Eat Goody, Korean Restaurant Review

IT'S NICE to get off the beaten track every once in a while. 

Whenever I was in London, I used to make sure I visited a Chinese restaurant that was tucked away in a basement down some stairs vaguely near Euston Station. It used to take me ages to find it every time.

"In the basement, we had a bit of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on telly, with subtitles. There was a table with drums on. Some bamboo. It was a pleasant space."

It was an antitode to the swathes of casual dining chains that flanked the station. The food was authentic, and although the restaurant was filthy it was always worth a visit.

Eat Goody, tucked between the Sugden Sports Centre and Sand Bar, near the universities, is a clean, bright and altogether more tidy affair, but has a similar feel of the hidden gem.

Sweet chilli chicken

You go up some stairs to get in and order, then down some more stairs to eat, unless you're happy to plonk yourself at the breakfast bar near the front doors.

The menu is small but substantial - meat, rice and noodles, with some cute little side dishes on offer.

In the basement, we also had a bit of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on telly, with subtitles. There was a table with drums on. Some bamboo. It was a pleasant space. 

Students mixed with lecturers on the table next to us were discussing the historic problems faced by Palestine.

On to the food; I combined the sweet crispy chilli chicken and rice (£5.20) with sweet potato tempura (£2.90), while my friend Ned ordered beef bulgogi with noodles and a small box of pepper chicken (£3.80).

The tempura were a nice start - light, crispy, plenty of flavour. Same with the pepper chicken - they'd not gone sparingly on the seasoning, making them potent little nuggets.

Beef BulgogiThe two mains came in a box. I tried to show off with chopsticks but the chilli chicken was a bit too moist for me to get any purchase. A plastic fork gave me better luck and it was good - nice big chunks of chicken and peppers. The sauce was perhaps too sweet, although full of plum and tamarind flavours.

Ned's beef dish wasn't as gloopy, plenty spicy and perhaps less dense thanks to the noodles.

Both dishes had about a third meat to two thirds accompaniment - I'd say that might be a bit sparse, but given the price, it's hard to complain too much.

It was all washed down with a bottle of smooth ginger beer for me, and some aloe vera juice ('It's got something funny in it') for Ned.

Sweet potato tempuraCompared to most of the eateries around the universities, this is in the higher echelons. It offers something a bit different and is good for a quick bite.

It's got plenty of charm and although it might not be the best food you'll ever eat, it's genuine enough to warrant a visit.

It's not greaty, but it's definitely not baddy.

ALL SCORED CONFIDENTIAL REVIEWS ARE IMPARTIAL. £1000 to the reader who can prove otherwise, and dismissal for the staff member who wrote a review scored out of twenty on a freebie from the restaurant.

Eat Goody
1 Hillcourt Street, Manchester, M1 7HU. Tel: 0161 274 3000

Rating: 15/20
Food: 7/10
Service: 4/5
Ambience: 4/5