Gwangjin ramen with marble-pop ramune: tori paitan at Mentsuru
Mentsuru Children's Grand Park Branch is a Japanese ramen restaurant at 394 Gwangnaru-ro in Gwangjin, Seoul. Arriving at peak hours, the writer was shown to a bar seat — every bar seat has a phone holder, so plenty of solo diners were eating alone — and ordered tori paitan, abura soba, fried gyoza and a ramune soda you open by pushing the marble down. The verdict: a restaurant that makes you smile even when the world keeps kicking you around.