Bar-table solo ramen with minced garlic in Jung-gu, Seoul: Mentsuru

Today I'm sharing my review of Mentsuru City Hall Branch, a great spot for #CityHallSoloDining!

Mentsuru City Hall Branch hours and what the restaurant offers

Mentsuru City Hall Branch is open daily from 11:00 to 21:30 with last order at 21:00. Takeout, reservations, and group visits are all available.

One minute on foot from City Hall Station Exit 10

Mentsuru City Hall Branch was incredibly close — just a minute's walk from Exit 10 of City Hall Station! City Hall is full of big companies, and everyone's out hunting for good food at lunchtime, so this is a great spot to hit when you're craving ramen.

Solo dining at Mentsuru's bar table, with a phone stand at every seat

Mentsuru City Hall Branch is a ramen restaurant good for both solo and group visits depending on your purpose, and the bar table is the perfect spot for eating alone!

Every seat at the bar table has its own phone stand, and the toast-bread cat design was so cute I wanted to take it home haha

There are aprons placed around the store too, so you can grab one easily if you need it!

Two floors at Mentsuru: first floor and basement

Mentsuru City Hall Branch operates across two floors, 1F and B1, and apparently guides you to 1F if the basement is full!

Shall we take a look at the basement too!?

Since I visited near closing time, the basement was being tidied up! But it was so clean and pleasant, right?

Here's the basic table setting at Mentsuru City Hall Branch! (cup, water, spoon and chopsticks, stand, tissues, pepper, pickles, etc.)

Each kiosk has a different broth and menu

You can choose pork or chicken broth, and apparently the broth base differs by kiosk. For pork, use the kiosk near the stairs down to B1, and for chicken, use the kiosk inside the store! Also, the menus differ by kiosk, so if you want mazesoba or tsukemen, use the B1 kiosk!

They also sell Japanese draft beer and Japanese soda drinks, which pair great with ramen~~~!

If you write a Naver visitor review or a Google Maps review, you get a free drink or fried gyoza, your choice — everyone should join in and try it!

Spicy shoyu ramen, 11,500 won, with minced garlic stirred in

I went back and forth but ended up craving something spicy and hearty, so I ordered the spicy shoyu ramen! (₩11,500) I thought about trying something else, but since it said 'hangover ramen' in parentheses next to the spicy shoyu ramen, I had no choice but to order it ;;;

(Can't resist a hangover cure)

There's a handful of minced garlic on the ramen spoon, and when you stir it well into the broth, it adds an extra depth of savoriness? Spicy and hearty at once — completely addictive;;

Broth, noodles and four slices of chashu as standard

Regular ramen is usually sweet and mild but gets faintly greasy the more you eat, but the shoyu ramen at Mentsuru City Hall Branch was nothing like that at all!!! Overall it's sweet with a spicy finish, so it's both hearty and refreshing at the same time — I instantly understood why they call it hangover ramen! The broth especially was insane ㅇ_ㅇ

The noodles weren't overcooked or too chewy either, cooked to just the right doneness with a nice bite — perfect! The noodles especially held onto the broth so well that the noodles and broth never felt separate, coming together in complete harmony. It felt like the ramen's quality was a level up!?

I didn't even add extra chashu, but four slices came standard!? Most other places only give you two, so the portion was really generous and totally satisfying♥ The chashu had no gamey smell either, soft and chewy, with a deep savory richness from the meat!

Mini donburi at 4,000 won, piled high with rice

The mini donburi I ordered as a side! Loaded generously with vegetables, egg, meat, and more. At ₩4,000, it's cheap for the portion you get, right?

Here it is next to my huge fist for scale haha. They piled the rice so high that this 'mini' donburi should really be renamed 'giant' donburi — the portion was so big I was genuinely amazed ㅇ_ㅇ Hungry office workers who want a filling lunch should definitely visit Mentsuru City Hall Branch!

The donburi has a teriyaki base with a strong soy sauce flavor, so the sauce is on the salty side, but the rice balances it out perfectly so the seasoning landed just right! With the sauce soaked into the chewy rice, it felt like eating a high-quality donburi! There's even meat and egg for a protein boost — absolutely per-fect.

Is Mentsuru City Hall Branch good for eating alone?

My review of Mentsuru City Hall Branch was a satisfying one! The staff were friendly, and the store was spacious and clean, making it great for solo dining. Above all, ramen usually gets greasy the more you eat so I don't have it that often, but this broth was hearty, refreshing, and clean-tasting without any greasiness at all — totally great!!!