This week we are going up to the North York area in Toronto! Its about 10 minutes drive away from Finch TTC station. I have been to a few Korean restaurants in North York but this is my first time at Nangman. Typically, I have been to more Korean BBQ style restaurants but this time we are aiming for more Korean comfort food! I am very excited to write about this longer post as I went with a larger group so I got to try many different dishes!
FOOD FAQ
Topic of Today: Makgeolli
What is Makgeolli made of? Makgeolli is made from rice using Nuruk. Then yeast are added to turn it into alcohol.
What does Makgeolli taste like? Makgeolli is a milky off white rice wine. It is typically also on a sweeter side for an alcohol.
How strong is Makgeolli? Commercially it typically range between 6-8%.
Why is Makgeolli typically drink out of a bowl? Traditionally it is served in the bowl as you can stir the rice wine to avoid the sediment to settle in the bottom.
Value & Vibe
Value: I would say that compare to a restaurant price it is on a more expensive side. But If you are to benchmark it with typical bars, I would say that the drinks on par with them with WAY more food options than a North American bars. So if you are looking for the best value meal, this might not be the case but for the vibe, the atmosphere along with the drinks, I would say not bad.
Vibe: Casual bar vibe with plenty of seatings for your group. When I went, only the downstairs was open but I also saw that there is an upstairs. Lively bar with friends or gathering atmosphere.
Taste
This is an exciting post as we have quite a few number of dishes that we will be going over today so lets go!
The first one that we have is fried chicken wings and french fries. This dish comes with ketchup and spicy sauces. In my opinion, the fries were average and the chicken wings were on the drier side. I personally wouldn’t recommend this one.
The second dish that we got is the army stew. It comes primarily with SPAM-like meat, onions, scallions, instant noodles and a piece of cheese. Overall, I would say it is average. The soup is on the lighter side, I wish it would have had a slightly stronger flavor based on my preference.
Another appetizer that we got is sweet cheesy corn. I would have thought that it would be stickier but it is on the runnier side. I would say decent but doesn’t stand out too much.
Now the star of this meal, Chicken with green onion. Personally I think this is the best dish of this meal. The chicken was very well cooked. Crispy enough but soft on the inside. Perfect to soak up the sauce. It also comes with the generous amount of green onion. BUT the real gold star goes to the sauce. It was fantastic! Ultimate comfort food that also goes well with drinks! Highly recommend for those that come to visit.
The next dish is pork bossam which is boiled pork traditionally served with lettuce and other side garnishes. This is my first time trying this dish. I think that this dish was ok. Its nice to have a few of these but the pork is quite heavy in fat and was not heavily seasoned so you would rely on the sauces and radish for flavor. Personally, I wouldn’t be able to have too many of these and would prefer having grilled meat over bossam. But it was a nice experience to try especially if you are here with friends that you can share it with!
We also got the seafood pancake. I thought that the pancake was a little too heavy on the flour and a bit too thick. It would have been nice if its a little lighter and/or crispier. However, they did give us a generous amount of seafood. So overall I think it could be a bit better.
Grilled beef tripe was not quite what I expected. To be fair I also wasn’t sure what the grilled beef tripe supposed to taste like. But I found it to be tougher than I thought. It also have quite a distinct taste and smell which is not bad. But I think the toughness of it threw me off a bit.
Lastly, we also had an original flavored makgulli. It was light and sweet. Perfect complimentary to a meal!
Overall I really liked the chicken with grill onion, that dish really stood out. However, I think that some of the dishes can be slightly improved like the seafood pancake and the chicken wings.
Score
Atmosphere: 8/10 (Excellent vibe. Nice service)
Price: 6/10 (Decent price for the portion but not cheap)
Taste: 5.5/10 (For most dish they are average. EXCEPT the chicken onion in which I would give it a higher score)
Scale:
Would not recommend: Below 2
Need some improvement: 3-5
Average: 5
Decent: 6
Great: 7
Excellent: 8
Outstanding 9+
Genuine Food & Travel Review 
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