ma'ono fried chicken & whisky

brunch: go now. one of the best brunch's i've had in recent memory. i got the special saimin which i'm still dreaming about. perfect dish for any meal - could it all day every day. delicious broth, somehow still crispy pork belly even though it was in broth, perfectly cooked egg, toothsome noodles.

dining companions had the friedchickennuggets on french toast with gravy. yeah, it's as good as it sounds. super crispy & flavor batter on thechicken(they are nuggets, so it's like a fried groundchickenpuck not wholechickenpieces). gravy and syrup on the side just tip over the edge into something remarkable.

another table mate had the eggs benedict. hollandaise is always rich, usually delicious, but somehow this tasted even more decadent. i don't even know how you make hollandaise more rich when the basic recipe is pretty much just butter & egg yolks. anyway, this was the best eggs benedict i've ever tasted, which is saying something for a dish that is usually good but not necessarily memorable.

the seattle restaurant week was coming to an end and we wanted to go somewhere before it ended. i just couldn’t wait for fall for the next edition. i picked ma’ono friedchickenand whiskey because it was the only place with an earlier reservation available. all others we wanted to go to were after 8.00 and we know that lil v won’t be the most cooperative table companion at that time. i will have to say that the experience was meh at best. i ordered off the srw menu and aj had the ma’ono saimin – a pork broth with noodles, fishcake etc. he seemed to enjoy it a little. i had the hearts of palm salad as the appetizer, which was honestly the only thing on menu that i liked. it was sort of very refreshing and sweet and earthy all at the same time! i did not care much for the stuffed tofu. the dessert was good but it was a whole lot of it and we did not even get to finishing half of it. we also got their famous friedchickento-go. aj had it for lunch the next day and though he liked it, he

friedchicken(regular & korean style) bone marrow wood grilled kalbi short ribs curry bacon fried rice brown butter mochi cake pumpkin shake ma’ono friedchicken& whisky (formally springhill)  can’t express how much i love fried chicken. ma’ono is one of my go to friendchickenspots in seattle and along with popeyes (don’t hate). ma’ono originated from the springhill monday pop up and then chef mark fuller converting to friedchickenand progressive hawaiian/asian inspired food full time.  ma’ono serves their friedchickenthree way and your choice of two - regular, korean (spicy), and chinese (sweet mild mustard). all of them are definitely cracking so i recommend going with original and asking for the other two sauces on the side (sampler style). the other dishes that also hit home were the woodfired kalbi short ribs, clams, bone morrow, and curry bacon fried rice. i have yet to make my way through the whole menu but i plan to. also, the burger gets a lot of attention as one of th

great service, above average food. family ate here early on a saturday evening. we had read that you must pre-order/reserve a whole friedchickenif you want that menu item, and we had done that. also ordered the ma'ono dog for our son and a caesar salad. service was excellent and caring. salad and dog came quickly. dog was quite excellent, a portuguese sausage concotion, nicely seasoned. their take of caesar was novel, too, with a nice zip to it. we waited quite awhile for the reserved chicken, but when it arrived at the table it was still sizzling from the fry. this is very heavily crusted chicken, not especially my favorite. darkdark fry, almost blackened. for me, the overdone crust had no unique flavor notes, probably because it had been overdone. the cook oil was definitely fresh, but the heavy crust held in too much oil---an oily finger affair to be sure. the dips for thechickenwere a marvelous rescue, though, one hot chili and the other a wasabi style mustard. thechickenwas served with a side of kimchi which was quite authentic. my spouse is korean, and she is a good judge, too. for dessert, we all had the brown butter mochi cake with fresh pineapple and tapioca. it was the best part of the meal. thechickenwas a bit of a disappointment, seeing as how it's their signature dish. i should note that the dark, dark brown fry is the standard... i saw at least 6 or more platters going by to other diners and they all looked the same. ma'ono also has an extensive, impressive whiskey list but we did not try on this visit.

one of my favorite places in west seattle. the food is always consistent and service is great too. the friedchickenis good for sure, but make sure to not overlook the rest of the menu! their rotating seasonal vegetables and house made kimchi (get the red/ spicy version) is great, as is the loco moco, saimin, and poke are all great too.

had dinner here with a dinner group. dinner was very good. i ordered the friedchickenwith a side of macaroni. thechickenwas fan-tastic!! so crispy and had the perfect taste! not greasy at all! the sauce that came with it to put on too was extra special! the rice? yum! i loved the macaroni and cheese. it was a perfect side. i ordered a martini for my drink as i don't drink whisky - the martini was awful. the food was so good i didn't care about the drink! service was spectacular. the waiter was extra nice and on top of things. the atmosphere was pleasant but very noisy and loud.

the name of the restaurant throws you off a bit, but this hidden gem serves up the best friedchickeni've ever had. i believe they broast it but i could be wrong. they serve up whole chickens with delicious sides you can order as a meal for your table. they run out so be sure to reserve yourchickenahead of time. 

if you are looking to dine on fabulous fried chicken definitely stop in you won't be disappointed.

tl;dr: order the goddamn rolls. i don’t care what else you order. everything is good.

when people talk about ma’ono, they always talk about the fried chicken. well, i’m a natural born hater, through and through, and i’ve gotta say the friedchickenwas one of the worst things on our table.

that being said, we ordered seventeen things, and all of them were spectacular. do you get what i’m saying here? friedchickenwas the worst of the best. everything else was better, and friedchickencertainly wasn’t bad.

the best of the best was easily a tie between the rolls and the saimin. the rolls were the best combination of food adjectives; light, dense, huge, not filling. how were they both light and dense? i don’t know. i truly can’t wrap my brain around the idea that these rolls are real. that’s how good they are. they are simultaneously light and dense in a world that doesn’t allow that to happen. how are they both huge and not filling? i don’t know. these rolls are fantastically huge. absolutely gigantic, and yet, i could eat piles and piles of them. they must have paid off the same people lay’s did, because they are like potato chips in that you can eat them forever without feeling the slightest bit full.

after that how could i possibly recommend the saimin? well really, nothing can top those rolls. i think i’m actually doing myself a disservice here by having this be the third article, because honestly, after those rolls, nothing matches up. grass just isn’t as green anymore, the sky isn’t as blue, and babies aren’t as cute. they’re so good, they’re depressing.

if you must follow up the rolls with something other than another plate of rolls though, the saimin is your best bet. the broth in that bowl is as close to gravy as broth gets. fatty, rich, opaque, it’s a beautiful masterpiece of liquid, but the real star of the show is the soft-cooked egg. it’s marinated in soy and sesame, which doesn’t sound especially spectacular, but when you bite into it, it just feels right. it feels like all eggs should be marinated in soy and sesame. these eggs are living their true egg destiny.

if you really want to fat (and you should), go for the banana cream pie. i geek out over dessert menus and ma’ono was no exception. even though i was absolutely pushing the limit by ordering a seventeenth plate of food for the table, i had no choice. banana cream pie is a fantastic indicator of how good a restaurant is, and ma’ono hit it out of the park. not only is there no fake banana flavor to be found, but there were cacao nibs in the graham cracker crust which were addictively crunchy, and the whipped cream that topped the entire slice was freshly piped on, which was just about enough to send me into convulsions right there in the booth.

the only regret i have about ma’ono was that i didn’t get to try more than seventeen things.

great food. amazing recipes and quality. i should give a bad review because they were out ofchicken(reserve it in advance, apparently); and honestly their whisky was way, way overpriced- but damn, my food was sooooooooooooo good. best hawaiian style food i have ever had.

best friedchickenever. we were at the restaurant a couple months ago and raved to everyone how good the food and service was. best friedchickenanywhere. going back tomorrow night , bringing friends. looking forward to an awesome meal.

yummy!. great food, i highly recommend the fried chicken, outstanding flavor.. i reserved a holechickenand will definitely go back again!

legit korean fried chicken. my dining companion and i have traveled in south korea. koreans love fried chicken, something that really interested us on our trip, and something that we enjoyed there when we wanted a taste of home. they have their own spin on it and we thought ma'ono really got it right. we especially enjoyed the kimchee served with the chicken, very delicious. we pre-ordered a wholechickenand we were happy to take home some leftovers.
we each had a whiskey, because of course, and i think we were both sad about the very skimpy pour. we switched to beer for our meal.
we each had a steamed pork bun before our main course and really enjoyed them, they are served with some crunchy pickles that are just the right addition.
i thought our waiter was a little aggressive in trying to up-sale us on a couple of items, but really, no harm no foul.
i will happily return to ma'ono in charming downtown west seattle.

friedchickendinner. ma'ono makes incredible fried chicken. the batter is perfectly seasoned, with just the right amount of crunch. thechickenitself is moist and flavorful.

the menu now includes friedchicken($20 for half, pictured here, or $39 whole) served daily. it comes with kimchi and rice, and sweet chile sauce for dipping. thechickenhas a slightly thick crust with juicy, flavorful meat inside; the staff tells me the secret is in their technique, which involves brining, soaking, multiple dredgings, and double-frying.

overall, i enjoyed my meal – and the tom boy cocktail i ordered – at ma’ono greatly. great conversation and company make every meal better. maybe i’ll go back and order just the fried chicken. i don’t think it’ll make a difference though – the friedchickenis good. but definitely not the best i’ve ever had.