Gangnam Japanese restaurant for team dinners: Manmok

I found a great restaurant near Seolleung Station in Gangnam that has both a lovely atmosphere and seriously tasty food, so I had to write about it!! It would be great for a date and also for a company dinner! Here’s my honest review of the eel rice bowl and Korean beef hot pot at Manmok!!

Manmok location and visitor information

• 1F, 9 Seolleung-ro 82-gil, Gangnam-gu
• 273 m from Exit 2 of Seolleung Station
• Daily 11:00–22:00
• Break time 15:00–17:00
• Last orders at 14:20 and 21:20
• Groups welcome; reservations available
• Separate restrooms for men and women
• Parking available in front of the restaurant
• Free corkage

Manmok, a restaurant near Seolleung Station with a great atmosphere, is easy to reach—about a five-minute walk from Exit 2!! It is not just convenient on foot: you can park right in front of the restaurant too, as long as you ask ahead about parking!!!

Even the waiting seats out front look kind of luxurious, haha. The entrance is already packed with an upscale vibe, right?!

An upscale interior for group dinners or solo meals

The interior is even more luxurious!!! There is plenty of space between tables and lots of tables, so it looked perfect for booking a group company dinner too!!!

Of course, there are seats that are great for dining alone too!!! Slipping out for a little break during a busy lunch hour and having an eel rice bowl solo sounds so happy.

Even the disposable items set out beside the table were a cut above!! So upscale~~~ As a country bumpkin from Seoul, I got a little too enthusiastic with my reactions and then became self-conscious, hahaha. The restrooms are also inside the restaurant and separated by gender, so there is no chance for anyone to feel awkward. None at all.

The restroom was so luxurious it could rival many hotel restrooms!!! They even had floss and mouthwash ready, and the hand wash was Aesop!!

Reserved-table setup and side dishes

Since I made a reservation, my table was set in advance!! There were sauces, wasabi, and salt so everyone could dip their own meat, plus assorted pickled vegetables and ginger side dishes that pair well with eel and Korean beef.

And there were delicious seasoned vegetable side dishes that made me think, after one bite, that they would be amazing mixed into bibimbap (mixed rice)!!!

When we ordered, they also brought out acorn jelly salad, and its sweet-and-tangy flavor really woke up my appetite.

They said you get a draft beer for writing a review-event post, so why would you not do it?!

Ordering the eel rice bowl and Korean beef hot pot

You can have grilled eel as a rice bowl, as grilled eel, or in a hot pot! They also have Korean beef hot pot!! I wanted both the beef and eel, so I ordered the Korean beef hot pot and a half-portion eel rice bowl! There were lots of wines too, with both dryness and sweetness noted to make choosing a bit easier!! Draft beer, highballs, soju, and beer are on the menu too!!

A half-portion eel rice bowl that melts in your mouth

This is the half-portion eel rice bowl!! It arrives so neatly arranged, right?! First, a tangy salad appetizer gets the saliva flowing~ Normally, chawanmushi (Japanese steamed egg custard) comes as one portion at lunch, but at dinner they were giving one to each person as an event!! Great sense, owner~~ It had been a while since I last had chawanmushi, and wow, the steamed egg was so soft it melted in my mouth. Just melted.

To preserve the eel’s texture and clean flavor, they said it is grilled once, steamed, brushed with sauce, then grilled twice more over charcoal to make it even softer.

Maybe that is why, but the eel genuinely melts in your mouth. Manmok is a Seolleung eel hotspot—no, not just for eel, it is simply a great restaurant. Absolutely.

It was so delicious with wasabi on top like this too.

What goes with eel?! Ginger!! Adding ginger made the pairing absolutely wild~~~ Since this was our first stop for food, I wanted some carbs rather than grilled eel, so choosing the eel rice bowl was a good call.

Thick-sliced beef brisket hot pot with sansho

This is the Korean beef hot pot, and the visuals are insane, right!! It is made with thick slices of beef brisket in a hot pot. I had only tried motsunabe (offal hot pot) before, so this was my first Korean beef hot pot!! Because it is beef, they told us not to simmer it too long or it would turn tough, and to place it over the vegetables once it had cooked enough!!! Perfectly cooked Korean beef brisket, haha. I had only ever eaten brisket thinly sliced and grilled, never thick in a hot pot, so I was really excited—and completely satisfied!!!

The brisket was delicious on its own, but dipping it in salt amplified its richness. They also told us to eat it with sansho pepper, so I tried it—and this stuff is crazy!!! Please, definitely try it with sansho pepper!! (Three stars.)

The Korean beef fat gave the broth such depth that even drinking the broth alone felt soothing, like taking a tonic—and it made me want a drink too, hahaha.

The vegetables were all delicious too, as if every one was super fresh. They were good dipped in sauce, but also tasty simply in their original form with the broth!!

There are so many accompanying sauces that it is fun finding the one that suits your taste best!! Everyone’s preferences differ, so everyone had a different favorite sauce!!

Ice cream to finish the meal

The owner has such great sense—they brought out matcha and black tea ice cream at the end!!! It was much richer and denser than ice cream from most specialty shops!!! Manmok really made me feel looked after throughout the whole meal, so it is a Seolleung restaurant that would satisfy everyone, whether it is a date, the early stages of something romantic, or a company dinner with senior colleagues!! I am definitely going back the next time I am in Seolleung!! You all should head to Manmok too and score some points.