Manna Seoul is a food van that serves a Korean take on the American corn dog. These are also known as “k-dogs”and aren’t a common sight in the UK.

For those of you who have no idea what they are, these are essentially frankfurters on a stick, covered in cheese, and then coated in batter before being deep fried. Simple, easy, and fun.

This is a truly unique foodie find as there isn’t anywhere in Cambridge (as far as I know) that serves them. So, for all you foodies out there, you’ll need to investigate this one ASAP!

Tonight they were located at Trumpington Meadows, so I decided to pop by and investigate.

Upon arrival, the van was already quite busy and continued to fill up after my order. This was a reassuring sign of popularity that further fuelled my excitement.

I was warmly greeted by Ian, who was taking orders. He is a lovely guy and full of contagious positive energy that rubbed off on everyone else waiting in the queue. He was chatty and friendly and almost made us forget that we were standing in the miserable weather. He was joined by his partner Lan, who runs the food van with him. She was grinding in the back cooking the corn dogs.

The menu had some interesting options, including the “classic”, the “potato classic”, the “sweet potato classic”, and the “bacon maple classic”.

All options are all made of sausage but you are given the option to have a “half and half”, meaning the corn dog is filled with one half sausage and one half mozzarella. You can also get ones entirely filled with mozzarella.

Ian recommended I try the classic half and half but I couldn’t resist giving the “bacon maple” half and half a go too.

I was very lucky to arrive on the evening I did, as several hours prior, Ian had posted a deal on social media for a free Milky Way corn dog. All I had to do was repeat the phrase mentioned on his social media post when I ordered the rest of my food.

Hooray, free dessert!

My order was as follows

• Classic corn dog (half hotdog, half mozzarella)

• Bacon Maple (half and half, as above)

• Milly Way corn dog (FREE!)

• Kimchi Frank Cheese Fries

I’ll start with the kimchi fries. This is a fairly simple dish that offers chips and cheese that is covered in kimchi (Korean national dish made from fermented cabbage). This is then garnished with herbs, ketchup and mayo. I was pleasantly surprised to find a Frankfurter sausage hidden in all the noise too. 🤣

I enjoyed this refreshing take on a rather everyday dish. It’s familiar enough to please anyone, while still being something a little different. It’s a great way to sample kimchi if you have never had it before and I think they got the balance right when it comes to kimchi to chip ratio, as kimchi can have a very strong taste.

Bacon maple corn dog

Next, was their bacon maple corn dog. This was ordered half and half with the top being mozzarella and the bottom being a frankfurter hotdog.

The crispy outer shell from the deep fried batter gave the corn dog a satisfying crunchy texture which was then followed by a lovely gooey centre from the mozzarella.

The mozzarella also added a fun dynamic to the food, with people across their social media page trying to stretch it as far as possible. I arrived tonight to try and beat the record but it was too busy and pouring with rain to give it any serious attempt but watch this space for next time, as I aim to smash that record!

The bacon added a delicious pop and the maple syrup made it extra sweet and sticky. In terms of flavour and texture there was a lot going on at once, something I would never have expected from a humble sausage on a stick. Great work!

The classic corn dog

The final savory stick was the classic corn dog, the poster child for the corn dog cuisine. This is what most people think when they think k-dog.

I ordered it as half and half, giving it a lovely stringy mozzarella top under a layer of crispy batter. This was then finished off with a frankfurter sausage at the end. I recommend the half and half as it makes the corn dog less samey throughout the entire experience.

I thought for £5, this was a bargain, especially when compared to the bacon maple half and half for £7.50.

‘Milky Way’ corn dog

By taking advantage of the generous promotion for a free Milky Way corn dog, I ended my visit with dessert. All I had to do was mutter the phrase when ordering. This was met with an enthusiastic cheer from both Ian and Lan.

This is very similar to the classic corn dog but had the Frankfurter replaced with a Milky Way chocolate bar.

This was a simple idea and worked so well. I mean, it’s hard to complain when it’s free but I would have been happy to pay up to £4-5 for this, no problem. It was lighter than its savoury corn dog cousin but was such an original way of eating dessert. The Milky Way had melted through the frying prices and turned into a warm melted chocolatey mess. Lovely!

Conclusion

I love Manna Seoul! Ian and Lan have truly made something unique and fun for the Cambridge food scene. There are some great choices on the menu with the ability to customise them to your personal preferences, but for me, the star of the show has to be the bacon maple half and half. This has it all, the diverse texture of a crispy outer shell and a soft cheesy goo, with sweet and savoury flavours throughout, that is then topped off with bits of bacon. Perfection! 😘

Manna Soul may be one of my favourite food vans in the county! 🇰🇷

Don’t forget to check out their social media page to find out where they are next!

Also: A big thank you to all the people who reached out to me tonight and said hello in the queue. It was great speaking to all you Cambridge Foodies! Not only was it lovely meeting you all but I learned an important tip from two of you specifically  – bring a tray! My word, does it make life easier!

Thanks for reading!