Back to Seoul. My previous report from our visit to the city in July covered a dinner centered on grilled pork. Today I have for you a lunch centered on pork, but this time it’s not grilled. We were at a branch of Manbae Arirang, a bossam specialist. Manbae Arirang has been around since the late 1980s and are known for their near exclusive focus on bossam or boiled/simmered and sliced pork, eaten with a range of condiments and wraps. This is one of my very favourite Korean dishes/meals. Manbae Arirang apparently uses a special cut of Korean pork belly for their bossam and are known for a lighter, non-greasy take on the dish. There are a number of branches scattered around the city. We were at the Gongdeok location, getting in quick lunch before a spot of business at the nearby Fulbright office.

The restaurant was doing brisk lunch business when we arrived and people kept filtering in and out over the course of our meal—seemingly, mostly local office workers. The dining room is large and bright with an open kitchen at one corner. There’s a large menu posted on one of the walls but you can also access it via the tablet at your table which you’ll use to order. The menu—both on the wall and on the tablet—is entirely in Korean. Of course, we had a native Korean speaker at our table but in the age of Google Translate this kind of thing is very easy to navigate anyway.

The menu itself is very simple. It is almost entirely comprised of bossam platters. These platters differ based on what kinds of kimchi you get to accompany it and on size. You can also choose a range of add-ons and a couple of other dishes. The platters come with a choice of seafood kalguksu or mixed cold noodles. Normally, my favourite version of bossam is gul bossam with raw oysters on the side. We’d enjoyed this greatly in March 2024 at Obok (in Jongno-gu’s Bossam Alley). But July is not oyster season and so it was not to be on this occasion. We decided to go with the medium bossam platter with a mix of radish kimchi and white kimchi. We chose the cold noodles to end the meal.

The banchan came out first as you’d expect along with condiments and dipping sauces for the meat. The bossam platter arrived soon thereafter and we got stuck into it quickly. The quality was indeed rather good and it all disappeared rather fast. A medium platter might not seem like a lot for a group of four but a) it was quite a bit of pork and b) with rice alongside and the generous portion of cold noodles at the end, it was as much food as we could eat.

For a closer look at the restaurant and everything we ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much it cost and to see what’s coming next on the food front.

The price of our combo was 48,000 won. With rice added on, the total came to 52,000 won or just about $37. Very good value for very good bossam. Given how many places there are in Seoul to eat bossam, I wouldn’t say that I would necessarily seek an outpost of Manbae Arirang out to eat at on my next visit but if passing one and hungry, I’d stop in every time.

Alright, my next restaurant report will be from the Twin Cities and will cover a Sichuan meal. After that I hope to get one more Delhi report and one more Seoul report out by the end of the week.