Maht Korean Restaurant — Restaurant in Ottawa

I happened to be in the Chinatown area today, and I found this place while looking for some lunch.

This place is very small, quaint, and has that hole in the wall/blink and you'll miss it kind of vibe. But, you shouldn't pass right by, especially if you like Korean food.

I was greeted immediately by a very friendly waitress, and seated very quickly (most tables were empty, probably due to me showing up after the lunch rush).

I ordered the Pork Bibimbap, and I got served an appetizer of potatoes in sweet sauce (probably not the correct name for it), bean sprout salad in a spicy sauce, and Kimchi. The apps were all tasty. I loved the Kimchi especially.

Then, the Bibimbap came out in a stone dish, and sizzling like no one's business. The presentation was very eye catching, matched very well with the flavour. Everything was cooked very well, though I admittedly took a lot of time admiring the food to the point where some of the rice burned on the bottom. That's not a knock against the restaurant, but rather to me admiring the food rather than eating.

Overall, my meal, plus a bottle of beer, cost me roughly $20 (before taxes and a tip), so the price is very good as well.

I will definitely be a repeat customer next time I'm...

I ordered 2 dishes

-Jjajangmyeon (black bean noodles) -Gamjatang (pork bone soup)

As someone who has tried lots of Korean cuisine this restaurant was very lacklustre. The Jjajangmyeon just tasted like you took the black bean paste into it without any other ingredients. I find that they’re multiple ways to improve this dish. The recipe seems to not have stir fried the vegetables and meat long enough which makes it lose flavour. I recommend looking at other recipes online to create a better one. The noodles I find aren’t bouncy and haven’t been washed fully. For the gamjatang it doesn’t taste like authentic Korean pork bone soup. It’s missing lots of the main flavours. Usually you would see perilla seeds and cabbage in your gamjatang but it was missing it. I recommend to add garlic and more gochujang to make it more flavourful.

I hope that if I were to visit this place again these dishes improve. If you want to try bland Korean food I...

I ordered the seasoned Korean fried chicken for takeout. Before I get to what I didn't like, I will say that even after bringing it back to my place, as the chicken was probably steaming in the box, it was still insanely crispy. The next day I reheated some leftovers and it was still somehow crispy, so no complaints at all on that front.

However I was extremely disappointed with the sauce. Every other (seasoned) Korean fried chicken I've had was coated in a thick, flavourful sauce. As you can see in my photo, it was nothing like that. I poured all the sauce that was provided, but it was relatively thin (not thick), and didn't really stick to the chicken well. Not to mention they didn't really provide a lot of it to begin with. The chicken itself was meh. Some pieces were cooked ok, some were dry (and yes while this was takeout, I live less than 10 mins away so the commute time is not to blame for that). For around $21, this was a...