My Favorite Korean Restaurant - Makchang

4.30.12

Lately I've been indulging a lot on food. I've sworn to myself that I would be a lot more adventurous this 2012 and I feel like I've been pretty faithful to that endeavor :) Discovering new tastes, exploring new diners, I feel this year is bound to be pretty fantastic.


About two weeks ago, my friends and I visited a local Korean hole-in-the-wall shop along Adriatico. The place is called Makchang and was first introduced to me by my good friend Lea a few months back. It has a huge orange signage with white bold Korean letters. Can't really read Korean but the smaller posters did read "Makchang". The place became my instant Korean favorite.


The place is usually packed with people. The patrons are mostly Korean so you know that it's ought to be one fine Korean restaurant. It's also packed with college students since the place is near St. Paul University and UP Manila. But even though the place is packed with people, you're still bound to have a great time since the waiters are very attentive. In fact, I think this is the edge Makchang holds against all other Korean places I've been to (I've been to a lot, maybe I'll post reviews of those one day). The waiters are always ready to serve you and are very attentive to your needs.

Look at that teeny little buzzer : ) Buzz away for all your little needs :D

Makchang is actually a quant little grill. The place has a limited menu but you won't really feel that since it offers the best cuts of meat around.

Volcanic Rocks!
Burn, baby, burn!

Here's the Menu.
The place is named after their best dish, the beef cuts "Makchang".
Unfortunately, when we went there, the dish wasn't available.

We bought the Pork Galbi and the ever popular Samkyupsal. The Pork Galbi has a distinct sweet flavor, very reminiscent of our local barbecue. The Samkyupsal, as how our attendant put it, is the Korean version of bacon. It's unseasoned, but when it becomes crispy, it gets so yummy and amazing :9

The smaller pieces are the Samkyupsal. The larger pieces are the Pork Galbi.
Pork Galbi is a definite favorite and I order this cut whenever I stop by. 

If you're worried about the smoke, you'll find that they have a handy dandy little exhaust vacuum. This vacuum keeps the heat and smoke at bay and you need not worry about leaving the resto smelling like barbecue.

My resident Korean food expert of a friend, Ross, told us that it's usually the host who does all the cooking. Sometimes, the "Maknae" or the youngest does the cooking too. However, since we were all giddy little foodies, we just definitely had to do a bit of cooking. If you're not a fan of all the grilling, the waiters will be very happy to help. 

That's Ross in white and me ready with the meat shears, haha.

Almost ready!

Looks really good now *q*
If you look closely, you'd see that we're grilling peppers and garlic as well.
Those ones are for the wrap. It helps intensify the flavor.

You get a lot of other goodies as soon as you order. You get free soup, usually miso or seaweed, which are Korean meal staples. You'll also get a plate of sweet bean kimchi, another plateful of the usual kimchi, a bowl of beautiful fresh greens, and a bowl of sweet potato.

Our table's looking really bountiful right there : ) Excuse my Wintermelon tea, lol.

The bowl of greens is full of lettuce leaves, mint leaves, green chili peppers and garlic. These leaves are used for wrapping and you grill the peppers and garlic for extra flavor. I'm not really big on the mint leaves since it makes my throat itch a bit, maybe that's just me, or maybe it's some acquired taste?

What we have here is some miso paste (at least that what the waiter said) and more garlic. I didn't get a shot of the sauces but you'll get one small saucer of sesame oil with salt, sugar and more garlic and another of what tasted like sweet vinegar and soy sauce.

Definitely a favorite! This one is sweet bean kimchi. I've never had anything like it in any other korean restaurant.

And here's the usual kimchi :3 I'm a big fan of their kimchi, it beats the one we have at home.

And here are the sweet potatoes. You can eat it raw but it gets a lot softer and sweeter when you roast them.

When the meat is finally cooked, you can eat it with rice or wrap it with the leaves. I don't really wrap my meat with rice but that's how my friends usually do it. The usual formula for me is meat dipped in sauce, a lot of sweat bean kimchi, a piece of roasted garlic, and lastly, a piece of roasted pepper. Then eat it in one big mouthful!

This is a wrap by Trixia. She likes rice in her wrap and a lot less Kimchi.

 We also ordered some soup, just to try it out. We ordered some Bibim Naemyun.

So pretty. One of the things I love Korean Food is just how good it always looks no matter rough they put everything together. 

Bibim Naemyun is actually a cold soup dish. My ramen loving tongue was quite surprised by this. It needs some getting used to.

Just look at that color. Contrary to its intimidating facade, this soup is actually refreshing. It's like a sweeter version of Tom Yum. It's sweet, a little sour, and cool. The noodles are very chewy and the flavor is a little rich. They'll give you a small bowl of Gochujang, which is a red hot pepper paste and another bowl of what looks like mustard - that one has a lot of kick. You'll feel the intensity of the spiciness once you've taken one nice gulp. Smashing!

Over all, Makchang provided us with a very memorable experience. The food is great, the service is just as great and you get great value for what you pay for. My only wish? They add some Bibimbap to their menu. Definitely going back!


Makchang is located along Adriatico, right across Robinson's Place, Manila.
It's open from 11:00am up to 4:00am