No-wait weekend lunch eel rice bowl mixed with wasabi rice: Manmok

Now that it's turning cool morning and night with autumn here, there seem to be a lot more business meetings lately. Today I went to Manmok, an eel rice bowl and hitsumabushi specialty restaurant that's not too heavy but still has a sense of formality and atmosphere~

Manmok's location, parking, and vibe

Manmok, the eel rice bowl specialist, is located right in the middle of the strip of good restaurants near Seonleung Station Exit 2.

There's parking for about 2 cars right in front of the restaurant, so if you're lucky you might get a spot — and if you're curious about availability, they said you can just call the store to check~

The overall mood was calm and cozy. The seats in the back with softly dimmed lighting have blinds that block sightlines, so if you want more privacy you can just ask them to lower them~

There are also relatively bright seats by the window, so depending on whether you're dining solo or with company, you can pick what suits your mood.

Are the lunch and dinner menus different?

Now let's really dig into the menu! It changes a bit between lunch and dinner — during lunch hours there's just one item: eel rice bowl! Talk about specialist energy. You only choose how much eel you want, and the rice comes sized accordingly~

There's also draft beer and 3 kinds of highball with a lunch discount, so it's easy to have a light drink alongside your meal, right?

But at dinner, the menu expands with grilled eel, eel hot pot, hanwoo nabe and more, so keep that in mind!

There's also a wider range of drinks at dinner — sake, highball, and wine — so if you're planning a gathering or team dinner, evening might be the way to go. We visited around 2pm on a weekend and sat down with no wait at all, and could order right away~

Today's order: eel rice bowl (half), eel rice bowl (whole), Yebisu draft beer

Yebisu draft beer as a side drink

✔️Yebisu draft beer, ₩9,000. The first thing that arrived was the Yebisu draft, and since it was still a bit warm during the day, taking a long cold sip felt completely refreshing!

These days you see a lot of Japanese draft beers around, but Yebisu draft is still fairly rare, and it happened to be the beer I enjoyed when I went to Fukuoka, so I was really happy to see it and ordered right away! The beer paired surprisingly well with the glossy eel.

What comes with the basic eel rice bowl set?

This is the half-portion eel rice bowl I ordered. The shared basics that come with every order were salad, various pickled sides, chawanmushi (steamed egg custard), and soup.

I started with the warm shrimp chawanmushi first, and it had a totally smooth, pudding-like texture with shrimp inside, making it a great appetizer.

Salad, various pickles, wasabi, and soup were all served individually as a proper set meal per person, which made me think this would be perfect for hosting guests~

Is the half-portion eel rice bowl enough?

Time to really dig into the eel rice bowl! I don't eat that much, so I ordered the half portion,

and even the half came with the thick head-side cut, so the meat was plump and had a great texture.

The rice underneath already comes drizzled with a soy-based sauce, and the eel on top is already seasoned nicely, so all you have to do is mix it up — super convenient.

When I wanted to switch things up a little, adding a bit of the wasabi they gave us on top brought together the sharp bite and the eel's richness into a savory, addictive combination.

The trick of mixing wasabi straight into the rice

This is a tip I'd recommend if you like wasabi and are eating a rice bowl with a slightly fatty fish like eel or salmon!

Instead of putting wasabi on top, mix it directly into the rice!

You might think that's too much wasabi, but the sinus-tingling kick actually brings out the deep, rich fattiness of eel or salmon even more. It's a method I use often whenever I eat eel rice bowls like today, or sake-don (salmon rice bowl), so it might be worth a try!

This is my companion Duckie's whole-portion bowl — all the basic side dishes were the same, just with more eel and more rice.

I said it was 'just more,' but honestly the size difference was quite noticeable, and feeling a bit envious, I ended up stealing some of Duckie's. It's not like my half portion wasn't enough — I just wanted to steal a bite anyway.

Is there ice cream for dessert?

Right around when we were finishing up, the staff brought out dessert — one black tea and one matcha ice cream each. (You can choose the flavor!)

Both had a really rich milk tea (black tea) flavor and matcha flavor, and they cleaned up the palate nicely, sending us off feeling refreshed and happy — a great dessert!

(TMI) Duckie and I both loved the ice cream so much we said we'd stock up if they sold it by itself.

What kind of occasion is Manmok good for?

So how did today's Gangnam eel rice bowl restaurant sound? The line printed on the menu,

A place where quiet hospitality lingers

really fit this restaurant perfectly — while eating, I kept thinking this would be a great, non-intimidating spot to bring guests. From the mood to the food, everything exceeded expectations.

• When you need a meal spot for guests near Seonleung Station
• When you want a quiet mood and an eel rice bowl set meal for a meeting
• When you want a clean, unpretentious dinner spot near Seonleung Station for a team dinner
• When you want a hearty, restorative solo meal

I recommend Manmok, an eel rice bowl specialist a 5-minute walk from Seonleung Station~