After-work fish dinner near Hwajeong Station, 41,500 won: Min Cook

Min Cook Misoyaki near Hwajeong Station, grilled fish after work on a Friday

I went straight to Hwajeong Station after finishing work on Friday. Min Cook Misoyaki near the station is a Japanese-style grilled fish restaurant, and that evening, while trying to figure out what to eat, I suddenly craved grilled fish, so I went. After a hard week of work, Friday evening is the one time you just want to eat something good before heading home, right?

Making grilled fish at home means worrying about the smell and prepping a bunch of stuff, so eating it out with warm rice like this was really convenient.

More than anything, I was pretty hungry that day since I came straight from work haha. Looking at the menu, it was hard to pick just one thing, so I ended up ordering several dishes.

From the outside to the inside — there's a bar table too

Min Cook Misoyaki wasn't hard to find near Hwajeong Station, and even before going in, the place looked neatly kept. When you think of a grilled fish restaurant, you might picture something a bit rough or old-fashioned, but Min Cook Misoyaki felt clean overall rather than that kind of atmosphere. There was a bar table like this, and various seats spread out spaciously, which I liked.

I visited during Friday evening rush hour after work, and there were other people there for dinner too. Once I sat down, it really felt like I was off work for good. The dining space was tidy and the tables were kept clean, so nothing bothered me while I ate. When I'm out hunting for good restaurants, the food matters but I also pay a lot of attention to the atmosphere, and that day I felt comfortable from the moment I walked in until I left. Especially since I'd come straight from work on a Friday evening, it was nice to have a relaxed atmosphere to sit and eat rather than rushing through a meal.

What did I order and how much? Three dishes for 41,500 won

After looking at the menu, I ended up ordering three dishes! You can order by scanning a QR code, which was really convenient. Min Cook Misoyaki has a range of menu items centered on grilled fish. What we ordered that day were the miso-grilled black cod, the sake-don raw salmon rice bowl, and a whole Atka mackerel.

• Miso-grilled black cod — ₩19,000
• Sake-don raw salmon rice bowl — ₩15,000
• Whole salt-grilled Atka mackerel — ₩7,500
• Total — ₩41,500

I was going to just get grilled fish, but I wanted salmon too, so I added the sake-don, and in the end I was glad I ordered a variety of things together.

The complimentary egg porridge and miso soup

When you order, egg porridge, cabbage salad, and miso soup come out first.

The egg porridge served before the meal was soft and lightly seasoned. A few warm spoonfuls felt gentle on the stomach! The salad, pickled radish, and soup made for great basic side dishes.

Sake-don raw salmon rice bowl, ₩15,000

First, the sake-don salmon rice bowl arrived. Sake-don raw salmon rice bowl (₩15,000).

I'm a salmon lover, and it was genuinely fresh and delicious! The raw salmon was soft and mild, so switching from grilled fish to sake-don midway completely changed the flavor. The combination of warm rice with soft salmon was great, and it's a dish salmon fans can safely choose.

It was piled high with thickly sliced salmon, so I really enjoyed eating it.

Ah~ open wide! Here comes the salmon~~! Not a hint of fishiness, just fresh, clean marinated salmon — I really enjoyed it.

Miso-grilled black cod, ₩19,000 — the dish I was most excited about that day

Next up was the miso-grilled black cod. This was the dish I was most looking forward to that day.

Black cod itself is a soft, moist fish that I love eating grilled, and with the miso seasoning added on top, it went really well with rice.

The outside had that salty flavor of the miso seasoning, while the inside flaked apart softly, making it easy to pick apart with chopsticks and pile onto rice.

Coming straight from work and being hungry, piling the black cod flesh onto warm rice, I just kept reaching for more haha. The fish itself wasn't dry at all and was easy to eat because it was so soft.

Whole salt-grilled Atka mackerel, ₩7,500

I ordered this as an extra dish, and since it came out whole, it looked pretty appetizing on the table. Being salt-grilled, the seasoning wasn't strong, so I could really taste the mackerel's own mild flavor.

Gently flaking off the flesh and eating it with rice worked really well too.

The miso-grilled black cod had a rich miso flavor, while the salt-grilled mackerel was mild and plain, so switching between the two fish, each had its own distinct appeal.

In the end, eating two kinds of grilled fish plus the sake-don made for a pretty filling meal that day.

Wrapping up Friday evening on a full stomach

That day I really just went straight from work, so it wasn't so much a grand restaurant hunt as just wanting to grab a good dinner before heading home. But once I got there, the place was clean and the food came out warm, so I ended up having a better meal than expected, and left in a good mood. The miso-grilled black cod stuck with me the most.

The soft black cod flesh with the miso seasoning went great with rice, and the salt-grilled mackerel was nice and mild, so ordering both together worked out well. Adding the sake-don on top meant I could switch between dishes instead of eating grilled fish the whole time, which I also liked. It's a solid spot if you're looking for somewhere to eat dinner after work near Hwajeong Station, or if you're in the mood for grilled fish and rice in a clean setting.

Grilled fish is a bit of a hassle to make at home, so going straight there after work and eating it neatly before heading out reminded me of the perks of eating out. Eating something good on a Friday evening to wrap up the week put me in a much better mood. Next time I visit, I think I'll try some of the other grilled fish I didn't get to this time. Really, nothing beats a good dinner after work on a Friday haha.