Yeonnam Mulgalbi, Hongdae

Yeonnam Mulgalbi 연남물갈비 in Seoul

[Non-halal] During our recent Seoul trip, we enjoyed our last meal at Yeonnam Mulgalbi 연남물갈비 in Hongdae.

Located close to the Hongik University station, this restaurant is quite popular with college students and the locals.

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Yeonnam Mulgalbi specialises in ribs (galbi) cooked in spicy broth with vegetables and mushrooms.

Where it differs from traditional mulgalbi is the offering of shabu-shabu meat topped on a mountain of bean sprouts.

Yeonnam Mulgalbi in Hongdae

This restaurant is not on most tourists’ radars, and it was by chance that we stumbled upon this restaurant.

We ordered the Mulgalbi (short beef ribs) for two pax. The mulgalbi is served on a huge pot with a mountain of shabu-shabu beef, which are essentially thinly-sliced beef. To be sure, the sliced meat is placed on top of a pile of bean sprouts.

Aside from the two ingredients, the dish also included a lot of mushrooms, tteokbokki, glass noodles and beef short ribs.

Let it cook to perfection

The staff was there to cook the mulgalbi to yield the best flavour and texture.

We found the spicy level for the soup to be quite tolerable but it certainly builds up (and becomes more flavourful) towards the end. The soup was very addicting with a good balance of spiciness, acidity and umami.

The ribs and sliced meat were tender, and we really enjoyed the generous portion of plump bean sprouts in the dish.

Add the fried rice option

Mid-way through the meal, we opted for the fried rice option. The server then proceeded to remove the remaining stew from the pot.

She then proceeded to cook the rice in the same pot with seaweed, cheese, kewpie mayo and fried egg. This was really good! The rice was very fragrant as it was cooked in the same pot with a slight smokiness to boot.

Summary

If you’re in the Hongdae area – we highly recommend you check out this spot. While the banchan was just decent, the star dishes here were the mulgalbi and fried rice. The dish goes very well with soju.

Yeonnam Mulgalbi
Address: South Korea, Seoul, Mapo-gu, Donggyo-dong, Donggyo-ro 25-gil, 37 연남물갈비 1층
Hours: 11.30am-3pm, 5-11pm
Phone: +82 2-332-9211