Seoul ramen restaurant with frothy chicken broth: Mentsuru City Hall

I went and had some of the best Japanese ramen for a meal. This is Mentsuru City Hall Branch.

Mentsuru City Hall Branch: hours, location and parking

• ⏰ Daily 11:30–21:30 (last order 21:00)
• 📌 2 Seosomun-ro 11-gil, 1st floor, Unit 1, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• 🚊 2-minute walk from Exit 10, City Hall Station, Line 2
• 🚘 No parking ❌

Mentsuru City Hall Branch is an office workers' favorite near City Hall Station where you can enjoy authentic Japanese ramen.

Inside Mentsuru City Hall Branch: an open kitchen in the middle

Mentsuru City Hall Branch is located a 1-minute walk from Exit 7 of City Hall Station, Line 2. Because it's so close to City Hall Station, it's well known as a go-to spot for local office workers too.

This is the inside of Mentsuru. Along with the bar counter, there's plenty of window-side table seating, making it perfect for dates, lunch, or dinner.

There's a cooking station right in the middle of the restaurant. With steam rising up, it felt a bit like walking into the restaurant from Spirited Away. It was impressive watching the staff bustling about making ramen.

Mentsuru's menu and how the kiosk ordering works

You order at the kiosk near the entrance, then find a seat yourselves.

The menu is made up of ramen, donburi (rice bowls), and side dishes. The signature dish at this City Hall Station office favorite is the shoyu ramen, known for its clean, light flavor. My friend and I ordered tori paitan and shio ramen.

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Tori paitan, 12,000 won: chicken broth whipped into a foam

So what did we order?

Order — Tori paitan ₩12,000 / Shio ramen ₩11,000

About 5 minutes after ordering, our dishes were served.

Tori paitan is a white-broth chicken ramen with a deep, rich chicken-based soup as its highlight. They also give you a free bowl of rice so you can dunk it in the broth after eating — if you feel like something's missing, I'd recommend adding rice!

The tori paitan's chicken broth is blended to create foam on top, giving it a soft texture. Maybe because of that, the broth felt even smoother.

With thin, tender chashu (braised pork), menma (fermented bamboo shoots), and ajitama (seasoned soft-boiled egg) added in, every bite brought a slightly different flavor. The noodles weren't overcooked either — just the right chewy, springy texture.

Shio ramen, 11,000 won: clean broth seasoned with salt only

My friend ordered the shio ramen. Shio means salt in Japanese, and true to that, the base broth is seasoned only with salt, giving it a clean, light flavor.

The shio ramen broth has a pale brown tint. Its rich aroma really hits your nose.

Like the tori paitan, the shio ramen is also topped with menma, ajitama, and chashu.

With chewy noodles and a light, clean flavor, this also looked like it'd be great as a hangover cure the morning after drinking.

Is Mentsuru City Hall Branch worth it for a solo or office lunch?

Mentsuru City Hall Branch, a favorite among City Hall Station office workers, lets you try a variety of ramen in one sitting — from the clear, deep shoyu ramen to the soft, rich tori paitan and the light shio ramen. It's a great ramen spot near Deoksugung. After your meal, take a stroll around the Deoksugung stone wall walkway right next door~