Craving Korean food? This place might be your best bet

Abu Dhabi World Review

The first time I tasted Korean cuisine, it was a rainy night in Seoul.

We’d just arrived a few hours earlier, travel-worn after navigating the metro system at rush hour on a humid day with a storm pricking at the edges.

Wandering the streets by the Cheonggyecheon stream where young couples sat by the water chatting, we found our way to an unassuming restaurant furnished with plastic chairs where we ordered by miming and pointing exaggeratedly.

We had no real idea of what we’d ordered, but we’d heard that Korean barbecue was the thing to try. Featuring marinated pieces of beef cooked on a grill at your table, the dish has become popular worldwide, and with good reason.

As a selection of tiny dishes – known as banchan – arrived at our table alongside the meat, we waited, unsure of ourselves, before the waitress gestured to us with an impatient signal in a universal language: eat.

In that first bite was a flavour we chased for the entire holiday and have chased ever since.

It’s with these memories in mind that we walk into Manna Land, Abu Dhabi’s own little piece of K-food culture, hoping that it will deliver.

Located in Al Nahyan, the restaurant is one of the capital’s best-kept secrets for authentic Korean fare.

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