Seonleung eel rice bowl restaurant with roomy weekday seats: Manmok
In short
Manmok is an eel rice bowl restaurant in Gangnam, Seoul, a 4-minute walk from Seonleung Station Exit 2. Visiting alone on a weekday at 1pm, the writer was led past the bar table by the entrance to a roomier seat further inside and ordered the whole eel rice bowl with matcha ice cream, where the savory seasoned eel and the spicy-tangy radish salad stood out. Manmok works for solo meals but also takes groups of up to 50, so it holds up as a company dinner or engagement party venue too.
Good to know
- Address
- 9 Seonleung-ro 82-gil, 1F, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
- Getting there
- 4-minute walk from Seonleung Station Exit 2
- Hours
- Daily 11:00–22:00
- Break time
- 15:00–17:00
- Last order
- 14:20 / 21:20
- Parking
- Space for 2 cars
- Restrooms
- Inside the restaurant, separate men's and women's
- Groups
- Up to 50 people
- Lunch menu
- Eel rice bowl — half, whole or one and a half eels
- Dinner menu
- Grilled eel, hanwoo nabe (Korean beef hot pot)
- Drinks
- Sake, highballs, Hibiki, Yebisu draft beer, bokbunja (wild berry) wine
- Perks
- Free corkage (1 bottle for parties of 4 or fewer, 2 bottles for 5 or more), mini cake for birthdays, one draft beer per person for company dinners, one bottle of champagne for engagement parties
as written by the visitor on Sep 5, 2026
Where Manmok is and when it opens
- 📍9 Seonleung-ro 82-gil, 1F, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
- 🚶🏻 4-minute walk from Seonleung Station Exit 2
- ⏰ Daily 11:00–22:00 (break time 15:00–17:00, last order 14:20 / 21:20)
- 🚙 Parking for 2 cars
- ✔️ Restroom inside (gender-separated)
One of my favorite foods is hitsumabushi 🐟🍱 — eel rice bowl. I always make sure to eat it whenever I go to Japan, but my April trip to Tokyo got so hectic that I missed out. So with my eel-bowl craving fully charged, I went out of my way to find a place to eat it, and that was Manmok, near Seonleung Station!
I visited around 1pm on a weekday to have it for lunch. I walked here so eagerly just for this eel rice bowl...
Seonleung has a lot of office workers, but since I went after the lunch peak, it was nice and quiet. And the moment I walked in, my first thought was, wow, this place is so stylish...
Can you eat alone? Bar table vs. the roomy inner seats
Right near the entrance of Manmok there's a bar table that's great for solo dining. Since I came alone, I was about to sit there (a bit of a solo-diner reflex...) but a staff member told me I was welcome to take one of the wider seats, so I sat at a more comfortable spot further in. The staff were all so gentle and kind, which I loved!
Thanks to how sweet the staff were, I ended up seated at the table with the water cup, done and done.
The interior was clean, quiet music was playing, and the overall vibe was really nice. I'd recommend it as a weekend dinner date spot 👍🏻
Seating at Manmok for company dinners and engagement parties
Manmok also has seating that looks great for gatherings or company dinners, and it can accommodate groups of up to 50. A company that treats you to eel is a good company... and it's also a nice spot for engagement gatherings — bring people to Manmok and you'll probably get complimented for having good taste.
What's on the menu at Manmok
The menu basically has the eel rice bowl (half, whole, or 1.5 servings) that most people order until evening, plus grilled eel and hanwoo nabe (Korean beef hot pot) available from dinnertime. Being a proper Japanese restaurant, they also serve sake, highballs, Hibiki, and Yebisu draft beer, along with bokbunja wine, which pairs well with eel. Note that corkage is free.
How the whole eel rice bowl tasted
Since it was my first meal of the day, I'd just worked out and needed protein, and I just love eel rice bowls, I went ahead and ordered the whole portion! I can leave rice behind but I want to eat plenty of eel... 🐷 When it comes to food I love, I turn into someone who could eat endlessly — I could've gone for the premium size if I really wanted to, haha. It came out as a neat, orderly spread, so it was a treat for the eyes too.
I had a few bites of the refreshing, nutty salad first, then quickly dug into the warm eel rice bowl. First bite was eel on its own! I like plain salt-grilled eel too, but eel rice bowl comes topped with seasoned grilled eel, right? That savory richness of the seasoned eel was so, so good!
How does Manmok's eel rice bowl taste? You don't need to go to Japan.
Wasabi is a must, of course, but that pickled radish there was insane. Spicy and tangy, it's the kind of thing that makes you eat more rice, so I alternated a bite of eel rice bowl with a bite of pickled radish and finished it all up neatly. Ah, I want to eat it again 🤤
Dessert ice cream: black tea or matcha?
Manmok also gives you dessert. Ice cream 🍦 you can choose between black tea flavor and matcha flavor, and I picked matcha — it cleansed the palate, was creamy, sweet-and-bitter, and honestly didn't taste cheap at all, it was genuinely delicious. Now I'm curious about the black tea one too, so I guess I really do have to come back... (?)
The restroom is inside the restaurant, and take a look at the amenities they have ready there. So thoughtful.
Perks to check before you book a table
There are also various perks like the ones below, so it's worth inquiring and booking ahead of your visit.
- Free corkage (1 bottle free for 4 or fewer, 2 bottles free for 5 or more)
- Mini cake provided for birthdays
- One draft beer per person provided for company dinners
- One bottle of champagne provided for engagement gatherings
And that was Manmok, the eel rice bowl restaurant near Seonleung Station! Both the taste and the atmosphere were pure and refined through and through.
Where it is
9 Seonleung-ro 82-gil, 1F, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea서울특별시 강남구 선릉로82길 9 1층
