Seonleung eel rice bowl with turnip pickle and fresh wasabi: Manmok

Hi, this is Dal :) I've been looking for a quiet restaurant to take my parents to lately.

The eel rice bowl I had near Seonleung Station this time was so much better than I expected that I wanted to write it down separately. The place I visited is Manmok.

The eel was grilled crispy on the outside without an overly salty sauce, and the whole spread — sides, chawanmushi, soup, dessert — was so clean and put-together that I wanted to bring my mom and dad back here.

How filling is Manmok's whole-eel rice bowl?

Manmok's eel rice bowl with one whole eel is ₩39,000. We each ordered one per person as adult women, and it turned out to be quite a filling amount.

There's a half-eel option too, but if you love eel, I'd recommend going with the whole one.

Parking at Manmok near Seonleung Station: possible, but ask ahead

Manmok is near Seonleung Station so it's easy to get to by public transit, but some people will still drive. When I visited, there was space for about two cars close to the restaurant.

Spots aren't exactly plentiful though, so instead of parking right away when you arrive, it's best to ask a staff member where to put your car. There's no valet either. The store also had info posted for a few nearby mechanical parking lots, so if the spots are full, a paid lot nearby should work.

Ordering the whole-eel rice bowl at Manmok

Looking at the menu, I decided to just go with the whole eel. The eel rice bowl with one eel is ₩39,000. Eel bowl prices vary so much these days that I was curious how big the portion would actually be.

As an adult woman, finishing the whole bowl left me really full. It's not just eel — chawanmushi, soup and several side dishes come with it, so it felt like a proper full meal.

The best part: how Manmok grills its eel

What stuck with me most at Manmok was definitely the eel itself. The surface was grilled really crispy, and the texture on the first bite was fantastic.

But it wasn't dry all the way through — the inside stayed moist. And the sauce wasn't overly salty or sweet for my taste, either. Eel bowls can get tiresome fast if the sauce flavor is too strong, but here the eel's own flavor came through first, with the sauce supporting it from behind, which I liked.

I've had eel rice bowl in Osaka before, and honestly, this one suited my taste even better. That's how much I liked the way the eel was grilled.

Turnip pickle, sancho pickle and more, so it never gets boring

Manmok's eel rice bowl came with turnip pickle, sancho pepper pickle, fresh wasabi, ginger pickle, aged kimchi (mukeunji), and radish salad. Eating nothing but eel can get a little heavy after a while. Here, there was so much to pair it with that it was fun switching combinations spoon by spoon.

Of all of them, the turnip pickle was truly my favorite.

Crunchy and not too sour, it went great tucked between bites of eel. And surprisingly, the most memorable one was the sancho pickle (the round side dish in the photo!). I'd only ever had sancho as a sprinkled powder on eel before.

Here, served as a pickle, the aroma came through clearly but wasn't overpowering, and it gave the flavor a nice accent point. Personally, I liked this combination even more than sancho powder.

Manmok's fresh wasabi is milder than expected

The wasabi wasn't the tube kind either — it had that distinctive fresh wasabi texture. So instead of a sharp, spicy punch, the aroma was there but it went with the eel in a relatively mellow way.

A piece of eel topped with a bit of fresh wasabi and turnip pickle was, to me, the cleanest bite of all. Being able to keep changing up the combination meant I never got tired of it despite going with the whole-eel portion.

Manmok's chawanmushi is the very soft style

The chawanmushi (steamed egg custard) that came out before the eel was also great. It had shrimp inside, and the egg custard itself was so soft it practically slid down without much chewing.

Much moister and smoother than a typical firm steamed egg, it felt like a gentle way to start before the main dish.

I thought my parents would really enjoy a course like this too.

Matsutake aroma the moment you lift the lid

The matsutake mushroom soup was pretty striking too. The moment you lift the lid, the matsutake aroma rushes up, and the fragrance was better than I expected.

The matsutake mushroom inside felt fresh rather than mushy. Eel is the main event, but the soup wasn't just there for show — it rounded out the whole spread nicely.

Black tea or matcha ice cream to finish

After finishing the meal, you can also pick an ice cream at Manmok. When I visited, there were two flavors: black tea and matcha.

I tried both, and the texture was a bit chewier than regular ice cream, which I liked. The black tea one tasted like an Earl Grey milk tea, and the matcha one was like a matcha latte. The matcha in particular wasn't too sweet, which was great after eating eel. Dessert that's too sweet after greasy food can feel like a lot, but this finished things off cleanly, so I was quite satisfied.

A quiet Gangnam restaurant to bring parents back to

While eating, I kept thinking Manmok would be even better with my mom and dad than with friends.

The restaurant isn't loud, the food is served in a neat, orderly way, and the eel itself is soft without being too intense in flavor — a solid pick for a parents' meal, a family dinner, or a quiet lunch appointment. It's also close to Seonleung Station, so it's easy to get to by public transit.

Manmok's dinner menu and prices are different

I had the eel rice bowl that day, but Manmok has a separate dinner menu. Based on the menu I checked, there was special eel nabe for ₩69,000, special grilled eel (seasoned or salt) for ₩55,000, and hanwoo (Korean beef) nabe for ₩63,000, among others.

If lunch feels like a single-bowl meal, dinner looks like it's meant for eating a bit more slowly alongside cooked dishes. I'd like to come back for dinner next time and try the grilled eel or nabe menu.

The one thing I wish were different at Manmok

Overall I was very satisfied, but the one thing I wished for was an add-on side menu of just eel by itself.

The whole-eel bowl was plenty filling on its own, but the eel was so delicious haha, I found myself wanting a bit more eel rather than more rice. If you could order an extra half portion of eel separately, that would honestly be great.

Looking for an eel rice bowl near Seonleung Station?

If you want a calmer meal around Seonleung or Daechi-dong, or an eel specialty spot to bring your parents to, I'd go back to Manmok again.

The crispy-grilled eel and the combination of sancho pickle and turnip pickle especially stuck with me. Next time I want to visit for dinner and try the grilled eel or nabe menu, and write it up again :)