Goyang grilled fish restaurant with warm platters: Min Cook Apbadang

After work, I met up with my girlfriend. It had been a while since I’d wanted grilled fish. That’s how we ended up at Min Cook Apbadang Seongsa, a great spot in Seongsa-dong.

Is it close to Goyang IKEA?

It’s on the first floor at 60-1 Heungdo-ro 415beon-gil. It takes less than five minutes by car from Goyang IKEA. It’s just in from the main road, and there’s a menu board outside too.

What fish is on the menu today?

They list the day’s fish at the entrance. That day, there were cutlassfish, flounder, and cod. They say it changes with the season. It seems like they put out whatever is best that day.

Table spacing and ordering

The dining room stretches out long. There’s plenty of space between tables, so you don’t have to worry about the people next to you. I thought it would be nice to come here with parents too.

You order from a tablet at the table. The menu is divided into set meals and specials. The two-person set includes baechu memiljeon (cabbage buckwheat pancake).

Side dishes and cabbage buckwheat pancake

The side dishes come out first once you order. They’re served on a wooden tray.

There were about six kinds of seasoned vegetables and salads. Nothing was overly seasoned, so the ingredients came through as they were. We finished them all before the main dishes arrived, so we got another serving.

We also ordered the cabbage buckwheat pancake. It was pan-fried with a whole piece of cabbage inside. It’s thin, so it doesn’t feel heavy. You can just split it with your chopsticks and eat it.

A robot brings the food

The tablet tells you when the robot has set off. The robot rolls over carrying the food. Once it stops beside the table, you can take the plates down. It was my first time seeing a Seongsa-dong restaurant like this.

Three grilled fish, served warm

Three fish come on the platter. They’re all generously sized. They arrive already grilled on the plate. It was more than enough for the two of us. There’s an induction cooktop under the platter, so everything stays warm while you eat. Even the pieces you pick up late don’t go cold.

The flesh came away softly. The bones separated easily, so when you lifted it with chopsticks, the meat simply came right off. There wasn’t any fishy smell at all.

The yellow croaker had crispy skin. You could hear the crunch when you bit into it.

The seasoning had soaked all the way through.

It was good wrapped in ssam (leaf wraps), too. Lettuce and ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste) come with it.

Charcoal-grilled bulgogi and sotbap come with it too

Charcoal-grilled bulgogi comes with the meal too. It has that smoky fire-grilled flavor, and the seasoning is sweet. It isn’t salty, so it goes well with rice. It was nice to alternate between it and the fish.

The rice comes in a pot. It’s mixed with beans. When you lift the lid, a nutty aroma rises up.

After scooping out the rice, you pour water into the pot to make nurungji (scorched rice). It infuses on its own while you eat. We finished with sungnyung (scorched-rice tea). You don’t need to order it separately. The aroma of the scorched rice spreads richly. You end up finishing every last grain of rice.

Certificates on the wall and takeout information

One wall has several framed certificates. One says Korean Master Craftsman. There’s also a World Food Master frame. Takeout information is posted at the entrance too. If you want to eat it at home, you can take some with you.

A Seongsa-dong grilled fish restaurant that’s good with parents

If you’re looking for a good restaurant in Seongsa-dong, I recommend Min Cook Apbadang Seongsa. The seasonal grilled fish is easy to eat because the bones come away cleanly. Since it’s served over induction, it stays warm until the end. It’s a great Seongsa-dong restaurant to bring your parents to.