Mapo
Continuing on with trying not to forget things and expanding this blog to cover cuisine, I went to Mapo on Friday night. It's a Korean restaurant on Gouger Street with a seperate Korean barbecue and a la carte sections. As I was introducing some of the guys to the delights of Korean cuisine we opted for the a la carte section.
The cool thing I love about this place is they have this gong which they hit as you go to your table. Oh it's probably prudent to book, last time I've went on a Friday night it wasn't too hard getting a nice table but I guess summer time brings out the diners more. Then again Korean is great winter heartening food.
We had bulgogi (barbecue beef stir fry), japchae (sweet potata noodles fry up), battered barramundi fillets in a nice soy based sauce and chicken teriyaki (obviously I didn't have the last one and I know it's not really Korean). I had some Cass beer (the others stuck to Pale Ale, Coopers of course) as well as a 2003 Mornington Estate Pinot Noir (yes I have watched Sideways and couldn't resist, it just reminded me how delicate pinot is and hence how well it suits east Asian cuisine). The food as is always the case at Mapo was lovely and the wine matched it quite nicely.
The wine was good value for $30 a bottle with good structure and a lovely bouquet of plums and cherry. The wine had just the right amount of oak and tannins to balance the nice fruit flavours, just the right body and grip to go with the food. I was a bit underwhelmed by the Cass beer, last time I had it in came in a nice round frosted mug and was an excellent refresher. Perhaps this time I had the full strength rather than light they served before and the glass wasn't as frosty.
Overall it was a nice restaurant experience although the servings weren't as hearty as last time and the dishes seemed to be going more for style than substance. What I love about Korean food is that it's still quite delicate, like Japanese, but also quite satisfying, like Chinese, but perhaps we should have had more signature dishes. The service also seemed to be a bit off the usual friendly efficiency I'm used to there, seems they've had a big staff turnover.
Still Mapo is capable of a great restaurant experience if perhaps the poor waitress we had didn't have quite a bad day , I counted at least 2 collisions with careless customers, and we'd booked a better table. Wow what a long post but what can I say I love my wining and dining.
The cool thing I love about this place is they have this gong which they hit as you go to your table. Oh it's probably prudent to book, last time I've went on a Friday night it wasn't too hard getting a nice table but I guess summer time brings out the diners more. Then again Korean is great winter heartening food.
We had bulgogi (barbecue beef stir fry), japchae (sweet potata noodles fry up), battered barramundi fillets in a nice soy based sauce and chicken teriyaki (obviously I didn't have the last one and I know it's not really Korean). I had some Cass beer (the others stuck to Pale Ale, Coopers of course) as well as a 2003 Mornington Estate Pinot Noir (yes I have watched Sideways and couldn't resist, it just reminded me how delicate pinot is and hence how well it suits east Asian cuisine). The food as is always the case at Mapo was lovely and the wine matched it quite nicely.
The wine was good value for $30 a bottle with good structure and a lovely bouquet of plums and cherry. The wine had just the right amount of oak and tannins to balance the nice fruit flavours, just the right body and grip to go with the food. I was a bit underwhelmed by the Cass beer, last time I had it in came in a nice round frosted mug and was an excellent refresher. Perhaps this time I had the full strength rather than light they served before and the glass wasn't as frosty.
Overall it was a nice restaurant experience although the servings weren't as hearty as last time and the dishes seemed to be going more for style than substance. What I love about Korean food is that it's still quite delicate, like Japanese, but also quite satisfying, like Chinese, but perhaps we should have had more signature dishes. The service also seemed to be a bit off the usual friendly efficiency I'm used to there, seems they've had a big staff turnover.
Still Mapo is capable of a great restaurant experience if perhaps the poor waitress we had didn't have quite a bad day , I counted at least 2 collisions with careless customers, and we'd booked a better table. Wow what a long post but what can I say I love my wining and dining.
Labels: restaurants, wines
posted by Forrest Rivers at 14:51
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