Magok Korean restaurant with beef seaweed soup and Jeju crab: Mikodam

Why Mikodam near Balsan Station works for a meal with parents

I went back to Mikodam, a Korean restaurant in Magok that I really enjoyed last time, for a weekend lunch. This was already my second visit — the neat, tidy style of Korean food I had last time stuck with me, so I couldn't stop thinking about coming back.

Where to park: the Mikodam parking tower beside the building

Like last time, I drove there, and since there's a Mikodam parking tower right next to the building, I didn't have to worry about parking at all.

Inside Mikodam: the dining room and the private room

After parking and stepping inside, you're greeted by a clean, tidy interior. Further inside there's a private room, and a family had come in that day — I saw them eating with their parents in the room. Since Mikodam's whole style is neat, well-arranged Korean food, I really felt it's a great place to bring parents near Balsan Station in Magok, Gangseo.

What we ordered at Mikodam and what it cost

• Set for two: ₩46,000
• Beef seaweed soup + cockle salad + Jeju yellow crab

Which side dishes come with the 46,000 won set for two

At Mikodam, a great restaurant near Balsan Station to bring your parents and a Korean food spot in Magok, I ordered the set for two again, same as last time.

Not long after ordering, they brought out a whole spread of neat side dishes — the main-ish ones like stir-fried pork and japchae (glass noodle stir-fry), plus various seasoned vegetable dishes.

They also brought out sides to go with rice, like pickled onions and seasoned laver, and every single side dish was refillable — if you run low, you just tap the refill menu on the tablet and it's easy to top up!

Among the side dishes, the one my partner liked best — more than I did — was the stir-fried pork, a classic guy's soul food. It came out nice and warm, and the seasoning had soaked into the meat well, making it a perfect side for rice.

Next up, a big grilled mackerel. Every time I picked off a piece of the chunky flesh, the big flakes made me even hungrier.

It was seasoned just salty enough, so when placed on top of rice, the mildly salty and subtly fragrant mackerel had me admitting this really is a Korean food spot worth the name in Magok.

Beef seaweed soup vs abalone seaweed soup: which broth is richer?

This time I ordered the beef seaweed soup. Last time, I paid an extra ₩4,000 for the abalone seaweed soup, so this time I was curious about the richer broth flavor that comes from the meat.

The seaweed soup was listed as a single serving, but with so many varied side dishes on the table, sharing it between two of us still felt plenty filling.

It came out in a big earthenware pot, and the broth stayed piping hot from start to finish of the meal — that was a real standout.

The broth flavor was noticeably different from the abalone seaweed soup — that one was a clear, light broth, while this time the meat flavor had soaked in, making the broth itself taste rich and giving it a completely different appeal.

Cockle salad in vinegar dressing

For the next side dish, I picked the cockle salad. This visit to Mikodam, a Korean food spot near Balsan Station in Magok, I decided to only choose dishes I hadn't tried last time.

The seasoning on the cockle salad wasn't sharp at all, so you could eat it plain without rice and it still didn't taste too sour — a great dish to keep picking at little by little.

Jeju yellow crab: four pieces and all the legs

Next, I picked what you could call the most honest thief of all thieves — the rice-thief crab dish.

They brought out a full four pieces so each of us could have two, plus all the crab legs.

I honestly thought it was a steal to get soy-marinated crab at this price, and I was curious whether the meat would actually be packed in — sure enough, the moment I picked up a piece, the crab meat was packed full and looked incredibly appetizing.

The crab had a slightly punchy flavor, but eaten with rice the seasoning felt just right. Since the sauce base included chili and pepper, there was a bit of spiciness that kept it from getting boring — the kind of flavor you can keep eating without tiring of it!