Abura soba with free rice refill and gyudon: Mentsuru, Gwangjin

Do you like ramen?! Ever since I first visited a while back, whenever I think of ramen I think of Mentsuru Children's Grand Park Branch, a ramen restaurant near Children's Grand Park~!

This time I revisited and found menu items that suited my taste way more than my first visit, so I had a really satisfying meal! I've brought you a strongly-recommended review for a Konkuk lunch! Hahaha!

On my first visit, the ramen wasn't a perfect match for my taste, but this time the shoyu ramen and abura soba I ordered were totally my style! So whether you love ramen or you're just looking for a good lunch spot near Children's Grand Park or a Konkuk date lunch, I think this'll work — let me introduce it quickly~:)

1 minute from Exit 4 of Children's Grand Park Station: location and hours

Mentsuru Children's Grand Park Branch is really close to the station, so accessibility is great!

• Address: 394 Gwangnaru-ro, 1st floor, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, South Korea
• Hours: Daily 11:00–21:30 / Last order 21:00

As you can see, it's just a minute from Exit 4, so it's a good spot for people looking for lunch around Sejong University or anyone who wants a quiet meal nearby without heading all the way to Konkuk Entrance!

I'm recommending this especially as a Konkuk date lunch spot, but if you visit after 9pm, as shown in the photo above, this late-night ramen favorite Mentsuru drops draft beer from ₩8,000 to ₩4,000, which I thought was really great!

An atmosphere that works for solo dining and dates alike

Inside, there's a bar table so it doesn't feel awkward to eat alone, and there are also 2- and 4-person tables, so it looked like a solid fit for solo meals, dates, or meals with friends!

Overall it kept that distinctive Japanese ramen-shop vibe without feeling too dark or cramped — really good for solo drinking or solo dining??!

Menu prices in the low ₩10,000s

Also, for a restaurant near Konkuk, this place is really good value! These days a lot of places start at mid-₩10,000s for a meal, but everything at Mentsuru is in the low ₩10,000s, which felt like less of a burden on the wallet?!

This time we ordered three items — shoyu ramen ₩11,000 / abura soba ₩12,000 / gyudon ₩11,000 — and the prices were reasonable,

and we also got gyoza dumplings as part of a Naver receipt review event, which made things even better!

Shoyu ramen ₩11,000 — the broth that surprised me most

What really surprised me this time was the shoyu ramen! Honestly, on my first visit, ramen itself wasn't quite my taste?! So when my husband said he wanted to order ramen again, I took a bite with zero expectations!

The moment I tasted the broth of this shoyu ramen, out came a "wait, this is actually good?" hahaha! What kind of flavor is it... it has that distinctive salty soy-sauce base, but it's not too salty or heavy — clean and umami-rich in a way that keeps you reaching for your spoon?! It was delicious!!

I'm personally a bit sensitive to meat smells, and the chashu was soft with almost none of that distinctive pork gaminess, so it was easy to eat cleanly, and the noodles didn't have a strong flour taste, so I enjoyed it without any burden all the way to the end~^^~

So even people who usually aren't big on ramen because of the smell or the noodle taste should be able to eat comfortably at this Konkuk favorite, Mentsuru!

Abura soba ₩12,000 — oil noodles you mix with a burst poached egg

Another dish I'd recommend from this visit is the abura soba! I was so curious what "oil-mixed noodles" would taste like, but once I tried it, the salty sauce and the springy noodles went together so well — much tastier than I expected!!

Bursting the poached egg on top and mixing it in with the noodles really boosted the savory richness! The salty sauce mixing with the yolk softened it a little, giving an even better balance of flavors?!

The noodles themselves stayed springy without going soggy, which I loved, and the kelp vinegar you can add if the flavor isn't quite to your taste boosted the umami even more, which I was very satisfied with! Hahaha!

The chashu on top of the abura soba was pretty large too! And not just in size — the meat quality was tender with almost no off smell, and I felt the portion was generous, so once again I thought this was a Konkuk favorite that satisfies on both taste and value! Hahaha!

The free rice refill is the real value point

The biggest advantage of this abura soba is that the rice refill is free! According to the menu, you can mix rice into the leftover sauce, so eating that leftover salty sauce with rice mixed in felt like enjoying two dishes for the price of one — great for hungry guys who want to eat their fill~

Gyudon ₩11,000 — if ramen feels like too much

And of course, the gyudon was delicious too! Hahaha! With sweet-savory beef and onion topped with a poached egg and green onion, it has that familiar Japanese rice-bowl feel overall, but it's not too intense and goes down easy with rice — so if you're not really into ramen, I'd recommend the gyudon!

Personally, if you want to eat until you're full, I fully recommend the abura soba as a lunch option! Everything else on the menu was delicious too, so with prices that aren't a burden and enough food to fill you up, Mentsuru Children's Grand Park Branch is definitely worth a visit for a Konkuk date lunch~!