Brunei Restaurant Review: Padi Mas Korean Restaurant

Padi-Mas has been around for some time now. It’s a Korean restaurant that serves pork in their dishes – and it’s their main highlight – fancy having some good Korean BBQ – sliced pork belly with some spicy paste wrapped with lettuce and kimchi ~~ *drools*

 

When I visited them last year – I wasn’t very impressed or awed by their food. This year – after many recommendations and good reviews from friends – I decided to pay them a visit again.

 

The place has obviously gone through some renovations – and I agreed – it makes the place more welcoming – it adds a better element of privacy as well as buttons to press to signal attention from the staff

 

It’s way better than the plain old kopi tiam style décor when I first visited here – a thumbs up on the new look ~ now let’s check out the food ~

 

Nor surprisingly – I opted for the pork belly ~~ who can resist? The meat is obviously marinated and put into the freezer as I can still see some traces of ice ~~ can’t wait to grill them though ~

 

The other dish – garlic pork belly ~~~ hubba hubba ~~

 

Grill your slab of pork belly on medium to low heat ~~ *sizzles*

 

Then use the scissors they provided to cut them into smaller slices ~~

 

There’s the usual side dishes that come with Korean restaurants and for you to wrap your grilled meats with ~~

 

They have Korean Rice Puff crackers as a yummy crunchy snack as well as that a good salty spicy dip for your meat. Dip your meat on the sauce – add it to lettuce and other side dishes and wrap ~~ yes – delicious Korean BBQ Wraps ~~ healthy healthy ~~

 

I also ordered their Jjajangmyeon – dark sauce noodles – which I find was a bit bland and asked for more sauce – they proceeded to give me extra sauce (without extra charge). It’s alright but nothing to wow about – order only if you got cravings for this.

 

Their Kimchi Jigae (Kimchi Stew) is pretty good – my girlfriend who studied 6 months in Korea regarded this as the closest thing to what she usually eat in Korea. Thumbs up for this dish ~~ it wasn’t overly spicy or sour – just the right amount for me.

 

The best part is they served red rice – I think it’s a mixture of Korean black sweet rice and plain rice but it does add flavour and gives it a nice purplish colour to enjoy with the Kim Chi Stew. The black sweet rice called heukmi chapssal.

 

Overall – I would come back here again just so I can have pork for my Korean BBQ. The pricing isn’t that expensive compared to typical Korean restaurants within Asia – $20 for a 3 person portion of pork belly is reasonable ~~ their Kimchi Stew $8 is good enough for two. I look forward to coming back again to sample other dishes in their menu – still so much to try! I will update this page soon!

The only problem is of course the lack of those tubes that suck the smoke from grilling – you will definitely walk out smelling like BBQ if you eat here! I would also worry about their speed of service if it’s actually packed as they do take time to come out – but won’t be a problem if you’re having a nice time with family and friends – not when you’re in a rush – like dinner before movie etc.

May the Pork be with you --- Running Man ~~~~

Location:

Padi Mas Korean Cuisine

Opens 8am till 10pm daily (except Friday 12pm – 2 pm)

Tel no: 2457644

Unit 6&7, Block C, Warisan Mata-Mata Complex, Simpang 322, Jalan Gadong, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei