Nowon hanjeongsik with autumn walnut porridge: Sutgarak Bansang Masil

Last week I went with my boyfriend to a Nowon hanjeongsik (Korean set-course meal) spot I love — Sutgarak Bansang Masil (숟가락반상 마실). Great value for the price, dish after dish kept coming, and it was so filling that I left completely satisfied!! The food is neat and easy on the stomach, so I'd recommend it as a Nowon meeting-the-parents or family gathering spot too~

Sutgarak Bansang Masil hours and the walk from Nowon Station

• Hours: Daily 11:30–21:30
• Break time 14:30–17:00 (*except weekends and holidays)
• Last order lunch 14:30 / dinner 20:40
• Parking available / groups welcome

To get to Sutgarak Bansang Masil in Nowon, come out of Exit 1 at Nowon Station (Line 4), turn right at the intersection, and go straight toward Nowon Full Gospel Church. It's the second building next to Kkotdongsan Church, so it's easy to find!

You go up the stairs to the entrance on the 2nd floor, and there were so many celebrity signatures on the wall~ Chef Lee Yeon-bok and even a president had apparently stopped by.

Is Sutgarak Bansang Masil right for a Nowon family gathering or meeting-the-parents meal?

Sutgarak Bansang Masil looked big even from the outside, and the interior was spacious with plenty of table room, so it'd be a good spot for a Nowon family gathering.

The interior is upscale and clean, and there are several private rooms in the back — I saw reviews of people using it for a meeting-the-parents dinner in Nowon too!

They also have baby chairs and extra seating ready, so next time I want to come back for a Nowon family gathering~

There's also a waiting room in case there's a line, so you can wait comfortably, and you can even get coffee after your meal!

Masil-jeongsik for two: why spring and autumn dishes arrived together

This is the price menu for Sutgarak Bansang Masil, a Nowon hanjeongsik favorite~ The weekday lunch special is great value too, and there were several types of set courses. We ordered the Masil-jeongsik for two.

They mentioned that since we visited right as the season was shifting to autumn, the spread was a bit different — spring and autumn dishes came out mixed together, so keep that in mind!

There were really a lot of dishes in the set, but they didn't come out one by one like an omakase — they brought them all at once~

Walnut brown rice porridge

The walnut brown rice porridge served before the meal is an autumn menu item. It's not overly seasoned, and the nutty, mild flavor felt like it was cleansing our palate — perfect as a pre-meal porridge.

Perilla seed and seaweed soup

The perilla seaweed soup that came with it was also nutty and clean-tasting thanks to the ground perilla seeds!

Orange butterfly salad

The orange butterfly salad, made with spring greens, sea chickweed, and a tangy orange sauce, had a pretty butterfly-shaped pasta piece on top — it was nice to have a refreshing salad right when things were starting to feel rich.

Chilled whelk salad with vinegar dressing

The whelk vinegar salad layered real whelk with gardenia-dyed lotus root, cucumber, and beet-dyed konjac jelly. It was colorful and pretty to look at, and eating the konjac, whelk, lotus root, and cucumber together gave a great mix of textures — really harmonious and tasty! It had a tangy, sharp kick, so it seemed like a good pick for eating late after something greasy~

Crown daisy lotus-flower pancake

The crown daisy lotus flower pancake comes one per person, and dipped in the oil-soy sauce it was fragrant and nutty — so good!! They said it had clams and lotus root on it, but I couldn't really taste the clam.

Japchae (stir-fried glass noodles)

It didn't look like the butterfly-vegetable japchae or bellflower-root japchae listed on the table setting — it was japchae (glass noodle stir-fry) topped with mustard-colored wood ear mushrooms~ It was nutty and just the right seasoning, so I kept picking at it. The glass noodles had a nice chewy texture too, and the wood ear mushrooms and vegetables were crisp and delicious!

Sweet-and-sour flounder (gajami tangsu)

The flounder tangsu (sweet and sour crispy fish) stayed crispy the whole time without going soggy — a really impressive dish! It came with fried sweet potato and king oyster mushroom, and the flounder flesh inside was soft and moist, totally crispy-outside-tender-inside haha. There was a sweet pumpkin salad in the middle too, and the sauce was sweet and just so good~

Herbal bossam (boiled pork wraps)

The medicinal-herb bossam (boiled pork wrap) had meat that was so tender and soft. Wrapped with dried radish and white kimchi, dipped in salted shrimp — pure honey!

Braised short ribs with mushrooms

The nutrient mushroom braised short rib comes out on a mini brazier, and they lit a candle under it. You just need to cook the mushrooms yourself~ The ribs were LA-style short ribs, and the bone came off easily. They came out already cooked through, so it was super tender! Packed with mushrooms too~

Masil tteokgalbi (grilled short rib patties)

The Masil tteokgalbi (grilled short rib patty) came out midway through, served on a plate that looked like an induction cooktop, which was fun — they said to just cook the onions yourself. The sauce was sweetish and the patty wasn't dry at all, it was soft. The meat wasn't mashed smooth — it had bigger chunks of meat, so the texture was great!

Red yeast cherry-blossom rice hotpot with side dishes

Once you've made your way through the earlier dishes, they bring out the rice hotpot, side dishes, and stew. The cherry-blossom rice, cooked with red yeast rice, was such a pretty pink! Fluffy grains and genuinely delicious.

Side dishes were kimchi, wild sesame leaf greens, garlic scapes, bean sprouts, and stir-fried anchovies~ True to a good Nowon hanjeongsik spot, the sides were mildly seasoned and nutty, so even older family members would probably enjoy them. I wanted to mix in some gochujang and eat it all together haha.

Spring wild chive hot pot

The spring wild chive stew that came with the rice hotpot! I didn't actually see any wild chive, but it was a clear, savory soybean paste stew. Filling when eaten with the rice and side dishes!

At the end, we added water to the rice pot and made scorched-rice tea (sungnyung) too. Such a comforting feeling~

Seasonal dessert: yuja tea

Dessert is given if you ask after you finish eating — it was a chilled yuja tea (citron tea)! It refreshed the palate perfectly, rounding off an already excellent meal at this Nowon hanjeongsik favorite.

Is the Masil-jeongsik course enough food for two?

Every dish at this Nowon Station hanjeongsik favorite was neatly prepared with mild seasoning, so it was easy on the stomach. Two of us ate until we were completely stuffed and still had leftovers — great value and generous portions, so I'll definitely be back. Highly recommend Sutgarak Bansang Masil for a Nowon meeting-the-parents dinner, family gathering, or just great Korean food!!