Hyoseong-dong seafood spot: 8-minute stopwatch prawn grill at Muirang

With the weather heating up again, my appetite dipped and cold food naturally came to mind whenever we thought about eating out. This time we went with family for mulhoe (raw fish cold soup), the perfect dish for hot weather. We visited Muirang Mulhoerang Hyoseong Direct Branch.

Muirang Mulhoerang Hyoseong Direct Branch serves not just mulhoe but also live prawn salt grill, which I love, so it made for a great family outing.

Where is Muirang Mulhoerang Hyoseong branch, and what are its hours?

Muirang Mulhoerang Hyoseong Direct Branch is located at 112 Saebeol-ro, Masters Building #137, Gyeyang-gu, Incheon, South Korea, 712m from Exit 5 of Jakjeon Station.

• 📍 Location: 112 Saebeol-ro, Masters Building #137, Gyeyang-gu, Incheon, South Korea (712m from Jakjeon Station Exit 5)
• 🕒 Hours: 12:00 – 22:00
• Break time 15:00 – 17:00 / Last order 21:00
• Closed every Monday

Is parking covered at Muirang Mulhoerang?

We drove there and it was convenient since parking is available inside the Masters Building. Parking support is given for 1 hour if you eat, and up to 2 hours if you drink alcohol.

Parking can be a bit of a headache when you drive, so being able to park right in the building felt very convenient.

Inside Muirang Mulhoerang: seating and tablet ordering

Walking in, the inside was bigger than I expected.

The tables had good spacing so it didn't feel cramped or stuffy, making it comfortable for a family meal. Ordering was easy too — each table has tablet ordering, so we could look through the menu slowly and order right away.

Menu and what a family of three ordered

Wanting something cold on a hot day, we ordered assorted mulhoe, and I also ordered a small live prawn salt grill, one of my favorites.

Side dishes served with the mulhoe

The basic side dishes included salad, seaweed soup, nuts, and kimchi. While snacking on these while we waited, the mulhoe we'd been waiting for arrived first.

What goes into the assorted mulhoe?

The assorted mulhoe at Muirang Mulhoerang Hyoseong Direct Branch contained flounder, sole sashimi (sekkoshi), sea cucumber, and abalone. Rather than just one type of fish, there were several ingredients together, which made it fun to pick and choose what to eat.

There was a note on the tablet about how to eat mulhoe deliciously, so we followed it.

First, mix the bean powder and sesame oil in the soup well so they don't clump. And the tip was to put the corn noodles that come with it into one side of the mulhoe ahead of time!

It said pre-soaking the noodles lets the broth soak in properly for a chewier bite. So we put the corn noodles in one side of the mulhoe first, and started eating the fish and vegetables.

The homemade broth was sweet and tangy, and eating it in this hot weather really brought my appetite back.

Eating the flounder and sole sashimi in the cold broth, the tangy mulhoe flavor paired well with the texture of the fish, and with sea cucumber and abalone too, I got to enjoy a variety of ingredients in one bowl. Above all, each piece of fish tasted fresh.

After the broth had soaked in a bit, I tried the corn noodles, and they went surprisingly well too. The chewy noodles soaked in the sweet-tangy homemade broth were delicious on their own, and also went well eaten with the fish.

The last tip on the table for eating mulhoe well said that if you order rice ahead of time, let it cool, then mix it into the sauce, it's even better — I definitely want to try that method next time. If you're craving something cold on a hot day, this is exactly the kind of dish that comes to mind.

Free clam soup with two or more servings of mulhoe

While we were eating the mulhoe, a staff member suddenly brought us clam soup. We didn't remember ordering it, so we asked, "We didn't order this, did we?"

It turned out that ordering 2 or more servings of mulhoe gets you clam soup for free. Getting an unexpected extra dish was great for sharing with the family.

But seeing the clam soup suddenly made me want kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup). So we checked the tablet again, and sure enough kalguksu noodles could be added, so we ordered them right away. We put the noodles into the clam soup, waited for them to cook, and tried it — it went better than I expected. The noodles were chewy, and the clam soup broth was refreshing with a slight kick.

We hadn't planned on eating kalguksu from the start, but adding noodles to the free clam soup made it feel like a whole other dish, and it was delicious.

If mulhoe is tangy and cool, the clam kalguksu was warm and refreshing — each had its own charm.

Salt-grilled live prawns timed with an 8-minute stopwatch

There was another dish I'd been looking forward to that day.

The live prawn salt grill. I love shrimp normally, so I ordered it along with the mulhoe, and it's grilled right at the table.

They gave us the prawns along with an 8-minute stopwatch, so we set the timer and waited. As the prawns cooked, a delicious smell started wafting up, and that's when I really wanted to dig in.

We were told to open the lid once the stopwatch beeped after 8 minutes, so we opened it once it went off. They also told us that if we cut off the heads of the cooked prawns and mentioned it, they'd make them into a butter grill. Let me show you first haha.

Such a savory smell wafting up haha.

I ate the body first, and the shrimp meat was really moist and tender. The more I chewed, the more I could taste the shrimp's natural sweetness, and the texture was great too.

Since I usually love live prawn salt grill, I enjoyed it even more.

We originally ordered the small size, but eating it, it was so good I thought, "I should've gotten the medium." Next time I visit, I want to order a bit more generously.

We visited with family this day and shared several dishes — mulhoe, grilled prawns, clam soup, and kalguksu — and it ended up being a much more filling family meal than expected~!