Man Ri Sung is a Chinese and Korean Fusion Restaurant manned by a Chef Sang Myung Lee who is Korean by blood, and Chinese by birth (he was born and grew up in China). Man Ri Sung used to be in Coquitlam but they relocated to Richmond in March 2011. Aside from a la carte items, the restaurant features a duck feast for 4 or 6 people. We tried the “duck for 4 people” that night. They require reservations at least 2 hours in advance for the duck feasts so make sure you call ahead if you do want to check it out!
Dining experience:
Interior of Man Ri Sung (photo from manrisung.ca)
We visited on a Saturday night. The place isn’t big but it was certainly busy. In terms of ambiance, well…it’s an Asian restaurant in Richmond, so I didn’t expect much and it met my expectation.
I was impressed by their speed despite how busy it was, we were taken to our seats right away (we didn’t have to wait since we had reservations), and before I even had a chance to read over the menu, Chef Lee personally came over and took our orders. We reserved the “duck for 4 people” ($58.95) which features a Peking Duck, a choice of boiled dumplings, pan-fried potato noodles or Rice Sausage and a further choice of a duck hot pot with wheat flakes or a duck gruel. On Chef Lee’s recommendation, we went with the pan-fried potato noodles and the duck gruel.
Aside from Chef Lee, there were only 2 servers running the front of house, but they did a really good job keeping our teas filled and a quick refill of banchans when we asked for it. Food got on the table quickly in general, our banchan came almost right away and Peking duck within 10 minutes of ordering. The only lengthy wait was for the duck gruel, which took an hour to come.
Food:
Banchan
“Kimchi, Glazed Potatoes, Bean Sprouts, Spicy Pickled Radish”
Ignore the dish of cucumbers in the picture, which should’ve been part of the Peking duck dish instead of the Banchan. The highlight of the group was the pickled radish, it was crunchy and had a good tartness to it. The kimchi served here was the mildest I’ve ever had, I could barely taste any chili in it. The glazed potatoes could have been a tad softer but tasted fine. The bean sprouts didn’t have any sesame oil in it and seemed to be just blanched in water.
Peking Duck Platter
Peking Duck – Assembled
“Chinese tortillas, spring onions, julienned cucumbers”
Using the name Peking duck, this dish set expectations way high. Traditional Peking duck has thin crispy skin attached to a layer of fat and a thin layer of meat. It is usually served with Hoisin sauce and green onions and steamed flour tortillas to wrap a little bit of everything in. It is a wonderful creation and you really should try it out if you haven’t yet.
I’ve read that Chef Lee often carves the duck table side but may be because it was too busy that night, we didn’t get a chance to see it.
The Peking duck at Man Ri Sung unfortunately fell short of my expectations. The duck was quite a bit thicker so there was a lot more meat than skin. Also, the skin didn’t have that crispy quality to it. Aside from the hoisin sauce to act as seasoning, all the individual components of the platter had no seasoning to it so even after I assembled the wrap, the flavour profile was still pretty one-dimensional and bland.
Pan-Fried Potato Noodles
You can certainly see the Korean influence here. The texture of the noodles was good, it was soft but retained a little bit of chewiness to it. This dish was very well-seasoned, it was peppery and savory. A really satisfying dish!
Duck Gruel
Gruel is like porridge, only thinner like congee. Man Ri Sung’s duck gruel had the consistency of porridge, which was quite nice. It came piping hot with a rich aroma. It was really flavorful and makes a very comforting dish to have in the winter. Although everyone at the table were really full by then, we still enjoyed this dish and happily took leftovers home.
All in all, the food was hit and miss, but the place is worth a try if you pick the right dishes!
Ambiance: 2/5
Service: 4/5
Food: 3/5
Overall: 3/5
Cook . Snap . Savour 