Mangwon-dong Japanese restaurant for black vinegar mazesoba: Padong

Today I've got a review of Padong, a Japanese restaurant that really knows what it's doing in Mangwon-dong, Seoul haha. They've got a nice variety of menu items like futomaki and soba, so it's great for lunch too >_< The interior is pretty as well — let's get right into the Padong review ✨

• ⏰Hours: Tue–Sun 11:30–21:00
• 📍Closed Mondays
• 📍No parking

Where is Padong? A basement spot in Mangwon-dong

Padong is located in the basement level at 47 World Cup buk-ro 17-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul. There's a Padong sign out front, so it was easy to find.

The exterior — there are chairs out front for waiting, and a drawing of the menu too. It's on the basement level, and there's a Padong sign out front so it was easy to find.

What's on the menu at Padong

The menu — main dishes are futomaki, soba, rice bowls, and udon, sides include karaage and fried shrimp, and there's ade, soda, beer, and highballs.

The side dishes are ginger, pickled peppers, and a light soup. The soup felt like it was practically a main dish it was so good.

We ordered futomaki and mazesoba.

Padong's futomaki: fried shrimp, tuna and egg in every slice

Padong's futomaki is packed with fried shrimp, tuna, egg, and vegetables. The rice is already seasoned, so it was delicious even on its own.

The futomaki is packed with fried shrimp, tuna, egg, and vegetables, and the rice is already seasoned so it was so delicious!! If you press it down sideways while eating you can get a full mouthful haha. I really love futomaki, and I could tell the ingredients inside were fresh, and the tuna wasn't fishy at all, which I loved.

Padong's mazesoba with black vinegar, finished with rice

Padong's mazesoba comes with black vinegar on the side. Adding it in halfway through changes the flavor into something sweet and sour, and once you finish the noodles you can ask for rice.

The mazesoba comes with black vinegar on the side. If you add a little in halfway through eating, you get a whole different sweet-and-sour flavor, and once you finish the noodles you can ask for rice! It's topped with garlic flakes, scallions, egg yolk, and seaweed flakes.

The sauce had really soaked into the noodles so it was so delicious, and it wasn't heavy at all! The black vinegar especially was the real kick. When mixing in the rice, adding a bit more black vinegar makes it even better. Eating it while it was still warm made it so much better.

There were a lot of cute little props around too. The music playing softly in the background was nice as well.

Seating and wait at Padong: arriving at 1:30pm

Padong has 4-top and 2-top tables, and visiting around 1:30pm meant we got seated right away. It seems like there would be a wait during peak lunch and dinner hours.

The interior — there were 4-top and 2-top tables, and it looked like there'd be a wait if you went during peak lunch or dinner hours. We visited around 1:30pm and got in right away, and there were still plenty of people coming in after us! The tables were wide too, so it was easy to fit all the food, and it seemed like a great spot for a date >_<

If you're looking for a good restaurant in Mangwon-dong, Seoul, or a place that does Japanese food really well, I recommend Padong 🤍