Affordable Eel Over Rice at Manbo Near the Workers' Stadium

Just outside of the southwest gate of the Workers’ Stadium there is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cluster of restaurants that shouldn't be overlooked. Among them is Manbo (鳗步 Mánbù), the second branch of this Taiwanese-Japanese eel-over-rice (unadon) joint that started out by Nanluogu Xiang.

The restaurant is quite cramped, with only a few seating areas, but that adds to the cozy ambiance of the wooden interior, large bottles of sake lining the walls. The staff are efficient and professional; they took our order and dutifully gave us wet towels and a free pot of hot tea – probably not the best drink for the humid summer weather, but we’ll take it.

Our orders also arrived very promptly. The sesame seaweed salad, or chuka wakame (RMB 10), made for a refreshing starter, but sadly lacked in any real flavor to speak of. Lacking that distinct sesame taste that is the sign of a good serving of chuka wakame, we polished it off but were still disappointed especially given the fact that the bright green and odorless seaweed was of obvious good quality.

The unadon came next (RMB 68), a healthy portion of glazed eel laid on a bed of rice with thinly sliced egg and daikon radish as a garnish. It also comes with a bowl of clear beef soup. The eel had been roasted with care and was both tender and rich, while the glaze itself was not overly sweet and had a terrific umami punch.

However, one sizable complaint was that the eel was extremely bony. We understand that eel bones are usually edible because they’re very fine and won't get stuck in the throat, however, the bones in Manbo’s unadon were long and certainly not fine. This became a hindrance to finishing the dish as we had to constantly pick out the larger bones so as not to risk an eternally tickly throat.

The unadon comes in two sizes: small (RMB 38) and large (RMB 68), a considerable difference but given the bone issue, we'd recommend going small, for a good value, light meal and adding side dishes.

All in all, the food at Manbo is affordable, easy, and quick. They have all the components to stand out as a cheap-yet-delicious Japanese restaurant in Beijing, but we were disappointed with the bones in the eel. While their specialty unadon is tasty, we hope that they look into their sourcing of fish so as to make for a more effortless meal. Manbo's late opening hours will also make the restaurant an attractive destination for Gongti's hungry revelers looking for a healthy and nutritious late-night stomach filler.

Manbo
Daily 11am-midnight. 8 COCO Mingxing Street, Workers' Stadium West Road, Chaoyang District (8561 9755)
朝阳区工体西路8号COCO明星街

Read more articles by this author here.
Instagram: carmelmoersalim

Photos: Carmel Moersalim