What’s on the menu at Bradenton’s new Korean restaurant? Take a look
Sisters Katherine Kim and Mary Pierson recently opened Sunny Seoul Korean Kitchen in East Manatee.
The duo brought their family recipes and an authentic Korean food concept to the area as a food truck before transitioning to a brick-and-mortar restaurant at 9750 State Road 64, Bradenton.
“There’s such a need for services and everything’s a corporate restaurant,” Pierson said. “There aren’t a lot of Mom and Pops. ”
Sunny Seoul is the latest in new, unique dining experiences in Bradenton. Here’s a deeper look at the restaurant’s menu .
Bibimbap
Bibimbap is a rice bowl topped with various vegetables and a fried egg. Protein is added, too, with the choice between bulgogi beef, chicken, spicy pork or organic tofu. Bulgogi is a type of thin-sliced marinated meat popular in Korean cuisine.
At Sunny Seoul, the bibimbap is served in a hot stone, if customers decide to dine in the restaurant.
Japchae
This vegetarian dish is a popular Korean street food that features a translucent sautéed sweet potato noodle with an assortment of vegetables.
Kimbap
While it may resemble Japanese sushi, kimbap is not that. It’s a rice roll and the classic flavor combo is bulgogi beef, egg, carrots, spinach and pickled radish and the rice it is rolled with is not sushi rice.
Mandu
Mandu is a Korean dumpling that is filled with meat and vegetables, or tofu and vegetables for vegetarians.
At Sunny Seoul, mandu dumpling dough is made in-house along with the fillings and then assembled via a specialty machine imported from Korea.
“We make the filling, we make the dough and it molds the dumpling out,” Kim said.
Tteok-bokki
Another popular Korean street food, tteok-bokki are rice cakes in a spicy sweet sauce with cabbage and scallions.
Banchan
Banchan are small, side dishes to accompany the main meal and rice. A popular banchan is kimchi, which is a fermented cabbage.
Other Korean restaurants
Other than Sunny Seoul, there are other Bradenton restaurants that serve Korean food. Sweet Krunch, 5605 Manatee Ave. W., offers Korean meals on its menu and Hong BBQ & Hot Pot, 445 Cortez Rd. W., has Korean BBQ options .
