Gwangjin ramen restaurant for grilled offal rice bowls: Mentsuru

The authentic Japanese ramen specialist Mentsuru had opened near Children's Grand Park Station, so I stopped by for lunch after running an errand. Children's Grand Park Station is also close to Konkuk University, making it a nice location to enjoy good food a little more leisurely.

A Japanese ramen restaurant near Children's Grand Park Station

Mentsuru is a distinctive ramen spot where you can try classic Japanese-style ramen, from clean shoyu ramen to hot and spicy motsu ramen. With branches around Seoul, it is an easy restaurant to seek out whenever you are craving ramen. Photos of the signature dishes are displayed out front, so you can order by picture even if the menu names are unfamiliar. It is also comfortable for eating or drinking alone, making it an easy Children's Grand Park Station restaurant to visit.

• Address: 1F, 394 Gwangnaru-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, South Korea (서울 광진구 광나루로 394 1층)
• Hours: Daily 11:00–23:00, last order 22:30
• No parking: use the paid Gwangjin Plaza Public Parking Lot across from the restaurant

There are larger tables deeper inside and face-to-face bar seating near the entrance, so it was great both for eating alone and for couples dining as two. I went at an in-between lunch hour, but customers kept coming in, which made it feel like a true neighborhood favorite near Children's Grand Park.

There was a kiosk, but each table also had a tablet, so I sat down, looked over the menu, and ordered there. Water, pickled radish, chopsticks, and other meal essentials are set above the table for you to grab.

From ramen and rice bowls to signature sides

The ramen selection ranges from soup-based ramen to abura soba (soupless ramen), and there are also horumon-don and gyudon rice bowls. Sides include karaage (Japanese fried chicken), chicken-skin gyoza, and takoyaki; the chicken-skin gyoza is Mentsuru's signature side and well worth trying at least once.

Leave a Naver receipt review to receive a free drink or fried gyoza, so do not miss it~

The tori paitan and horumon-don I ordered

At Mentsuru Children's Grand Park Branch, I ordered the tori paitan and horumon-don.

Rich, full-bodied chicken-bone broth: tori paitan

Tori paitan is ramen made by simmering chicken bones for a long time into a rich broth, and I ordered it because I love a deep, full-bodied soup. The properly simmered chicken-bone broth held its foam for a long time and was packed with flavor.

It came with no fewer than four thin, wide slices of meat, which felt like such a great deal. I added an extra soft-boiled egg, which was even better dipped in the broth. The soup was so rich and delicious that it seemed perfect with rice mixed in, so I had a spoonful of rice from the bowl alongside it.

The ramen noodles were a good thickness and paired beautifully with both the broth and meat. Just trying the tori paitan gives you a sense of how well they make ramen. It was the best tori paitan ramen I have had recently.

Horumon-don piled high with flame-grilled beef offal and brisket

Horumon-don is a special rice bowl made with beef large intestine and thin-sliced beef brisket in a secret sauce. The beef offal and brisket arrived piled up like a mountain on one side.

The seasoned beef offal was grilled directly over flame, giving it a lovely smoky flavor without any unpleasant odor. Beef offal is not something I usually seek out, but prepared like this, I just kept eating it. It had clearly been cleaned and prepared well, because it was not tough and was easy to eat.

It also came with beef brisket, and having the chewy meat alongside the springy, fatty offal made its appeal stand out even more. If you want only the brisket, you can order gyudon instead.

I broke the egg yolk into the sauce-soaked rice below and mixed in the scallions and onions. Adding scallions, onions, and wasabi in different combinations meant that even one rice bowl offered lots of different charms.

Raw onion with its spicy bite and aroma, pickled ginger, and chili peppers came alongside; having a little with each bite cut through the richness and made everything taste even better. With no break time, this was a true neighborhood favorite near Children's Grand Park Station where you can drop in for a comfortable meal anytime. Mentsuru Children's Grand Park Branch is where you can have proper ramen and rice bowls without going all the way to Japan.