoga Manila for about three years now and her classes have been the hottest, funniest, most musical classes I’ve ever been in 🙂  She’s almost leaving Manila and I will miss her and her classes so much! So happy I got to spend my birthday with her in the hotbox 🙂  Speaking of musical, she made my brother sing the birthday song at the end of class! LOL!  So funny seeing my classmates, some were complete strangers, strumming their air guitars while he was singing.  Bwahahaha! Nice one, Joyce! 🙂

 I love ya to bits, Teacher Joyce! I will miss you sooooo much!!! 😦  Thank you for all the hours we’ve spent together in the torture chamber! I will await your return 🙂

This was taken during the launch of Chris' album, Heartbeat 🙂

After my ninety minutes of pain, my dear husband and I had another great meal in Apartment 1B in Salcedo Village.  I thought I was still full from lunch but after that class, I was ready to eat again. Haha! 🙂

I had crab cakes on a salad while Dante had a beef burger 🙂 Love this place!

AND, they gave me a little slice of cheesecake with a birthday candle! How sweet! 🙂  I wasn’t able to take a video or photo but when the staff of Apartment 1B gave me my cake,  the guard played the birthday song using his whistle.  LOL!  It sounded quite good! 🙂  I was just so impressed that I forgot to take his photo or video! 🙂  Darn! He was really good! 🙂

Birthdays to me are constant reminders of all the things I’m thankful for in my life 🙂  It was just an ordinary Wednesday.  But I heard from old friends whom I haven’t seen in years, I got calls and such sweet messages from the people I’ve had the privilege of working with and knowing, a long distance call from my Ate, a wonderful lunch with my family, time for myself in the hotbox, a lovely dinner with my soulmate…

… and a beautiful bouquet from the two men in my life.

But the truth is, these special people exist in my life every single day.  I don’t need my birthday to come along to realize it 🙂

Starting today, every ordinary day should feel like my birthday! 🙂 Everyday, I will be grateful 🙂