The corner of Olympic and Sawtelle, the beginning of the Japanese area of town and the two or three blocks to the north, has become one of the busiest food destinations in Los Angeles. In the little shopping area in the first block you can find my favorite Korean restaurant, where I order my favorite tofu soup; and there is a wonderful chicken take-out place, and Manpuku (meaning "Full Belly").
Eating at Manpuku is not just eating, but an experience and a lot of fun. The setup is like the many Korean restaurants in town, with the grill tables, but the menu is different.
The Prix Fixe (meaning "Fixed Price") menu looks really good to me, but it’s too much food for me at this stage of life. On that menu for $69 per person you get kimchi and bean sprouts appetizers, spicy beef soup, garlic fried rice, five different cuts of beef and some shrimp, all for grilling at the table, followed by ice cream.
The last time I was there I started with the roasted garlic, kimchi, and slices of the Kobe filet. We cooked the filet to rare, and it was delicious, but because it was fairly thick it was hard to eat without a knife and fork. Then we ordered the Kobe ribeye, which the waiter said was the most popular selection. There was no bone, just perfect slices of well marbled beef and it was perfect. Then we tried the Jidori chicken thigh, which was good, but not great.
There are a lot of dishes that I haven’t yet tried, but will in time: there are assorted mushrooms, Kurobuta pork sausage and Kobe tongue, all dishes I love. And there are lots of different ways to eat the proteins, such as getting wrapping lettuce.
The menu is much more varied than one would expect. There are three separate types of beef, American Wagyu, US Prime, and the Japanese "signature" beef. Then there are some pork selections, chicken thighs or breast, and seafood. There are three kinds of rice, five soups, eight appetizers and five sashimi selections. The bottom line is that you have to come back lots of times to experience this restaurant. I loved grilling the beef at the table, so it is cooked just how I like it and stays hot.
There is also an extensive drink menu taking up the whole back side of the menu, which includes Sapporo on tap, an excellent selection of wine, and one of the best sake lists I’ve seen (hot and cold).
The thing that separates this from the ubiquitous Korean BBQ with self-grilling is the broad extent of the menu, the reasonable prices, and the Japanese influence. I recommend it.
Manpuku Japanese BBQ
2125 Sawtelle Blvd
(310) 473-0580
Merv Hecht’s latest book “The Instant Wine Connoisseur” is available on Amazon.
