For a few years now, I’ve been a frequent shopper at a small mom and pop grocery for Korean ingredients called Manna on Don Pedro St. in Makati. This was where I first met my favorite yet sinful pork leg dish, which they sell every weekend, called Jokbal (chok-bal). Eventually, the owner opened a nearby restaurant but I never had the chance to wander off into that part of Koreatown in Makati.

But, one rainy, chilly evening, together with some chefs from my school, we decided to visit the restaurant as we were all hungry from a module of lectures and needed some heat from peppers, chilies, ginger and garlic.

The Manna resto seems to cater to a more discriminating set as the Koreans who patronize it are dressed in businesslike outfits. The food though is very rustic, quite provincial in style. They have hearty interpretations of popular dishes such as the Ggongbori Bibimbab, which is not of rice, but a mix of vegetables and meat topped with your sweetish, savory bibimbab chili paste of fermented bean with dried kosari, lettuce, pea sprouts, and egg over a mound of cooked barley.

A touch of highly refined sesame oil from a squeeze bottle softens the sharpness and saltiness of the sauce and gives a nutty, creamy dimension to this farmer’s dish. This always comes with a free Denjang Tsige or fermented yellow bean soup with tofu and vegetables that is pleasantly earthy with smoky flavors mixed with green chilies.

The restaurant is very liberal with its banchan or sidedish appetizers considering that they gave us a set of eight each per person. The homemade Mat Kimchi or cabbage kimchi was not overly sour and had the right amount of crustacean essence.

I had to order their Tukbokki (tak-pok-ki) or rice sticks cooked in chili paste. These chewy bland rice sticks absorbed the accompanying flavors of the fish cakes, gojuchang or chili bean paste and onions it was sautéed in and provided the fudgy textures to the dish.

Our Bulgogi was prepared and well-executed on our tabletop by our waitress Cleng, who was fast on the turner and scissors. We had the Yangyukal or marinated beef and a thinly-sliced, fatty beef short plate called Chadolbagi.

Being grocers, I like their choice of ketnip or sesame leaves used for wrapping their grilled pork belly called Samgyupsal. This, to me, is one of the things I can’t do without in a Korean restaurant as I really like its fragrant, herbaceous flavor, wrapped around the fat-reduced grilled pork belly. My only lament as porkeater for the night was their Jokbal or Korean pork pata, which was out of stock. It would have been a perfect evening, considering how frozen and frosted our beers arrived with matching frozen mugs. This restaurant knows how to flatter any beer aficionado and probably flatten them with the soju.

Another thing I observed, with my limited knowledge of Korean cuisine is that the kitchen has a good dip for its sangchoos or lettuce called macjang. This is made from yellow bean called denjang, sesame oil and sugar.

What surprised the owner of this establishment was the Tsonggok Tsang we ordered. This is a soup not for the neophytes, since it is made from highly fermented bean curd and has descriptions that range from repulsive, erotic, cheesy, and sensual to downright smelly.

Our proprietress approached us and asked how we knew of the soup. I wanted to say that it was the daily tonic fare I had been fed with by a beautiful and insatiable Korean partner to shock them. But considering how wholesome our restaurant owners were, who were even kind enough to offer opening their grocery, I just said it was a pleasurable gastronomic memory of Seoul.

Manna is located along Don Pedro St., Makati.