Grilled mackerel lunch set near Magok Station in Seoul: Damiseon

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I was looking for somewhere nice to have lunch with my parents, who love fish, and a friend strongly recommended Damiseon, so off we went!!

When I eat with my parents I usually pick Korean or Japanese food rather than Western, since it needs to suit their taste and be easy on the stomach. A friend who'd been here with parents before

told me the lunch special set is really packed with food and would be perfect for two people who especially love fish, so I went in with high expectations 😊

The restaurant was quiet and clean, a comfortable atmosphere to eat in.

What's in Damiseon's lunch special set

Damiseon's lunch set isn't just one dish — it comes with hoemuchim (spicy raw fish salad), altang (roe soup), rice, grilled fish, temaki, buchimgae (savory pancake), and 4 kinds of side dishes.

• Hoemuchim
• Altang
• Rice
• Grilled fish
• Temaki
• Buchimgae
• 4 side dishes

With so many things to taste together, it felt like eating a full fish course out of a Korean set-meal restaurant.

Hoemuchim

The first thing we tried was hoemuchim — fresh raw fish tossed with crisp vegetables in a tangy dressing, great for waking up the appetite.

The tangy, crunchy vegetables went so well with the fish that my chopsticks kept going back for more.

Grilled Norwegian mackerel

My parents eat fish often at home, but it had been a while since they'd had fish grilled by a specialist restaurant, and they really enjoyed the grilled fish.

Maybe because they use a large-size Norwegian mackerel, the texture was soft and moist — pulling off a big chunk of flesh with rice gave it great flavor and was so satisfying 🤭

Altang, generous with roe and milt

The altang also came in a big earthenware pot, a cool, spicy, hearty broth generously loaded with roe and milt,

and it wasn't just a soup you drink — you could also dip the roe and milt in soy sauce and enjoy them that way.

Temaki

The set already comes with rice, but temaki comes too —

the popping texture of the flying fish roe was fun, and it worked as a nice little extra alongside the other dishes 👍👍 They're only supposed to give two, but they thoughtfully gave us three, so my parents and I each got to enjoy one happily ^^

Freshly fried buchimgae and basic side dishes

As a side dish, freshly fried buchimgae also comes out, and eating it hot right off the pan meant crispy outside, chewy inside — so good!!

I guess pan-fried food really is best eaten right after it's fried haha

There were quite a lot of basic side dishes too — seasoned dried seaweed, braised radish, salted squid, and kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi), all served generously. Everything was neat and tasted good individually, going well alongside the main dishes 👍

We also ordered hoedeopbap on top

Along with the set, I also ordered hoedeopbap (raw fish rice bowl), something I usually enjoy.

It had more fresh raw fish than I expected compared to other places' hoedeopbap, so anyone who loves hoe (raw fish) would probably be even more satisfied ^^ Mixing it with crunchy vegetables and spicy-sweet gochujang made for a fresh, tasty bite, perfect for bringing back your appetite!!

The fresh crunch of both the fish and the vegetables stood out, and I thought it would work well as a lunch dish too.

Why it's a good place to bring your parents

Overall the food came in such generous portions that my parents laughed and said they'd happily overeaten something delicious today, which made me quietly proud too.

What I especially liked about Damiseon was that you can enjoy a varied, generous lunch just from the one lunch special, without ordering separate dishes. The attentive, kind service — checking whether the side dishes were running low, whether the food suited our taste — was also really appreciated and made me happy.

If you're looking for somewhere comfortable to eat with someone who loves fish like my parents do, or hunting for a good-value, generous Japanese-style lunch spot near Magok Station, this is a place worth stopping by.