Ilsan Anigol Korean restaurant, flounder soup set meal: Haenon Miyeok

Near Pungsan Station in Ilsan, along the Bamnideul-gil area, there are a lot of good restaurants and cafés. But most of them seem to cater to a younger crowd, don't they? Today, though, I found a solid spot for a clean, refreshing Korean meal — a well-known place in Ilsan's Anigol neighborhood called 'Haenon Miyeok.'

• Tidy, well-made side dishes
• Seaweed soup so good it feels like medicine
• A classy atmosphere

These were the things I loved about this Ilsan Anigol restaurant.

Where is Haenon Miyeok Ilsan Direct Branch, and is there parking?

Haenon Miyeok Ilsan Direct Branch is at 30 Anigol-gil, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang, Gyeonggi, on Anigol-gil. It's open daily from 11:00 to 21:00.

This Ilsan Anigol restaurant sits on Anigol-gil. It's about 6,700 meters from Exit 2 of Pungsan Station, so not super close, but walkable if you're up for it. If you drive, there's a spacious parking lot right in front, which makes it easy.

Inside Haenon Miyeok: black-and-white interior and seating that impressed my high schooler

Haenon Miyeok Ilsan Direct Branch has a classy, wide open hall with black flooring and black tables. There's no separate room, but there is a large table that seats a group of around 10.

The moment we walked into this Ilsan Anigol restaurant, I was struck by how upscale it felt. My high school daughter's eyes went round and she went 'what IS this place??' haha. The black floor and tables give it a certain weight, but the wall decorated like a folding screen is lit up brightly... a kind of traditional take on black and white, if that makes sense? ^^

The place was really spacious. There didn't seem to be any separate rooms, though — it's all one big open hall. With a large table that can seat around 10, it looks like it could handle just about any kind of gathering.

I felt like the menu and atmosphere would suit a dignified family meal, a friends' gathering, or entertaining guests.

Self-bar sides at Haenon Miyeok overlap with the set meal — worth knowing

On one side of Haenon Miyeok Ilsan Direct Branch, there's a nicely set up self-bar. Just so you know, most of these dishes also come with the set meal. We were so impressed when we saw the options that we piled our plates right away — only to find they came with the basic set too. So we ended up eating double, haha.

The self-bar has side dishes, though some of them could really pass as full dishes rather than just banchan (side dishes) — japchae (stir-fried glass noodles), seasoned scallops, sweet and sour mushrooms, that kind of thing.

What comes with the flounder seaweed soup set meal

We ordered the flounder seaweed soup set meal, the best-selling, most popular dish at this Ilsan Anigol restaurant.

The basic table setting comes out first, including the same dishes as at the self-bar. We got 6 side dishes, japchae, salad, and seasoned grilled flounder. Just looking at it, you could tell it would be a tidy, clean-tasting meal. ^^

The salad portion was quite generous — good enough to be a standalone dish on its own. With the black sesame dressing, it had a nutty, healthy flavor.

The 6 basic side dishes came in small portions, but in terms of what they actually were, they could easily pass as main dishes.

• Sweet and sour mushrooms
• Seasoned scallops
• Mustard chicken breast salad

Those were the standouts. The seasoned scallops and sweet and sour mushrooms can be refilled at the self-bar, but the chicken breast salad seems to need a separate request.

The seasoned grilled flounder is also sold as a standalone dish, but it came included in the set meal. It was a truly delicious main dish. The japchae was also a treat — a festive dish I hadn't had in a while, haha.

How does the flounder seaweed soup broth taste?

Bubbling away, the flounder seaweed soup arrived — and it was beyond what I expected!!

It looked like whole flounder fillets from several fish were packed generously into the soup. There was no fishy smell at all — the flesh was soft, chewy, and nutty. The broth had a light touch of perilla powder, not overpoweringly fragrant, so even people who aren't fans of that flavor could probably enjoy it.

The broth was so rich it genuinely felt like a tonic, and I kept going back for more. Refreshing, nutty, savory — and not salty at all!!

The rice came out nicely as hijiki (seaweed) rice, but between the side dishes and the seaweed soup, we couldn't finish it all. I'd recommend finishing the whole pot of seaweed soup, though — think of it as drinking a tonic, haha.