Whenever I am in Korea, I always have at least 1 meal at Bonjuk the popular Korean porridge chain. Since this time round, I stayed in Myeongdong, I had to search for the Bonjuk outlet by walking around with maps on, the sad thing was when I arrived at the location, Bonjuk was not open so we wandered around Myeongdong until we chanced upon this restaurant
Located in one of the smaller alleys near Myeongdong Church, we got attracted to the restaurant from one of the standees they placed on the walkway. As we were looking for abalone porridge, we decided to just give the restaurant a try even though it was a random place with no reviews
The restaurant sells all kinds of seafood; from grilled seafood, live seafood and stews and soups
Located on the building’s 2nd floor, the restaurant space is narrow and not extremely spacious. There is only 1 row of seating with many water tanks for the live seafood
We were served some banchan before our porridge was served. The usual suspects are cabbage kimchi, fermented squid and octopus, seasoned bok choy, marinated lotus roots in soy sauce, and seasoned beansprouts. In addition, we were also given shredded seaweed and a raw egg
We ordered the abalone porridge which was served in quite a big bowl. The porridge came with slices of abalone and sesame seeds. We added raw egg and seaweed to add umami flavours. The porridge is greenish in colour due to the abalone innards which makes it more flavourful compared to the white version with just the abalone slices. The raw egg added a creamy depth to the porridge and it was really comforting to have a warm bowl of porridge in the morning to wake up the body. The flavour of the porridge is light yet balanced giving your mouth a swish of umami attack
Overall, I would say that the porridge is as nice as the ones at Bonjuk except for the texture whereas the one here is more grainy. I wouldn’t mind returning and trying their seafood dishes in the evening as the seafood really looks fresh. The porridge is also a nice alternative to Bonjuk
Address: South Korea, Seoul, Jung District, Myeong-dong 2(i)-ga, Myeongdong 8-gil, 21-7 2층
Opening hours: 7 am to 11 pm
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