Yongsan ramen restaurant with chicken rice bowl: Menya Seoul

Warm ramen on the seventh floor of Yongsan I'Park Mall

I headed to Yongsan, which is close to Yeongdeungpo. Yongsan Station connects directly to Yongsan I'Park Mall, so getting around is easy. There are so many restaurants in I'Park Mall that I wondered what to have for lunch, then started craving a warm broth and stopped by Menya Seoul 🍜

It is located in the Food Street area on the seventh floor, so it is a great place to stop for a meal while looking around I'Park Mall.

Carefully making ramen delicious enough to eat every day

Menya Seoul is the kind of place where you can properly enjoy a high-quality meal.

There are comfortable seats for solo diners, and since it is set up like a food court, I chose a larger table for a more relaxed meal.

Choosing your spice level and set menu

The menu is more varied than I expected, and you can adjust the flavor, too. There is everything from mild broth to spicy and mala broth, plus great-value set menus, so I recommend a set over ordering à la carte.

• Choose 1 of 3 sides: small karaage, crisp gyoza, or small sweet soy chicken rice bowl
• Choose 1 of 5 drinks: Cola, Coke Zero, Sprite, sparkling water, or Pororo juice
• Mala contains cilantro, so please let them know in advance if you do not want it ❗️

They also have king prawn cold ramen, with crisp fried king prawns and refreshing broth, and their special whole pork belly mazesoba (sauce-mixed noodles), flavored with thick pork belly and a house sauce. I normally love mazesoba and order it whenever I go to a ramen place, so I need to try it at Menya Seoul next time.

Dongpo pork and springy noodles in the spicy chashu ramen

Here is the Dongpo pork chashu ramen I ordered because I was craving a warm broth. The broth ramen is flavored with 25 ingredients and comes with Dongpo pork made from 100 grams of five-layer pork belly, plus ajitama (seasoned soft-boiled egg) aged for 48 hours in a house sauce—how could it not be delicious? It is addictive. It is not intensely spicy, just nicely spicy and delicious.

I considered mild, but I was in the mood for heat, so I chose the spicy level. Depending on your taste, I think mild, spicy, or mala would all be good choices.

At Menya Seoul, you can choose your topping, and I picked ramen topped with Dongpo pork chashu. The Dongpo pork was tender, with no unpleasant smell, and delicious. You can choose between Dongpo pork and jambon. The big pieces of Dongpo pork were so soft they practically melted in my mouth, giving it a slightly different feel from typical ramen.

The noodles did not get overly soft and had just the right amount of spring, so they were easy to enjoy with the broth until the last bite. The bouncy noodles came with big pieces of Dongpo pork, and the toppings were quite generous too: jambon, wakame seaweed, and a soft-boiled egg. The soft-boiled egg, which is essential in ramen, went wonderfully with it. Dipping even the egg lightly in the broth made it a great match.

It would also be nice to add rice to the warm broth and slurp it all up.

A large sweet soy chicken rice bowl for my child

As expected of a large size, the portion was quite generous and made for a filling meal. I chose it for my child, and once the rice was mixed with the sweet sauce, we just kept eating.

The appetizing chicken over rice and the sweet-salty soy sauce come together in a flavor everyone can enjoy without much debate. The chicken is cut into just the right size for mixing with the rice, so it is perfect to mix the rice with sauce and top each bite with a piece. When the chicken rice bowl starts to feel rich, one sip of ramen broth clears it right away.

A crisp gyoza set when ramen alone is not enough

The set menu comes with a drink and a side, making it perfect for anyone who feels ramen alone would be a little lacking. The gyoza that came as our side were fried wonderfully crisp and went so well with everything.

Menya Seoul is inside Yongsan I'Park Mall, so it is convenient for a meal without going far. It has rice bowl options as well as ramen, so it is nice to visit with a child. It is also great for a leisurely solo meal, or for a hearty meal before or after a movie or when you are tired after shopping. How about a bowl of ramen at Menya Seoul? I would recommend Menya Seoul when you are wondering what to eat at Yongsan I'Park Mall.