Mukshidonna Famous Tteokbokki @ Samcheongdong, Seoul Korea

Mukshidonna 먹쉬돈나 /三清洞摩西, one of the most famous tteokbokki ( Korean Spicy Rice Cake ) in Seoul, South Korea. The term Muk-shi-don-na means Eat 吃 (Muk), Rest 休 (Shi), Pay 錢 (Don), Leave 走 (Na) when translated in English, meaning “Have your food, pay and leave”. A quick, cheap eats in Seoul with many positive reviews from both locals and tourists, proudly expanded their business with outlets in Myeongdong, Sinchon, Gangnam, Samcheongdong, Hongik and so forth.

We visited Mukshidonna Samcheongdong Restaurant after a long walk in Bukchon Village, Insadong and Ssamziegil on Day 2. It is located in a quieter street of Samcheongdong, a new premise for the original restaurant, relocated in early of 2015. Some said that you need to queue for one hour to get a seat. Not too sure on this as it was quite empty when we reached, probably it was still early for dinner that time.

With a “tourist face” and camera worn around our neck, staffs at the front door welcomed us with Mandarin, and lead us inside politely. We didn’t even have the time to look into the menu, because the next minute once we sat down, another staff came over and decided for us ” what we should eat”.

“Seafood? cheese? Add noodles? Ramen? Cheese? Yes No? “. We “………….”.

We just nodded for all as she seemed so impatient to wait for our answer. She put a few ticks on the paper menu, reminded us to take our own iced water and pickled raddish from the self-service counter, and left. @.@. She then came back again with a huge pot brimming with orange-red sauce, turned on the fire, let it boiled.

Once the gravy was bubbling and boiling, we began to tuck it, digging on what ingredients are immersed below the gravy. There’s noodles, mussels, dumpling, sausage, Korean rice cake, squid, fish cake and a layer of melted cheese on top – star of the dish.

Overall good but the whole dish was actually quite one dimensional, same from the beginning towards the end. The main flavour came from the gravy, which is creamy, rich and spicy with a tad of sweetness. It worked well in enhancing the taste of each ingredient, coating them thickly but we began feeling cloying halfway. Probably due to the creaminess. And we felt quite weird to have dumpling in such sauce.

A little bit about Mukshidonna ordering system: You have to first choose the flavour you want ( minimum two portion) – Cheese, seafood, sausage, grill meat and vegetables tteokbokki. Price at 4500won each portion. You can choose to have 1 portion of cheese tteokbokki, and 1 portion of seafood tteokbokki, which is also the most common selections in Mukshidonna. You can add on noodles, glass noodles, Korean rice noodles, udon, dumpling, tempura, egg, ham accordingly at 1000won per portion. By the end of the meal, if your stomach space allowed, add fried rice at 2000won. The will mix the rice with leftover sauce from your pot, made it into flat, pancake like flavourful fried rice. Worth a try but we were too full.

Address:
Mukshidonna Restaurant 三清洞摩西新本店/먹쉬돈나
19-1 Anguk-Dong,
Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Contact: +82 2 723 8089
Opening Hours: 11am – 8.30pm
Suggested subway station: You can reach Mukshidonna by walking for 10 minutes from Anguk Station, Exit 1 ( the station near to Insadong).

Summary of Our 6D5N Trip