The Seoul reports roll on. Apgujeong is the name of a neighbourhood; miyeokguk (or mieyok guk) refers to seaweed soup. Apgujeong Miyeokguk is the name of a restaurant in Apgujeong that specializes in Miyeokguk. We only went to Apgujeong, a part of the tony Gangnam district, once during our longer stay in Seoul in 2024—it’s where we went to watch the second Dune movie—and didn’t eat there. But we had a post-lunch meeting there in the afternoon on the day after our arrival in July and it seemed easiest to grab a bite somehere near the meeting. We’d not actually planned to eat at Apgujeong Miyeokguk. We were looking for some fried chicken place or the other but it didn’t seem to be where the map had told us it would be. Walking around, we passed Apgujeong Miyeokguk. It looked busy and it looked good and so we went in. And it was indeed good. Here is a quick look at our meal.

While miyeokguk/seaweed soup is indeed their specialty, they’re not quite as laser-focused on it as Manbae Arirang is on bossam. Yes, you can get miyeokguk in a variety of incarnations and you can get it in combos of various kinds. They also offer marinated crab, various grilled fish and various takes on bibimbap a la carte, along with a number of side-dishes. Also, unlike Manbae Arirang, their menu does have some English on it—so the non-Korean speaker can get by here without having to whip out their phone.

We decided to get a mix of things. The soy-sauce marinated crab going to a neighbouring table as we sat down looked very good and so we got the combo that comes with that crab, two large stone pots of miyeokguk and a large perilla leaf pancake. To this we added on a grilled mackerel for the boys and an a la carte order of miyeokguk with uni/sea urchin roe for the older boy—who fell in love with uni in Japan (where we’d been till the previous day). Everything came out pretty quickly and everything was very good. The highlight for me was actually not the seaweed soup itself (though it was very good) but the mackerel, and especially the soy-marinated crab (which I enjoyed eating with steamed rice).

The banchan selection was pretty vanilla here too. Two kinds of kimchi, marinated green chillies and cubes of bean jelly with seaweed were placed on our table as we sat down. For refills we walked over to a diy station and got more of the things we wanted.

The restaurant was pretty busy at lunch on a Friday. It was a mixed crowd, with quite a few families along with office workers and young people out for fun.

For a look at the restaurant, the menu and everything we ate, click on an image below to launch a slideshow. Scroll down to see how much the meal cost and to see what’s coming next.

The total, including an order of a hot pot of rice, came to 125,000 won or just about $88. Not quite as good a deal as lunch at Manbae Arirang but decent value for what we ate. If you’re looking for a good lunch on the go in the neighbourhood, you could do worse.

What’s next on the food front? Another five reports left—I think—from Seoul and another two from Delhi. And I also have a few reports from Kyoto—where we were between Tokyo and Seoul. I’ll probably try to knock a few more of the Seoul reports and both of the Delhi reports out before “returning” to Japan, and I’ll try to get a couple done before next Wednesday’s Twin Cities report. Let’s see how it goes.