Manbok Chinatown

Manbok Korean BBQ and Steamboat Buffet in Chinatown gets praise for being such a good value. At $ 18 per person for lunch (including beverages and GST) it’s hard not to like this place. Not many Korean BBQ restaurants are open in Tanjong Pagar on Sunday at lunch. That’s what lead us to make our first visit to Manbok on New Bridge Road.
A completely self serve buffet: There’s the typical spread of pork, chicken, beef, and squid, a steamboat bar offering the usual ingredients, soups, rice, kimchee, sauce & condiments, and fresh fruit and ice cream for dessert. Beverage soda fountain included Coke products, ice tea and juice drinks. At this price point, the quality of everything was a notch above other places charging a similar amount. We especially enjoyed the marinated chicken and pork collar.
Overall, the restaurant was extremely clean, the décor was nice and wasn’t cluttered up like some places tend to be. The lady and gentleman who manage it are very friendly people, and clearly take pride in running a good buffet. The staff was helpful — he changed our grill plate 3 times over the course of the lunch and continually cleared dishes from the table. The restaurant is fairly spacious and the tables are mostly roomy booths with comfortable padded seats. Each table is equipped with 2 gas burners for the BBQ grill and Steamboat.
When we arrived, we were a little apprehensive because there were only a few diners inside. But, just as we started to eat and commented how good the food was, that’s when families started to pour in through the door. By the time we left, the place was cooking!
The Good: Comfortable & clean restaurant, Very friendly staff, good food all at a great price.
The Bad: Too bad it’s not a charcoal grill. No beef brisket.
The Verdict: With so many other similar restaurants, it’s hard to put into words what makes this one stand out. It’s definitely high on my list of go-​to economical Korean BBQ buffets.
3.5 stars

As starters, and so you know — I don’t use superlatives often. And after experiencing a wide variety of Korean BBQ throughout both North America and also Southeast Asia, I didn’t think that Manbok Chinatown + Steamboat (tucked nearby the singapore river) would be it! It’s $ 26++ SGD per dinner guest for the buffet. The meat is the nicest I’ve ever had at Korean BBQ, with very succulent meat (esp. the galbi) and many of the meats are already marinated and therefore are very addictive. Not like the largely unflavored hunks of meat you can sometimes find at other Korea BBQs. Chicken, bacon here and so on were great. Goes great with the rock salt+pepper sides. Free rice, drinks and kimchi. The waiter was EXTREMELY attentive in helping us, always checking in every few mins and reminding us that the grill is very hot so it should always be turned down on the low side, and changing our grill plate when it was too messy. With fantastic quality of food for an affordable price, this has become our favorite to-​go Korean BBQ in the Chinatown area.