Mullae noodle restaurant with a free wine slushie aperitif: Palmi

It's getting pretty cool in the mornings and evenings these days, right? On the way home from work I keep craving a warm spoonful of soup. I heard a new shabu-shabu place opened near Mullae Station, so my husband and I went to check it out!

Palmi Jogae Kalguksu

An honest review after eating clam shabu kalguksu with a visual so massive it lives up to its name — Palmi (八味), meaning 'eight delicious things gathered in one.'

How to walk to Palmi Jogae Kalguksu from Mullae Station

Palmi Jogae Kalguksu is a 10-minute walk from Mullae Station Exit 1 — just keep walking straight along the apartment complex road. It's an easy, safe walking route for anyone. Palmi Kalguksu sits in the 'opposite' direction from Mullae Art Village, which is what most outsiders think of when they hear Mullae-dong. Let me show you how to get to Palmi Jogae Kalguksu!!!

1. Come out of Mullae Station Exit 1. That day, Mariage rode a Ttareungyi (public bike) from in front of Mullae Station while her husband walked from the subway, meeting at the restaurant — but the bike ride was only 3 minutes, so I'll explain based on walking. Get off at Mullae Station on Line 2, take Exit 1. If you see the entrance to Mullae Neighborhood Park right beside you, you're on the right track!

Inside Palmi: a shabu kalguksu restaurant with an ocean view window

Shabu kalguksu, crowded and chaotic? No! Palmi Jogae Kalguksu has a view-worthy, upscale seafood-restaurant feel. Befitting a newly opened spot, the exterior is clean and classy — it's already gotten popular enough as a Mullae hot spot that there was a CatchTable sign and menu board out front.

Walk in through the door and — wait, is this really a shabu kalguksu place...? There's a stream inside. A water mill is turning. Outside the window, digital waves crash on a screen ocean... and a gorgeous sunset unfolds too.

Clam and beef shabu-shabu by the seaside — the atmosphere alone is delicious

Not the cramped, chaotic shabu-shabu joints like Chaesundang or Deungchon Shabu-shabu. It felt like an upscale Korean restaurant in the middle of the city, right in Mullae. Even on a Monday evening, all kinds of guests were dining — family outings, dating couples, groups of twenty-somethings — and thanks to the upscale vibe and wide table spacing, we could savor our clam kalguksu privately.

Is Palmi good for group dinners? Yes, there's a large private room

There's a fully closed-off private room inside — perfect for group get-togethers near Mullae Station. It's great for meals with friends, and since it's like your own private lodge tucked away, you can gather without worrying about other people's eyes. It'd also work well for family dinners or office get-togethers.

If you love shabu-shabu but've always thought it's a bad choice for meeting up with people, I highly recommend this place. It's clean and calm, so it's easy to chat over the meal too. (Shabu-shabu especially goes over well with older folks and women.)

What we ordered at Palmi: clam shabu kalguksu with basic broth

Honey, honey, I drank too much over the weekend so I want something clean / not too heavy / but delicious. Lol, haven't you heard that line before? For that exact reason, we ordered Palmi Jogae Kalguksu's signature dish, the 'clam shabu kalguksu (basic).'

Palmi also has a clam shabu dinner set

While waiting for the broth to bubble, we browsed the menu. They have unbelievable set menus. Mariage had already decided on the clam shabu kalguksu since it's known as the Mullae shabu kalguksu spot, but at another table we spotted an insane amount of food?!?! Turns out they were having the 'clam shabu dinner set' — clam shabu kalguksu plus one popular signature dish. But honestly, that set... isn't it a combo you'd never imagine? I've laid it out below, so please go hungry and order the set!

Today's seasonal pick: ★Clam Shabu Dinner Set★

• Clam shabu kalguksu (choose basic / spicy / mala broth)
• Signature dish
• Seafood dish
• Side dish
• Drinks

Behind my husband, a massive shabu-shabu pot showed up. I mean, it's clam shabu kalguksu, right? A huge pot piled high with fresh seafood and meat.

The owner's guide to eating clam shabu kalguksu at Palmi

1. Start with the owner's bokbunja wine slushie aperitif

There's a bar inside where the owner stands by, and they give you a specially made aperitif on the house from that bar. It's apparently a slushie mixing bokbunja (Korean black raspberry) and wine — perfectly 'refreshing and sweet' to kick off your appetite. (There's also a range of other cocktails on the drinks menu.)

2. Once the broth boils, add the mussels first

They say it's even better if you put the mussels into the boiling broth first and eat those, then use the now-flavorful broth for the rest of the seafood, vegetables, and two kinds of meat as shabu-shabu. All the seafood was fresh and delicious, but since I'm writing this in September — mussel season! — they were plump and by far the tastiest. ★★★★★

Mariage's tip: ask separately for minced cheongyang chili peppers to add in. It makes the broth even spicier and more refreshing — so good, lol.

3. Cook the vegetables, seafood and meat shabu-shabu style

To draw out a deeper seafood flavor, we added the abalone, scallops, and dongjuk (Korean surf clams) first! The basic broth already tasted clean and refreshing, but the more clams we added, the deeper the broth got. Watching the waves crash out front while shelling clams(?), it felt like my husband and I had taken a beach trip. Dipping the meat briefly into that seafood-bomb broth — yum yum yum yum yum.

Huh...? The meat's clean-tasting. The meat here is good too. It tastes different from what you usually get at shabu-shabu places. Normally, the longer you keep adding meat, the more the grease floats up and it gets greasy — but Palmi uses two kinds of meat, so we could keep eating without it getting heavy or repetitive.

4. Then come the kalguksu noodles — but the real finale is abalone porridge

Order the clam shabu kalguksu and they give you fresh knife-cut noodles in a pretty jar. After finishing the shabu-shabu, we added the fresh noodles, boiled them in the broth, and ate them alongside the owner's own homemade napa cabbage kimchi.

(My husband said it tasted like my mom's kimchi — and my mom's kimchi is delicious, for the record.)

The Palmi course ends with complimentary abalone-innard porridge

(The owner came over) 'Would you like some abalone porridge?' !!!!!!!!!!! Abalone porridge is included with the clam shabu kalguksu order. And it's geu-u jeonbokjuk — abalone porridge made with the abalone innards!

Honestly I thought we'd be too full to finish, since the portion is generous — but we scraped the bowl clean. Personally, I liked it even more than the kalguksu. Don't skip it just because you're full — make sure you try it.

Final verdict on Palmi Jogae Kalguksu: we'd go back

Right now there's an opening event where you can get a 'Palmi goods T-shirt' — kind of cute, right? Haha. I went with just the two of us so I couldn't grab one, but if you've got outgoing friends, go during the event period and score a T-shirt too!

A view-worthy, friendly-bartender-owner-run, freshly-made-with-seasonal-ingredients, delicious-food-and-side-dishes, pleasant Mullae shabu kalguksu restaurant — that's my verdict. Thanks for the great meal, Palmi Shabu Kalguksu!