Seolleung eel restaurant with mom before Malbok: hanwoo nabe, Manmok

I sort of missed both Chobok and Jungbok (the first two stamina-food days of the Korean summer), so before Malbok (the last one) I went to an eel rice bowl place with my mom to eat something properly restorative. I'd been eyeing this place every time I walked past, and I finally made it. Yay!

Manmok near Seolleung Station: location, hours and parking

Manmok

• Address: 1st floor, 9 Seolleung-ro 82-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
• Hours: daily 11:00-22:00
• Break time: 15:00-17:00
• Last order: 14:20, 21:20
• Parking: free

Come out of Seolleung Station Exit 2 and head into the food alley, and you'll find a classy, wood-paneled restaurant. That's Manmok! The tables are nicely separated by partitions, and there are group seats too, so I thought it would be a good place for a company dinner.

Manmok menu and what we ordered

The menu pages ended up photographed starting from the back, but this is the full menu. There's alcohol like beer, sake, highballs and wine, and for food there are eel rice bowls, nabe (Japanese-style hot pot) and grilled eel. They also run a review event, so if you want draft beer, go for the review event. We ordered the hanwoo (Korean beef) nabe and a half-eel rice bowl.

What do the side dishes look like?

The side dishes started with dotorimuk (acorn jelly). Two pieces each... Acorn jelly is a side dish you only really get when eating out, so eat it while it's there!

There was also seasoned radish and white kimchi. Eel is often eaten with ginger, maybe that's why, but the radish had a ginger aroma, which was unusual.

There were also myeongi namul (pickled wild garlic-like greens), radish, ginger and other jangajji (pickles). Maybe a lot of them are homemade, but none were very salty. I figured they'd be salty with the eel bowl, but they weren't, which surprised me.

The spoons and chopsticks were super heavy and unusual, so I took a photo for no reason. The handles are bumpy so they don't slip, which I liked.

250g hanwoo nabe: a look that justifies the price

At Manmok the hanwoo nabe comes with a hanwoo steak grilled once over charcoal, then sliced and set on top of the nabe. We got two dipping sauces: the first a chili sauce, the second a yuzu ponzu sauce, they told us. When I tried them, the one on the left was sriracha, spicy but not sweet, so it went really well with the nabe!

The hanwoo nabe is on the pricey side, so I wondered what would arrive, and the look made sense. It seemed like the hanwoo steak is grilled once over charcoal, then sliced and eaten together as nabe. We were told that once the nabe starts boiling you should pull the beef out quickly so it doesn't get tough, so we waited. Mom couldn't resist and tried the beef while it was still steak, and said it was incredibly good. It said 250g, and if beef of this quality comes along with it, the value is really good! It's nothing like shabu-shabu with sliced frozen meat.

The mushrooms and vegetables were a generous amount too, so this is definitely not a one-person portion. Even with two of us we were so full that we only ordered a half-eel rice bowl.

Once the nabe started boiling I set the meat aside, and the beef is great, but the nabe broth infused with the beef was really delicious.

I piled on napa cabbage, onion, mushrooms and more and took a big mouthful, and I felt rich. The feeling of eating hanwoo nabe... the best....

Half-eel rice bowl set with Kanto-style eel

They say Manmok's eel uses the Kanto style among Kanto, Kansai and Nagoya styles. The eel is grilled once, steamed, then brushed with sauce and grilled over charcoal two more times, and my reaction was: just be delicious! Personally I like eel that's chewy outside and soft inside, and this texture is trendy these days, so I'm happy. This is how the half-eel rice bowl set comes. There was a sesame sauce salad, so I ate it right away.

Chawanmushi, the Japanese steamed egg

I thought it would be miso soup, but no! It was a katsuobushi (bonito flake) broth.

When I opened the eel rice bowl box, the gloss was so unbelievably shiny that I couldn't believe my eyes. It's not photo editing, it really looks like this.... The rice is Koshihikari, and you can add more rice for an extra charge.

You can also eat it with the wasabi that comes alongside. I took one strip and tried it: slightly chewy outside and incredibly soft inside. And it was much less salty than it looks, so the seasoning was just right and went well with the other side dishes. I thought about trying a bigger size of the eel bowl next time.

Matcha ice cream for dessert: the hidden kicker

Then, just as we were about to leave, they said there was dessert, so we sat back down.

They said there was black tea and matcha ice cream, so I chose matcha, and this matcha ice cream is the kicker. It's exactly the matcha ice cream taste I imagine. Häagen-Dazs level! If you sold this, I'd buy it right away.

Manmok was so good, and next time we have a company dinner I'll suggest here.