Gwangjin ramen restaurant, abura soba vs mazesoba: Mentsuru

When you can't decide what to eat near Children's Grand Park or Sejong University, go with Mentsuru. The side order of chicken karaage isn't optional — it's a must:)

Where is Mentsuru Children's Grand Park Branch, and what are its hours?

• 📍Address: 394 Gwangnaru-ro, 1st floor, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• ⏰Hours: Open daily Monday–Sunday 11:00–23:00 / last order 22:30
• 🚗Parking: No dedicated building lot, use nearby public parking
• High chairs available
• Group seating possible
• Takeout and Naver reservations available

Hi, this is Rito. 🇯🇵🇯🇵 These days even when I go to Japan and try ramen there, it sometimes tastes similar across the board to a Korean palate — I think that's because my taste got trained by a ramen place in Seoul called Mentsuru.

Solo bar seats at Mentsuru, and room for groups too

Mentsuru has a clean izakaya-style interior where you can eat comfortably, so if I'm nearby it's usually my go-to for a meal. Group reservations are possible, but eating alone or as a pair works just as well, which I like.

The bar-table seats are essentially solo seats — they're partitioned off in front so you can comfortably watch videos while eating, and I kept thinking how relaxed the whole meal felt.

Kiosk ordering at Mentsuru and prices in the low 10,000s of won

You can order from the kiosk at your seat, or if you're picking up takeout or ordering together with others, there's a kiosk at the entrance too. I grabbed a seat first and ordered from there.

Prices sit around ₩10,000 to the low ₩10,000s, so it's not a heavy ask for one meal, and the portions are huge for the price — you'll feel very full. I think I've tried everything except the shio ramen, and personally I'm an abura soba lover, so I really recommend trying it.

Hangover day at Mentsuru: motsu ramen or spicy shoyu ramen

If you drank too much last night or you're craving something spicy, either the motsu ramen or the spicy shoyu ramen will clear your head nicely. The topping on the motsu ramen gets torched, which adds a smoky flavor too — even better.

🍚🍚 For rice dishes there's hormone-don and gyudon, and apparently the sauce used in both is Mentsuru's own special sauce. People at nearby tables who ordered the rice dishes all said they were delicious, so now I'm curious too :)

The kombu vinegar served with Mentsuru's abura soba

Everything is cooked fresh to order, so today's dish arrived after about 10 minutes. Since abura soba is Japanese-style oil ramen, they serve it with kombu (kelp) vinegar on the side.

The kombu vinegar isn't required — you mix the noodles first, taste, and add it only if you feel it needs more umami to balance the flavor. I found it plenty tasty without it, so I skipped it :)

Abura soba vs mazesoba: what's the difference?

I used to think there was no real difference between abura soba and mazesoba, but it turns out mazesoba is a 'mixed noodle' dish with ground meat, chives, egg yolk and so on, while abura soba is built around oil — the point is the flavor of noodles and oil together :)

Mentsuru chicken karaage, 7,000 won for whole fried chicken thigh

And the thing you absolutely must order is the ₩7,000 chicken karaage. It's not just frozen chicken fried up — they batter and fry whole chicken thigh meat, so it's crispy outside and juicy inside through and through.

Honestly, it's good enough that I'd say it's the best karaage I've had so far — almost suspiciously good. 🌶️🌶️ The mayo and chili sauce combo works really well, so I recommend it. I think I've ordered this more than five times now, haha.

Mentsuru's receipt review event and Wi-Fi

Just so you know, you can get a free fried gyoza or a drink as part of the review event when you write a receipt review!

There's a review guide, though, so if you include the suggested keywords it probably helps both sides. But honestly the ingredients were so fresh I couldn't resist clicking that review button. It was also perfect for a solo meal :)

📞📞 To help you save data while eating, the Wi-Fi password was kindly written right at the table, and there was also a QR code for anyone who finds typing it in a hassle — easy to connect either way.

I ended the day with a properly filling meal once again. The owner was kind too, and this Konkuk-area favorite, Mentsuru, would be more than perfect for anyone visiting Children's Grand Park and looking for a place to eat with kids.