It is not always easy to find a restaurant that is open early on weekends. The brunch for many restaurants starts around 11am, but what do you do when you want a real, solid food (not some light pastry) early in the morning while you are out? Luckily for us, we found a restaurant, Madang, that is open early on weekends, and they do serve real, solid food! The restaurant looked like a big house, and it has a large parking lot, which was great.
The inside was nice and big, spacious and clean. It had clean lines, simple décor, and modern yet homey somehow. I liked the pop of light, pastel green color against dark wood floor and furniture. They seem like they have second floor as well, but I didn’t venture out to see what that looks like. It was certainly not your neighborhood Korean eatery, but more upscale and elegant feel to it. They were playing relaxing jazz music on the background, which was nice.
They offer a really nice breakfast menu until 10:30am. It said “House Coffee Included” on the breakfast menu, but we didn’t really pay attention to it too much, so we ordered Latte ($4.50). So, we missed out on the complimentary coffee. I should’ve read the menu in details… Next time, we will get house coffee!
Anyways, after we put in our order, they brought out the complimentary banchan, or small side dishes, to accompany our food. I always like getting these banchan, they are so good! And they do help enhance the flavor of your main dish, whatever you might have. Each Korean restaurant gives you something different, BCD Tofu House gives you loads of Banchan, including fried fish! The banchan from here at Madang seem a bit upscale to match the atmosphere. They were all very fresh, tasty, and nice quality.
As for the main, my hubby went with their Seaweed Soup ($12), as he wanted something that will be soothing to his stomach. It arrived with a side of white rice.
The soup had bits of beef in it, with a crazy amount of seaweed. They don’t kid around with their seaweed soup. Packed with nutrition, certainly good for digestion and cleaning out your system. Beef broth was so good, earthy and comforting. A great soup, especially when you are not feeling your 100%.
I went with Dried Pollack Soup ($13). You might not be able to tell from the photo, but these soup bowls were quite large. They are really filling!
This soup was awesome, comforting soup to the max! Great on a cold day, or any day, really. It had a great flavor with generous amount of fish meat. It also had tofu, egg, green scallion, and maybe daikon radish? A great deal for the quality and quantity you receive. This soup had a lighter broth compared to that of the seaweed soup. It had the perfect amount of salty flavor from the dried fish. I really enjoyed it!
They had some desserts on the display, but we were quite full, so we didn’t get any dessert this time. None of them had any description of what they were, so I am not sure exactly what they offer… Some different types of cakes and macarons, from the looks of it.
They have one gender-neutral bathroom in the back. It was large, roomy, and clean. I found Listerine with mini paper cups by the sink! How awesome, after having some kimchi or other items that might have strong “aroma,” it is always nice to be able to refresh your breath. Thank you!
We had a nice breakfast here at Madang. We were full and satisfied. The staff (who looked more like a manager than a regular staff) was very polite, courteous, and welcoming. He was soft speaking with a gentle voice, matching the relaxing atmosphere. We would like to go back again and try some other dishes they offer in a near future!
Madang Restaurant & Cafe – 11 Sylvan Ave, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632