Nowon Korean restaurant with a long spring course: Sutgarak Bansang Masil

If you are looking in Nowon for a Korean restaurant to eat with your parents or hold a slightly formal family gathering, I visited one worth keeping an eye on. This time, I went to Sutgarak Bansang Masil (숟가락반상 마실). What I ordered was the Masil Set Meal at ₩27,000 per person × 2 = ₩54,000. And to give you the conclusion first: I ate really well.

Exterior of Sutgarak Bansang Masil

A Nowon Korean restaurant that stood out from its hanok-style entrance

Sutgarak Bansang Masil is at 412 Nowon-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul, South Korea. The large “fusion Korean set meal” sign was visible even from a distance, so it was not difficult to find.

Entrance with a hanok-style roof

The entrance in particular was decorated with a hanok-style feel, so its atmosphere was completely different even among the surrounding buildings. Before I had even entered, my first impression was, “We’re going to have a proper Korean meal today.” The restaurant is on the second floor, so we went up the stairs.

Stairs leading up to the second floor

An interior much larger than I expected from outside

I went up to the second floor and entered the restaurant, and the very first thing I thought was this: “It’s this big?”

Restaurant entrance

Central restaurant area

With wood flooring and warm lighting as its base, the restaurant had a central area decorated with a flowering tree, benches, and plants, creating an overall calm mood. The regular table area was quite spacious too.

Regular table seating

As I looked around, I also found several private rooms in different sizes. We ate in the regular seating area that day, but with private rooms of various sizes set apart, there seemed to be plenty of choice in where to sit.

It looked useful for everything from small get-togethers to larger groups, so I think it would suit people wanting a more private setting for a Nowon family meeting between two families or a family gathering. If you want a room that fits your party size, it would probably be more convenient to ask in advance when making a reservation.

Separate spaces for waiting and having coffee, too

Here was another thing I liked. Apart from the dining area, there was a separate place to sit and wait for a while, as well as a place to have coffee.

Waiting and coffee area

When you make plans with your parents or have a family gathering with several people, it is hard for everyone to arrive at the same time, right? In that case, having somewhere separate to sit and wait rather than hovering beside the table is quietly convenient. After eating, you can also have a cup of coffee and rest for a moment instead of heading straight outside. Seeing it in person, this was quite a practical feature for a gathering venue.

I checked the restrooms myself, too

Restroom entrance and interior

You might wonder whether a restaurant review needs to talk about the restrooms too… but for a gathering venue, it does. 😆 There were separate men’s and women’s restrooms inside the restaurant, and they were clean and well maintained when I visited. Especially when you are bringing your parents or staying for a long meal, these facilities matter more than you might think, along with the food.

A wall filled with celebrity signatures

While looking around the restaurant, there was one spot I spent a while checking out: a wall filled with signatures and traces of visits from famous people. There were quite a lot of signatures from entertainers and other notable people, including one from a former president. Perhaps because of that, it felt less like a recently opened restaurant and more like a place that has welcomed a wide range of guests over a long time. It was quite fun looking over all the signatures packed onto the wall.

Sutgarak Bansang Masil menu and prices

Full menu

I photographed the menu in detail too. At the time of my visit, weekday lunch menus were divided into Weekday Lunch A at ₩16,900, B at ₩20,000, and C at ₩24,000. The menu stated that the weekday lunch special was available from 11:30 to 15:00, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays.

The set meals were Basic Set Meal ₩22,000, Masil Set Meal ₩27,000, Chamjoeun Set Meal ₩32,000, Gwihaan Set Meal ₩37,000, and Special Set Meal ₩42,000, making it easy to choose according to your budget and how many dishes you wanted. Every set meal requires one order per person, and the menu said adult pricing applies from age 8.

Detailed Masil Set Meal menu

We ordered the Masil Set Meal for two. ₩27,000 × 2, for a total of ₩54,000.

Masil Set Meal order slip

What order does the Masil Set Meal come in?

The Masil Set Meal was not simply rice and a few side dishes arriving all at once. It began with porridge, then continued in order through appetizers, bossam (boiled pork wraps), tteokgalbi (grilled minced beef patties), braised short ribs, rice, hot pot, and dessert.

Job’s tears cherry blossom porridge → perilla seed seaweed soup → orange butterfly salad → whelk vinegar-dressed cold dish → crown daisy lotus-root pancake → fire forsythia fritter → wild chive star butterfly japchae → medicinal bossam → Masil tteokgalbi → nourishing mushroom galbi-jjim → cherry blossom rice → spring wild chive soybean-paste hot pot → seasonal greens and napa cabbage kimchi → seasonal dessert

It is quite a long list even just written out, right? When you actually eat it, it feels even longer.

Starting with Job’s tears cherry blossom porridge

Job’s tears cherry blossom porridge

The first dish was Job’s tears cherry blossom porridge. The meal began with soft porridge in a small bowl. A little red garnish sat on top, and as its name suggests, the first course was pretty in color.

Spring on a plate: orange butterfly salad

Next came the orange butterfly salad. It had assorted leafy greens, sprouts, and orange together, and the pink butterfly-shaped decoration immediately caught my eye. Masil had a different color palette on every plate, so it was fun to look at.

Whelk vinegar-dressed cold dish and crown daisy lotus-root pancake

Whelk vinegar-dressed cold dish

The whelk vinegar-dressed cold dish came prettily arranged with lotus root and various vegetables. The plating felt carefully considered, making this one of the dishes that had me taking lots of photos that day.

Next was the crown daisy lotus-root pancake. The way it was topped while preserving the cross-section of the lotus root was distinctive. They were familiar Korean ingredients, but the different presentation on the plate really gave it a course-meal feeling.

Fire forsythia fritter and wild chive star butterfly japchae

The fire forsythia fritter arrived with a decoration reminiscent of yellow spring flowers. With shrimp as the visual centerpiece, it had a clear presence even in photos. Then came the wild chive star butterfly japchae (stir-fried glass noodles). By this point, the main dishes had not even started yet. That was when I slowly realized: for a ₩27,000 set meal, this course is substantial and long.

Three main dishes follow

Medicinal bossam and Masil tteokgalbi

The first was medicinal bossam. Thickly sliced meat, napa cabbage, seasoned vegetables, and salted shrimp were neatly arranged on one plate. Since many courses followed, no one dish came in an overwhelming amount; it was a good portion to sample alongside the other food.

Next was Masil tteokgalbi. It arrived on a hot iron plate lined with onion, topped with nicely browned tteokgalbi.

Nourishing mushroom galbi-jjim with an abundance of mushrooms

Nourishing mushroom galbi-jjim

Then came the visually overwhelming nourishing mushroom galbi-jjim (braised short ribs). A large bowl was generously filled with ribs, several kinds of mushrooms, green onion, chili peppers, and more.

When I picked up mushrooms and ribs together, they photographed so well that I took several shots of this one too. Overall, the food that day was really delicious, and from a blogger’s point of view, this dish made the ingredients visible at a glance, so it was great to capture on video too.

Finishing the meal with cherry blossom rice and spring wild chive soybean-paste hot pot

Cherry blossom rice

After the main dishes came cherry blossom rice. The subtly pink rice was topped with green beans, so it looked different from ordinary white rice from the start. The spring wild chive soybean-paste hot pot served alongside had generous amounts of wild chives, tofu, and other ingredients. With side dishes such as seasonal greens and napa cabbage kimchi added in, the finale felt like a proper full Korean table setting.

The Masil Set Meal ends after dessert, too

Finally, there was even a cup of tea as the seasonal dessert. Starting with porridge and moving through salad, cold dishes, pancakes, fritters, japchae, bossam, tteokgalbi, braised ribs, rice, and hot pot, I felt like I had been properly treated to a full meal.

If you are looking for a Nowon venue for a family meeting or gathering

We ate in the regular seating area on this visit, but the restaurant I looked around was considerably larger than expected, and I could see private rooms in various sizes. There was also free-parking guidance, a separate waiting area, a space for coffee, and clean, well-maintained restrooms.

If you are looking for a place in Nowon for a family gathering or a meeting between two families, I would highly recommend Sutgarak Bansang Masil. Along with delicious food, it has a spacious setting, private rooms, parking, and a waiting area, making it a good place to arrange an important occasion.