Breakfast Korean set with abalone seaweed soup near Balsan: Mikodam

Since it was an empty stomach in the morning, I wanted a proper, healthy full-course meal, so I went to a Balsan Station favorite — the upscale Korean set-menu restaurant 🩵Mikodam Magok-Balsan Branch🩵. It's at 1st floor, unit 2, 42 Gangseo-ro 54-gil, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, and it's open daily from 11:00 to 22:00.

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Is there parking at Mikodam Magok-Balsan Branch?

There's a 4-story parking building right next door with room for 77 cars! If you use Mikodam or Ihwajeong, you get 3 hours free. Just make sure to show your parking ticket after eating!

Private room and group seating capacity, plus reservation rules at Mikodam

Mikodam's interior has that sleek, refined Korean set-menu restaurant vibe, and there are actually three private rooms. Rooms fit 6 to 12 people, and group seating fits 13 to 30. It seems perfect for company dinners, family gatherings, or something like a meeting between families where you need to talk quietly💕

One thing to know! Reservations are only possible for 4 or more people, and if you want a room, you have to book it as a separate reservation item!

There's also a separate restroom inside. This actually matters a lot. A lot of places make you go out into the building hallway to use one. If you're going with a group to a Korean restaurant near Balsan Station, Mikodam with its indoor restroom is probably the best choice!

Hansang-gadeuk set for two at 46,000 won: how do you choose the options?

You order via tablet, and the set menu is broken down into pieces, so you have to choose your options.

We went with the Hansang-gadeuk set for two. It's ₩46,000, but it goes up a bit as you pick options.

• Option 1: Beef seaweed soup or flounder seaweed soup / abalone seaweed soup +₩4,000
• Option 2 (required): Cockle bibim with soy sauce or vinegar dressing
• Option 3 (required): Beef jeon (medium) or soy-marinated crab
• Add-on: Grilled mackerel

We added the abalone seaweed soup, so it came to ₩50,000 total (abalone seaweed soup + soy dressing + beef jeon + grilled mackerel).

With all the talk lately about ingredients — like the Chinese kimchi issue — Mikodam seems really careful about sourcing. They said the seaweed is from Wando, the cockles from Beolgyo and Yeosu, the rice is hyangssal from Yeongdeok in North Gyeongsang, and the mackerel is Norwegian. It gave me confidence👍

First impression of the Mikodam table spread

First off, when the table is set, you're just amazed by the number of dishes! Everything looks neat and the ingredients look fresh :)

Sometimes at Korean restaurants you see side dishes that are wilted or dull in color. Mikodam had none of that!

Cockle bibim with soy dressing

🩷Cockle bibim with soy dressing🩷 It's generously loaded with finely chopped chives, and the cockles are packed in between — no skimping on ingredients at all👍

The seasoning is just the right amount of salty, so mixed into rice, you almost don't need any other side dish.

Here's a tip! Try wrapping it in gopchang gim (crispy seasoned laver). The nutty flavor of the laver, the chive aroma, and the chewy cockles all hit at once — total rice thief, haha.

Beef jeon (pan-fried battered beef, medium)

🩷Beef jeon (medium)🩷 The egg coating is thin, not thick, so the beef flavor really comes through! It's not greasy at all — light and tender, the kind of thing kids would eat happily too.

Eat it warm with the chives and onions on top — genuinely delicious!

Abalone seaweed soup (+4,000 won)

🩷Abalone seaweed soup🩷 The ₩4,000 add-on is not even a little bit of a waste of money, haha. It comes with two abalones, and they're genuinely huge!! Because the seaweed is from Wando, the broth has a subtle ocean fragrance, and it's clearly been simmered a long time — cloudy white and deep-flavored. The seasoning isn't strong, so it'd be great to bring parents here who don't like overly stimulating food.

There are also a lot of clams(?) in it, and taking a spoonful of this on an empty stomach in the morning really settled my stomach😆

Grilled mackerel

🩷Grilled mackerel🩷 What is going on with the size of this mackerel, haha.

Big size, thick cut, great flavor.

All three boxes checked for this grilled mackerel — no fishy smell, and grilled evenly on both sides👍

Japchae (stir-fried glass noodles)

What surprised me most here was the japchae. The noodles are genuinely chewy! I wanted to ask how they made it. With japchae, the noodles often end up mushy or stuck together — here, every single strand held its own texture.

And it's light! Japchae can get greasy and sweet, so you get sick of it after a few bites, but here I kept eating. It's not overly seasoned, so it works both as a rice side dish or eaten on its own. Out of all the Korean restaurants I've been to in Magok, this is the first time japchae stuck in my memory like this!

Chicory salad

The chicory salad was great too! It seems to be a lemon dressing — sweet and tangy, so I kept eating it, haha. Chicory is a somewhat bitter vegetable, but paired with the lemon dressing, that bitterness turns refreshing instead.

Stir-fried pork (jeyuk bokkeum)

And the pork stir-fry! Honestly, every single side dish was good, haha. Even as just a side dish, it's on the level of a pork stir-fry specialty restaurant. The sauce has just the right amount of sweetness, not overdone!

The meat isn't dry either — stir-fried nice and tender, so piled on rice it's basically a pork rice bowl. Wrapped in laver, it's also a total rice thief, haha.

How to order unlimited side dish refills at Mikodam

And here's the best part about Mikodam — 🩷the side dishes are refillable🩷! There's a separate side-dish refill menu on the tablet order, so you just add what you need and hit order!!

Here's everything you can refill!

• Japchae
• Pork stir-fry
• Pickles
• Chicory salad
• Geotjeori (fresh kimchi)
• Three-color namul
• Gopchang gim (crispy seasoned laver)
• Jellyfish salad
• Rice

All of it is free✨

If you feel awkward calling a staff member over, this is way more convenient. I ordered extra side dishes without a second thought, haha. But that's the problem — the refills are so easy and tasty that by the time you leave, you're stuffed, haha. Among Korean set-menu restaurants near Balsan Station, this one needs an overeating warning, haha.

Self-serve drinks and puffed corn snacks

🩷Drinks are self-serve too!!🩷 You can drink as much sikhye (sweet rice punch) and plum juice as you want!!

The sikhye has whole rice grains still intact and isn't too sweet! It's perfect for a drink after the meal👍 The plum juice is tangy, great for cutting through a rich meal.

There's also roasted corn puffs. They're kept warm in a rice cooker, and they're really crispy and sweet, haha.

My mom doesn't usually eat corn puffs much, but she had three plates this time, haha. Good for picking at while waiting, and I think people bringing kids would love these too.

Birthday and review events at Mikodam

▪ Birthday event — the concept is that seaweed soup made by someone else tastes best on your birthday.

• Reservation for 4 or more people
• 4 or more menu items ordered
• ID required (if your registered birthday differs, proof like a birthday cake can substitute)

If you meet the above conditions and visit within a week before or after your birthday, you get a free large beef jeon. If you're planning a birthday gathering, grab this!

▪ Egg roll event — call a staff member over, get your receipt, and write a photo review to get a free egg roll!

If you've been searching for a Korean set-menu restaurant near Balsan Station, Korean food in Magok, or Korean food near Balsan Station, give Mikodam Magok-Balsan Branch a try :)