Mabongnim Halmeoni Tteokbokki (South Korea, Seoul)

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Tteokbokki Set For Two 11,000 KRW (S$13.75)

Mabongnim Halmeoni Tteokbokki 마복림할머니떡볶이 is a well known eatery popular for its Tteokbokki  떡볶이. Tteokbokki is a popular street snack in Korea consisting of soft and chewy rice cakes in a combination of sweet and spicy fermented sauce (Gochujang).

Mabongnim Halmeoni Tteokbokki is located next to the arched sign that states“Sindangdong Tteokbokki Town".

It is the restaurant on the left with the photo of the elderly Mabongnim. Mabongnim Halmeoni Tteokbokki was opened in 1953 by Mabongnim. It was so popular that other food establishments joined in and opened along the same stretch selling Tteokbokki. Eventually, the street became known as “Teokbokki Street”.

With its popularity, the elderly Mabongnim had been interviewed by the media.

The interior is simple. No fanciful chairs or tables. Its just wooden tables and stools. Aprons are hung along the sides for customers to wear as the sauce could splatter onto customers clothes.

Set Menu

This is the menu for ordering the Tteokbokki Set. The prices range according to the number of persons in the group. Since there was only two of us, we ordered the 2 person Tteokbokki Set which cost 11,000 KRW (S$13.75)

Menu for additional add ons

For additional add ons, there was a separate menu (for them) displayed on the wall:
Tteokbokki (Rice Cakes) 떡볶이 - 2,500 KRW
Fishcake 오뎅사리 - 2,500 KRW
Jjolmyeon (Korean Noodles) 쫄면사리 - 1,000 KRW
Ramyeon (Ramen / Instant Noodle) 라면사리 1,500 KRW
Mandu (Dumpling) 만두사리 1,000 KRW
Egg 계란사리  - 500 KRW
Beverage 음 료 수 - 1,500 KRW
Ice Cream 아이스크림 - 1,000 KRW

Tteokbokki Set For Two 11,000 KRW (S$13.75) with additional Ramen 1,500 KRW (S$1.90)

This was the Tteokbokki Set For Two 11,000 KRW (S$13.75). Did you noticed the difference between this photo and the first?

Yes, we added an additional Ramen for 1,500 KRW (S$1.90)!

The Tteokbokki Set came in a shallow pan with rice cakes, boiled eggs, instant noodles, dumplings, jjolmyeon, fish cakes, vegetables, seasoning and gochujang sauce.

Give it a good boil, let it simmer and Voilà, its ready! Do keep stirring the pan every now and then to prevent the ingredients from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

The sweet and spicy sauce was unique and does not taste like other Tteokbokki sauce in the streets. Towards the end of the meal, the sauce became more and more spicy. Despite that, the ingredients paired off so well with the sauce that we kept going for more!

We particularly like the noodles. Once the noodles were soft, they absorbed the sweet and spicy sauce and was just so addictive. The dumplings were unique as the sauce penetrated into the potatoes in it and it was like their own korean version of our local curry puffs.

Pickles

Complimentary Pickles were given. Before the meal, I saw no need for this. But during the meal, when the spiciness kicked in, this countered the spiciness and was so refreshing!

This is the Tteokbokki Style Budae jjigae! We both loved this. 

Mabongnim Halmeoni Tteokbokki 마복림할머니떡볶이 (South Korea, Seoul)
5, Dasan-ro 35-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul 
서울특별시 중구 다산로35길 5 (신당동)
Tel: +82-2-2232-8930
Opening Hours: Mon to Fri 7am - 1am
                           Sat to Sun 7am - 2am
                           Closed 2nd and 4th Mondays of each month
Directions: From Sindang Station (subway line 2 or 6) Exit 8, turn left and walk along Toegye-ro 45-gil road. Along this road, there is a fire station at your right. Continue walking about 100 meters, you will see the arched sign “Sindangdong Tteokbokki Town”. The restaurant with the picture of the elderly Mabongnim is at the left hand side of this arched sign. 

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Kway Chap 粿汁 (Blk 93, Toa Payoh)

This Kway Chap 粿汁 stall at Blk 93, Toa Payoh Lor 4 is apparently very famous. From what I was told, there would nearly always be a long queue at this stall. 

This stall opens at 530pm for business. True enough when we got arrived at 730pm on a Friday, there was a queue of around 12 persons. We queue moved extremely slow. We queued for nearly 35 minutes before it was our turn to order. And by then, some of the more popular items such as pig tongue were sold out! 

Kway Chap $11

By the time we collected our food, we were starving! The Kway Chap cost $11 (note that 2 other bowls of kway is not in the above photo).

The bowl of Kway (flat and broad rice sheet) was just average. It was not soaked in the broth long enough an the broth taste more salty than tasty/flavourful.

Braised Pig Intestines (small)

The Braised Pig Intestines (small) were washed so clean that the insides were nearly all washed off and lacked any taste except for the saltiness which came from the braising sauce.

braised egg, tau pok, beancurd, big intestines, fish cakes

As for the rest of ingredients such as the braised egg, tau pok, beancurd and braised pig intestines, they were just average. The fish cake was quite decent.

Needless to say, I am not going to queue so long for this next time.

Kway Chap 粿汁 (Blk 93, Toa Payoh)

#01-40 Blk 93 Hawker Centre

Toa Payoh Lorong 4

Singapore 310093

Opening Hours: Tue, Wed, Fri to Sun 530pm - 11pm

                           Closed on Mon and Thu

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Seng Hiang Bak Chor Mee 成香肉脞面 (85 Fengshan Food Centre)

Minced Pork Noodles $3.00

During this visit to 85 Fengshan Food Centre, we decided to try Seng Hiang Bak Chor Mee 成香肉脞面 Minced Pork Noodles (Bak Chor Mee Soup).

This food centre is famous for their soup version Minced Meat Noodles. There are two stalls (i.e. Xing Ji Rou Cuo Mian and Seng Hiang Bak Chor Mee) selling this side by side, next to each other. Normally, I will just go for Xing Ji Rou Cuo Mian's version.  But since recently, I heard that both stall's standard are on par, I decided to try Seng Hiang Bak Chor Mee 成香肉脞面's version.

While Xing Ji Rou Cuo Mian sells only the soup version of the Minced Meat Noodles, Seng Hiang sells both dry and soup versions.

Minced Meat Noodles $3.00

The Minced Meat Noodles $3 was served with meatballs, minced meat, pork lard and garnished with slices of red chilli and spring onion. Frankly, we were not too satisfied with this hence, we decided to call a similar version from the other stall for comparison.

Both Xing Ji Rou Cuo Mian 兴记肉脞面 and Seng Hiang Bak Chor Mee 成香肉脞面 Minced Pork Noodles (Bak Chor Mee Soup) looks alike. Can you guess which is from which stall?

Well, the left one is from Xing Ji Rou Cuo Mian ($2.50) while the right one is from Seng Hiang Bak Chor Mee ($3.00).

Noodles
XJ version was soft and more springy whereas SH version was harder and stiff.

Meatball
XJ version was bouncier, tastier and softer compared to SH version

Minced Meat
XJ version had a good balance of fats and meat, and was tender and fluffy. On the other hand, SH version had just too much fats compared to meat.

Soup
XJ version was tasty, and flavourful whereas SH version was on the salty end.

In terms of the overall taste, we all agreed that Xing Ji Rou Cuo Mian (XJ) version beats Seng Hiang Bak Chor Mee (SH) hands down. Well, taste is subjective. One man's meat is another man's poison.

Seng Hiang Bak Chor Mee 成香肉脞面 (85 Fengshan Food Centre)

Blk 85 Bedok North St 4 #01-08 

85 Fengshan Food Centre 

Tel: +65 9018 9846

Opening Hours: Daily 5pm to 1am

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