À la carte seasoned cockles and cockle dumplings in Pyeongtaek: Kkomak

I really love seafood, but out of everything, I'm completely obsessed with cockles! When I visit my mom's place and she's made a big batch of cockles saying she made your favorite, I genuinely do a happy dance hahahahahaha.

Honestly, cockle specialty spots are usually way down near the origin region and rarely exist in the greater Seoul area, but here in Pyeongtaek's Sosabeol area there's a cockle specialty restaurant called Kkomak Manse!!!

Kkomak Manse in Pyeongtaek's Sosabeol: location and hours

I'd been here before and remembered how plump and delicious the cockles were, so on an evening when I was really craving cockles, I ran straight over (❁´◡`❁)

Kkomak Manse is in its own standalone building, and this area is full of restaurants in standalone buildings. It opens at 11am and closes at 10pm, with a 9pm close on Sundays!

What about parking?

The parking lot is fairly spacious as you'd expect from a standalone building, but sometimes cars still end up double-parked front and back. In that case, staff will help move cars, so just leave your key inside when you get out 😚

They only use fresh live cockles, and Kkomak Manse cleans and preps them in-house. ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ I came as part of a sponsored visit, but this place is genuinely fresh and genuinely delicious!

Ordered à la carte instead of as a set

Let's take a look at the menu first. There's a wide variety of cockle dishes. I usually order the mixed family set to try a bit of everything, but this time I decided to go all in on cockles themselves and ordered à la carte.

• Boseong Manse seasoned cockles (2 servings)
• Cockle dumplings

Banchan and fish cake soup

The basic side dishes come out first. Starting with white kimchi is already a pass in my book, and the tofu kimchi is great as a kind of pre-meal appetizer hahahahahahaha. The seaweed and perilla leaves on the right are for the cockles, so set those aside for now.

Here, the fish cake soup comes as a standard side. It looks like it might be bland since it's literally just fish cake and bok choy with nothing else, but once it's boiled hot and you try it, it's got a surprisingly salty, addictive edge 😉 Take a sip of the broth between bites of rice dishes and it goes down like magic. This place is famous for dongdongju (rice wine), so I wonder if this is meant as a side dish for that too.

Anyway, Kkomak Manse genuinely specializes in fresh live cockles, which is rare, and in the greater Seoul area, places where cockles are the main event and the whole menu is cockle dishes are really hard to find!

💛 Precious Kkomak Manse 💛

I figured cockles would be healthy since they're packed with protein, but apparently they're also loaded with benefits for antioxidants, blood vessels, and immunity. Feels like I should come eat here more often.

Unlimited rice, don't forget the sesame oil

Banchan is self-refill here, and rice is unlimited. We scooped a bowl of rice to mix with the seasoned cockles ourselves. When you scoop that rice, drizzle on some sesame oil — it doubles the flavor, so don't forget to bring that along too (*/ω＼*)

Once it's boiling like this, that's the sign the main dish is about to arrive hahahahahahahaha. Grab a piece of fish cake and then charge straight for the cockles.

Manse seasoned cockles: à la carte gets you more cockles

Ta-da — this is my absolute favorite Kkomak Manse signature dish, the Manse seasoned cockles. When ordered à la carte instead of as part of a set, you get more cockles. It's not just cockles around the rim in a ring — the whole seasoned center is packed with cockles too. No need to hold back, you can eat spoonful after spoonful like this ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Like they recommended, wrapping the cockles in seaweed and perilla leaf is also delicious. Four to five cockles per wrap is the perfect bite size hahahahahahahaha. I don't know how they're this chewy without being tough at all — top tier, seriously top tier.

How to make self-serve cockle bibimbap

This is the cockle bibimbap I made myself. Rice topped with sesame oil, piled high with cockles, then flying fish roe and the sauce — that's it, and since the sauce does all the work, it's just plain delicious. Eating it this way makes you think you should've just ordered the seasoned cockles instead of the bibimbap. Being able to add as many cockles as you want feels like some kind of insane power 😋

Wrapping the nicely mixed rice in seaweed is also a treat.

Cockle dumplings, ordered as a side

I was curious about dumplings with cockles inside, so I ordered them as a side. They're shaped like leaves — just dip them in the soy sauce served alongside. You could taste both the meat and the cockles, which was interesting to notice 👀

Curious about the filling, I cut one open with scissors and there really were quite a lot of cockles inside, which was fun hahahahahahahahaha. It was tasty, but honestly no dish can ever beat the plain seasoned cockles. Everyone, go order the Manse seasoned cockles twice ✨

I headed out reading a sign that said something like "thanks for cockle-ing by" (a pun with 오다/kkomak). If you're craving cockles until you're stuffed, I recommend Kkomak Manse, a favorite spot in Pyeongtaek's Sosabeol :)