Mapo88 Restaurant Queenstown: Authentic Korean Food in Queenstown
I really wanted to eat some Korean food while I was in Queenstown (by the way, I stayed at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel here). I found a restaurant called Mapo88 Korean Dining Bar that served Korean food and decided that I would check out what they were serving. I went inside and found a table to sit down. The restaurant had black walls and there were pictures of Korean food hanging on the walls.
One thing I found really interesting about Mapo88 was that they had an entire wall where customers could write things. There were comments like ‘Very nice food’ and ‘The Best Korean Restaurant in NZ!’ People had even drawn hearts and sketches on the wall.
There were pictures of more food on the wall. Some of the dishes that I could see were sweet and spicy fried chicken and seafood and soft tofu stew.
There were groups of young people sitting in the restaurant. In one corner, there was a wall mounted TV screen and a fan. There were also some small tables that could seat only two people.
The restaurant was quite full. A lot of people were sitting at the tables. I was sure that the food at Mapo88 Korean Dining Bar would be good just because of the number of people inside the restaurant.
The first thing that I ordered was a drink. The serving staff brought a bottle of Milkis to my table, along with a glass filled with ice. The drink was sweet and creamy. As you can see in the image above, I had ordered the original flavor so it didn’t have any other flavoring agent.
They also quickly served me a variety of Korean side dishes, like pickled radishes, broccoli and kimchi.
The spicy creamy rice cakes were warm and delicious. I could see the melted cheese on top and the rice cakes were nice and chewy. The cheese made sure that the dish wasn’t too spicy.
The grilled pork belly was topped with microgreens and came with a sauce on the side. It was quite fatty but the meat had a lot of flavor and I really enjoyed the dish.
Then I decided to eat the warm and hearty kimchi stew. It was spicy and tangy and there were chunks of soft tofu in the stew. The green onions on top were very refreshing. I used a spoon to slowly sip the soup from the stew. It warmed me up very quickly.
Finally, I couldn’t leave a Korean restaurant without trying the fried chicken. It was coated in a sweet and sour sauce and it was really crispy. The chicken was served with a salad and a dressing on the side. I quickly finished the whole plate. It was one of the best things on the menu.
Menu of Mapo88 Korean Restaurant Queenstown
The menu had a whole page for fried chicken. There were different kinds like half and half chicken, original fried chicken, volcano chicken and chili mayo chicken. I was sure all of them would be good options.
There were quite a lot of options at Mapo88. Each dish had a picture so customers would know what they were ordering. There was japchae, tofu stew, fried dumplings and squid kimchi pancakes.
Other main course dishes like cold buckwheat noodle soup and bibimbap were available. So was braised tofu and bulgogi.
I turned the page and found a lot of different kinds of soup. There were duck, pork and chicken feet dishes.
I could even order extra cheese, noodles or egg if I wanted to. Some sides like steamed egg and steamed rice balls were available. There were many kinds of flavored soju and wine at the restaurant for guests to order (But if you’re really looking for a great place to drink here in Queenstown, I would definitely recommend the Ice Bar.).
