Apgujeong Chinese restaurant with tableside mala soup: Mirim Yangjang

Wanting something different in Apgujeong Rodeo, I visited Mirim Yangjang — a spot famous as an Apgujeong Rodeo favorite and known for its Peking duck, so I had high expectations! 😋 Peking duck is my absolute favorite Chinese dish, and there aren't many places where you can eat it affordably and deliciously, so this felt like a real find.

Where is Mirim Yangjang Apgujeong, and what are the hours?

• 📍 Address: 40 Eonju-ro 168-gil, B1, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
• 🚇 By subway: about 5 minutes on foot from Apgujeong Rodeo Station Exit 5
• ⏰ Hours: Daily 12:00–02:00 / Last order 01:00
• 🚗 Parking: Valet parking available
• 📌 Other: Reservations, takeout, and delivery available

Outside the shop, there's a simple menu board with photos, and my top pick was, of course, Peking duck! They also seem well known for hot pot, along with fried eggplant, guo bao rou (sweet and sour pork), mapo tofu, mala soup, and Hong Kong-style egg noodles.

(A little embarrassing to admit, but) isn't the duck logo just so pretty and cute...

The restaurant is on the basement floor, so I went down a staircase — and the stairs were covered entirely in bright red, giving the feeling of stepping into China for a moment. Apgujeong Rodeo does get a lot of foreign tourists, and indeed there were many foreign guests inside too. Truly an Apgujeong Rodeo favorite.

Booking a weekday dinner on Catch Table and the table setting

Since I'd booked ahead through Catch Table, my table was ready when I arrived at Mirim Yangjang Apgujeong. As I'd already ordered the half Peking duck, they set out cucumber strips, scallion strips, and hoisin sauce for it right away!

As side dishes, there was a tangy bean sprout salad and peanuts — the peanuts were the perfect beer snack...

The bean sprouts were sour, almost like a pickle, which paired really well with the Chinese food!

What we ordered at Mirim Yangjang Apgujeong and what it cost

The menu was quite varied — hot pot, appetizers, soups, vegetable dishes, barbecue, noodles, rice, and more. Deciding what to order at a Chinese restaurant is always the hardest part, but the half Peking duck was a given from the start; the rest took some thought. Seeing so many other guests eating mala soup made me suddenly crave it, so I added that, plus duck fried rice — that one was non-negotiable.

⭐️ Our order — half Peking duck ₩39,000 / duck fried rice ₩8,000 / mala soup ₩20,000 / Coca-Cola ₩3,000 / Sprite ₩3,000 / Tsingtao beer ₩9,000

Ducks hanging in rows... The ones roasted to a golden brown get moved over to the display case on the right. Since it's an open kitchen, you can watch the Peking duck being prepared in real time — it doubles as its own kind of performance, which was a nice touch.

Duck fried rice, 8,000 won

I went back and forth between the duck lettuce wraps and the duck fried rice. In the end I figured a rice dish would be nice, and it turned out to be the right call! I like my food on the saltier side, and the seasoning was spot on, with plenty of meat mixed throughout — really tasty. It also worked great as a palate cleanser at the start of the meal.

Mala soup simmered at the table, 20,000 won

The mala soup was the dish I was most curious about, seeing so many other tables digging into it. I've always had mala soup delivered before, so this was my first time having it cooked in front of me like this! (And also my first time eating mala soup at a Chinese bar rather than a dedicated mala soup shop.) They bring the pot already prepared, then turn on the burner so you can simmer it right at the table.

It came to a bubbling boil pretty quickly. The ingredients were generous — bean sprouts, napa cabbage, fish balls, mushrooms, shrimp, glass noodles, and more. I don't usually eat cilantro, so I wasn't sure how I'd feel about it here, but it actually went surprisingly well with the mala soup — turns out cilantro isn't so bad after all.

There's no spice level option here — it's served exactly as is, so it might be a bit spicy for people who really can't handle heat. I'm not exactly bad with spicy food, so it was fine for me. The moment I took my first sip, I thought, ah, this is real mala soup — the broth was addictive, and I just kept spooning it up. This is around when I ordered the Tsingtao beer, I think.

The broth was so clean and refreshing... 👍🏻 I hadn't even had any alcohol yet but it already felt like a proper hangover cure. It also seems like it'd be a great way to finish off a night of drinking.

Half Peking duck for 39,000 won: how big is the portion?

And now, the moment we'd been waiting for — the half Peking duck! Even at half a duck, the portion was huge... I was genuinely surprised at how generous it was. The best part of Peking duck is the skin, and they gave us plenty of that along with a generous amount of meat too — very satisfying (I secretly love the meat portion).

You can't have Peking duck without yabing (thin steamed wraps) — really, it's not Peking duck without them. The yabing were served warm, steam still rising off them.

Piling on the meat, scallion strips, vegetables, and hoisin sauce, then rolling it up — absolute perfection... The meat was so tender and the vegetables so fresh that each rolled-up bite was fragrant and packed with flavor.

Eating it together with the purple pickled bean sprouts they gave us added a nice tangy touch too. Once you finish the pickled bean sprouts, they'll bring you more. There was even duck left over after finishing all the yabing, so we scraped up the remaining cucumber, scallion strips, and hoisin sauce to finish it off (so good).

Weekday evening mood at Mirim Yangjang and the verdict

Even on a weekday evening, the place was packed and had a lively energy, which I loved — and the food was satisfying across the board. Getting Peking duck this good at such an affordable price is genuinely rare, and Mirim Yangjang really delivered as an Apgujeong Rodeo favorite. I'll definitely be back to try more of the menu 😋💭